“The Two Gentlemen of Verona” is considered by historians to be among the earliest works of Shakespeare. It was first published in the First Folio of Shakespearean plays in 1623. A major theme of this play is the question of whether friendship between two friends should outweigh the relationship between lovers. The contest between friendship and love is a recurring theme in many plays during the Renaissance. This is primarily because during Shakespeare’s time, friendship is considered to be the more important relationship. This culture explains why at the end of the play, Valentine decided to surrender Silvia to Proteus without even asking her permission. Ironically, Proteus remembered his great love for another woman, Julia which is why Valentine ended up with Silvia.

“The Merchant of Venice” is classified as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays.” Unlike his other plays, the most prominent figure in this story is not the title character, Antonio. Rather, the spotlight is on Shylock, the Jewish moneylender and the play’s main antagonist. This was considered a problem play because it is up to the audience to decide whether they should sympathize or feel disdain for Shylock. Determining whether this character is the tormentor or the tormented will depend largely on the interpretation of the director and the actors. Some actors presented the character of Shylock as a man who wants to exact revenge. Others present him as a man whose actions are dictated by his pride. As pointed out by many, it is but normal that Shylock should feel hatred for Antonio since the week previously, the latter spat on his face and insulted him for being a Jew.

This tragedy by William Shakespeare features a play within the play. In the story, Prince Hamlet wanted to prove that his uncle had a hand in his father’s death. He intended to do this by watching his uncle’s reaction as he watches the play, “The Murder of Gonzago”, which Prince Hamlet will stage with the help of a troupe of actors. The play is actually a reenactment of how the former king was killed.

The plot of “Romeo and Juliet” centers on the lives of two teenage lovers who belonged to two feuding families, the Capulets and the Montagues. Juliet Capulet is the play’s female protagonist while Romeo Montague is the male protagonist. These families eventually reconciled after the tragic deaths of the two lovers. Young love is considered to be the dominant theme of this story. At present, the characters of Romeo and Juliet have become emblems of those who die young for the sake of love.

A common motif in “Much Ado About Nothing” is the use of the words “nothing” and “noting” which were homophones or words that were spoken in the same way during the time of Shakespeare. Double-entendre and some mild sexual innuendoes were also evident in some lines of the play. Interestingly, the word “nothing” was used by the playwright as a euphemism for female genitals. This led many to conclude that the play’s title could also mean “Much Ado about Female Genitalia.” A recurring theme in the story is the generic distrust of males in the fidelity of women. In the play, Don John, the lead antagonist, used Claudio’s fear of being cheated to dissuade the latter from marrying Hero in the first wedding scene. Regardless of its theme, motif and symbolism, this play continues to be one of the most enduring stage plays of the Bard of Avon.

The “Taming of the Shrew”, one of William Shakespeare’s earlier plays, had been the subject of much criticism especially from feminists who perceive it as offensively discriminatory to the female gender. This comedy tells the story of Petruchio, a young man who did not seem to care about the appearance or the personality of the woman he will marry so long as she came with a rich dowry and Kate, the shrewish daughter of a wealthy merchant. The play centers on how Petruchio transformed Kate from a hot-tempered woman to a completely tame and obedient wife. At the end of the play, Kate delivers a monologue stating why wives should always obey their husbands.

Many assumed that this Shakespearean play was well received by the theater-loving public during his time. However, this was not exactly accurate. In fact, many in the society felt uncomfortable after witnessing the “Taming of the Shrew.” John Fletcher, a contemporary playwright of Shakespeare, felt the need to write a play as a response to Shakespeare’s Shrew. The sort of sequel to the latter’s comedy was entitled, “The Woman’s Prize, or The Tamer Tamed.” In this play, Kate died and Petruchio soon married his second wife, Maria. The story revolves on how Petruchio, once the tamer, was tamed by his new wife.

Historians do not know for sure when this play was written. It was heavily speculated that this was written sometime between 1595 and 1596 for an aristocratic wedding, which was commonplace at that time. Some also speculated that “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was written for the Queen of England as part of the celebration for the feast day of St. John.

The plot of this story centers on the escapades of four Athenian lovers, a band of amateur actors, and a fairy couple whose lives intermingled due to the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and Hippolyta, the Amazonian queen. This play was originally set in the realm of Fairyland. It was noted that some of the elements of its plot and characters are based on earlier literature. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe, for example, which was performed by the amateur actors within the play, came from “Metamorphoses”, Ovid’s masterpiece. Similarly, Apuleius also based the transformation of Nick Bottom, one of the play’s characters, into an ass on “The Golden Ass”.

