Shakespeare at Sea — Hamlet on the Red Dragon

Here is a wholly random question. When and where was William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet first performed on shipboard?   The first recorded shipboard performance of Hamlet, and one of the earlier performances anywhere, was in September 1607 on the East India Company … Continue reading

Was Shakespeare a Sailor?

Charles Spencer, writing for the Telegraph, had a hunch. After reviewing the Royal Shakespeare Company’s trilogy of Shakespeare’s “shipwreck” plays last month,  he  found himself wondering whether the Bard spent his so-called “lost years” before his arrival in London, as … Continue reading