By Shakespeare’s Death 402 years ago next Monday the Playwright William Shakespeare died – well he is thought to have died on the 23rd April 1616. Aged just 52, he had recently retired to his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, where his body was interred in the local parish church on
By The Alchemist at the RSC
Ben Jonson’s 1610 play The Alchemist was playing in Stratford-upon-Avon this summer (until 6 August) before transferring to The Barbican from September. Set against the backdrop of a great plague epidemic which has seen the wealthy abandon London for the cleaner country air, the play is a rare chance for those
A Mother’s Milk
Breastfeeding Mothers and Milk in Shakespeare Dr Victoria Sparey Many of Shakespeare’s characters are described in terms that relate to milk and infant feeding. In Titus Andronicus, Lavinia considers whether pleas for mercy will save her from being raped by the Queen’s sons, who ‘even at thy teat…hadst thy tyranny’