It was in New Place that Shakespeare spent his last years. He died on the 23rd of April in 1616. Incidentally, April 23 was also the month and day that historians assigned as his birth date. The cause of Shakespeare’s death was a mystery but it was speculated that he caught fever after a night of drinking with friends and fellow playwrights, Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton. His wife, Anne Hathaway and two daughters, Susanna and Judith, survived him. Aside from bequeathing his estate and some belongings to his family, he also left money for the poor people of Stratford and for his friends in his theatrical company, Richard Burbage, John Heminges and Henry Condell. For posterity, Heminges and Condell collected and published the 36 plays written by Shakespeare in a folio edition. Later known as the First Folio, this categorized the plays into comedies, histories and tragedies.

The lines in the play, “King John,” that talked about the grief that the character felt for losing his son was seen as a reflection of the sorrow that Shakespeare must have felt after his son, Hamnet, died at such a young. Moreover, in the play, “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” the comical scene between a Welsh headmaster and a pupil named William was speculated to be based on the experience of Shakespeare as a young student. The mysterious circumstances behind the death of Ophelia, one of the characters in the play “Hamlet,” were also based on an experience of Shakespeare when he was 15. A woman from a nearby village drowned and though it was deemed an accident, many suspect that the she may have committed suicide. These facets in Shakespeare’s life as revealed through his plays somehow gave us a glimpse of how he was as a person.

Scholars had hugely debated the childhood years of the Bard. It was speculated that he might have been educated in a free grammar school in Stratford due to his knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek. Though there had been no records found to substantiate this theory, scholars are convinced that Shakespeare must have had a solid education due to the literary quality of his works.

What happened to Shakespeare from childhood until his marriage when he was 18 years of age was a mystery to many. His marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1852 and the baptism of his children, Susanna and twins, Hamnet and Judith were documented. However, after the birth of his twins in 1585, no trace or record of Shakespeare had been found until seven years later. This period was labeled by scholars as Shakespeare’s “lost years.” His name resurfaced only in 1592 when he came to London to start his career as an actor and playwright.

Their eldest child, Susanna, was baptized on May 26, 1583. Two years after, they bore twins, a son whom they named Hamnet and a daughter, Judith. Hamnet was reported to have died for unknown reasons on August 11, 1596 when he was 11 years of age. Apart from this, not much is known about the family of Shakespeare except that when he died on April 23, 1616, he was survived by his wife and two daughters. When he died, he bequeathed his “second best bed” and one-third of his estate to his wife. He also stated through his will that the bulk of his estate will be given to Susanna, his elder daughter.

During his time, Shakespeare was regarded as a very prolific writer. The publishers of First Folio, John Heminges and Henry Condell were often amazed with how Shakespeare’s mind and hand seemed to work together. So fast was Shakespeare as a writer that they seldom saw any errors in his original manuscripts. The First Folio of 1623 listed 36 plays written by the Bard. These plays were categorized as comedies, histories and tragedies. It is alleged that some of these plays were not entirely written by Shakespeare but rather were collaborations with another writer. Due to their popularity, there had been countless adaptations of these plays in films, television shows and theater productions.

- Membership to the network would be free to participating youth theatre companies. However some charges may need to be levied to cover the nominal costs of such things as publications and postage etc. (i.e. news letters and ‘How to’ literature for those without access to the internet.)

- Workshops, lectures and festivals may require fees from participating organisations.

- Groups requiring substantial support for specific projects may be required to cover the costs of the Networks involvement.

- Although the network would rely partly on voluntary input it would aim to provide a living wage to its general staff and any professionals brought in for specific projects.

- Staffing levels would depend on the success of the organisation but would consist of a core of planning, fund raising and administrative personnel. This initially would represent no more than 2 or 3 people. Additional staff would then be recruited for specific projects.

- The compilation of a directory of Youth Theatre Companies and relevant organisations.

- The publishing of advice on the running of youth theatre companies and similar projects.

- Creating a data base of professional theatre practitioners with expertise in youth theatre.

- The commissioning of books and articles by professionals on specific subjects related to youth theatre in the community.

- To offer specific advice to youth theatre companies who are planning to take productions the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

- To run a drop in centre to provide advice and support for Youth theatre companies visiting the 2000 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

- The running of workshops and lectures by experienced individuals on related subjects.

- To organise an international festival of youth theatre in 2002.

- To encourage dialogue between youth theatre groups from around the world.

- To provide advice and information to those working with youth theatre companies.

- To provide administrative and technical support for youth theatre groups undertaking specific projects, such as participating in major festivals or undertaking international tours.

This would initially be achieved by setting up a home page on the world wide web which would contain a directory of youth theatre groups along with contact lists for various relevant organisations from around the globe. The web site would go on to provide further advice and information such as book lists, how to pages and theatre industry contacts. A notice board, help desk and forum would also be a major part of this resource.

The network could then go on to organise specific events such as workshops, training, conferences and festivals.