Five random facts about Shakespeare today

Certain facts surrounding Shakespeare, his work, and Elizabethan England have been easy to establish. But there is a wealth of Shakespeare knowledge only gained centuries after his time, across the globe, and far beyond the Anglophone realm. For example, new textual analysis has pointed to collaborations with other playwrights, while other evidence — that he may have smoked marijuana — may be less reliable (and point to some current preoccupations). Here’s a brief look at what distinguishes the Bard of the early 21st century to the one we knew before in five random facts.

Othello, a tragedy, may have been originally intended as a comedy. Researchers at the Folger Shakespeare Library used data-mining techniques to analyze the vocabulary and syntax of the First Folio. Their software analysis revealed that it is, linguistically, a comedy.

Up to 90,000 schoolchildren have participated in free, live Shakespeare “Schools’ Broadcasts” organized by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The broadcasts are free to all UK students and are accompanied by other interactive resources and activities. The next production will be The Merchant of Venice and it will be broadcast on 21 April 2016.

Over the past fifteen years, scholars have explored the idea of Shakespeare as a businessman as opposed to a Romantic artist in more depth. Bart Van Es (Shakespeare in Company) argues that Shakespeare’s role as both investor and playhouse shareholder shaped the production of his art.

Shakespeare is the most significant British cultural icon, according to international survey results released in a larger piece for the British Council in 2014. The survey was conducted on 5,000 young adults in India Brazil, Germany, China, and the United States, who were asked to name an individual they associate most with UK arts and culture. Queen Elizabeth and David Beckham were a close second and third, respectively.

Alexander Shurbanov’s translations of Hamlet (2006), Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth (2012) into the Bulgarian language are the latest academically and theatrically reliable versions. Translations of Shakespeare’s work into Bulgarian began in the 19th century, with the earliest versions of Julius Caesar and Cymbeline published in 1881. During and since the 1990s, multiple translations of his plays and sonnets have flourished, thus completing the Bulgarian canon.

Featured Image: “Statue of William Shakespeare at the centre of Leicester Square Gardens, London” by Elliott Brown. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr