1599; a Year In the Life Of William Shakespeare.

"How did William Shakespeare go from being a talented poet and playwright to become one of the greatest writers who ever lived?" In this one exhilerating year we follow what he reads and writes, what he saw and who he worked with asw he invests in the new Globe Theater and creates four of his most enduring pieces of work, the plays; Henry The Fifth, Julius Ceasar, As You Like It and  most remarkably Hamlet. Enough for any one lifetime yet but a rounded 365 days for the man who lived and breathed them. James Shapiro "illuminates" Shakespeare's staggering achievement and also what Elizabethan's experienced in the course of 1599, sending off an army to crush an Irish rebellion (BOOO!), weathering and overcoming an armada threat from Spain, gambling on a fledgling East India Company and waiting to see who would succeed their aging and failing queen. its packed to bursting with what feels like authentic Elizabethan era nitty gritty. Or perhaps it might be more accurately described as the Shakespearean era as he is the best remembered human being of his day.

His life bridging two ruling dynasties, The Tudors and The Stuarts. In some ways completely different, in others a much of a muchness.

            James Shapiro manages to captivate the reader with his encyclopedic  epic of historical forces in collision. This is after all the sediment of ages passed, the foundations of the here and now. He digs down deep into the historical strata of the Elizabethan age, the rich vein that layers the foundation all else rests upon.  1599 is perhaps not perceived as a vintage year in her reign, more of a Buckfast than a Merlot. A tonic for the troops. As Elizabeth and William Shakespeare are so caught up in the daily struggle for survival and the possibility of prospering in one's chosen affairs, they fail to reckon themselves as the fixed spots in the shared cultural history of The British Isles. Too busy creating history to realise they were living through it. 

             A bit of a joy.

             I think I am drawn to books about the daily life of William Shakespeare in the hope I will have a moment; "yes, There You Are! "That I might see the man quite clearly through the fog of history, to see the actual man standing there in his muddy real world shoes rather than an anachronistic casting decision on my part, for the BBC drama department view of history I cannot seem to shake, but the truth is I cannot see that man unless I put him there. It is as though there is a William Shakespeare shaped hole in the historical image of Elizabethan England. There are less well known members of Queen Elizabeth's Court who feel more real to me. Although I have never fully ascribed to The Shakespearian authorship question I fully understand why such doubts persist. 

             I continue to look..

             I reserve the right to be unconvinced.

(Midsummer Nights Dream was not one of the plays Shakespeare wrote in this remarkable year but I cannot resist this beautiful painting based on that very play.)