Shakespeare Magazine 05

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History: The Tower of London s a City of London Tour Guide I can talk for hours about Shakespeare and his links to obscure ruins hidden in secret corners of the Square Mile. The smaller and quirkier, the better. “See this wall? Let me tell you about it!” Shakespeare had a full, rich life in the City. We find him in fairly ordinary places – Carter Lane, Bread Street and the alleyways of Blackfriars. So when the Editor asked me to write about the Tower of London I demurred. Surely the Tower yields tales of kings, queens and traitors. If Will from Stratford ever went there it’s not recorded. What on earth would I say? Shakespare himself is almost silent on the subject. But there are some interesting scenes in Richard III which could reveal something of his feelings toward the fortress. In Act III, Scene I, Prince Edward speaks plainly: “I do not like the Tower...” He is a doomed little boy who, along with his brother, will shortly be swallowed up within its stone walls and disappear from history. He’s inquisitive and he asks Buckingham about the old building, wondering if it was built by Julius Caesar. Buckingham replies that is was indeed built by Caesar, and the reader wonders if this is another amusing example of Shakespeare’s dodgy grasp of history. Just think of all those anachronistic clocks in plays like Macbeth and Julius Caesar, not forgetting the game of billiards in Antony and Cleopatra. For Elizabethans, however, the origins of the Tower were hazy. Squatting just outside London, at the south eastern boundary, it seemed to have sprung up at the time the Romans built their great wall around the City. Londoners did indeed know the White Tower as ‘Julius Caesar’s Tower’. Of course, we know different. Begun in 1078, the great stone fortress was built to consolidate William the Conqueror’s victory over the English and keep the population in awe of his might. By Will’s day it was a contradictory place. On one hand it functioned as a tourist attraction, with visitors flocking to see fearsome beasts such as leopards and bears at the royal menagerie. On the other hand, it was still very much a royal palace. It was also a prison. The Tower was a place where the unlucky, the brave and the foolish went to suffer and die. Most infamously, the Tower was where a Queen of England, Anne Boleyn, was imprisoned and executed in 1536 – an incident which is most definitely not mentioned in Shakespeare’s late collaborative play Henry VIII. In 1601, Robert Devereux, the renowned 26 SHAKESPEARE magazine “Most infamously, the Tower was where a Queen of England, Anne Boleyn, was imprisoned and executed in 1536”
History: The Tower of London A symbol of royal power, the Tower was a natural target for popular uprisings like the Jack Cade Rebellion, as depicted in Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2. Dramatised by Shakespeare in Richard III, the tale of the Princes in the Tower is one of England’s most poignant legends. After the 1605 Gunpowder Plot (which some believe is a subtext in Shakespeare’s Macbeth), Guy Fawkes was tortured in the Tower. SHAKESPEARE magazine 27
Page 1 and 2: At last! A magazine with all the Wi
Page 3 and 4: Welcome Welcome to Issue 5 of Shak
Page 5 and 6: Contents This must be the place 14
Page 7 and 8: Muse of Fire Actors and best mates
Page 9 and 10: Muse of Fire “Young people are m
Page 11 and 12: Muse of Fire Stars of Fire: (clock
Page 13 and 14: Muse of Fire “It’s more than 4
Page 15 and 16: American Shakespeare Center Americ
Page 17 and 18: American Shakespeare Center Drive
Page 19 and 20: American Shakespeare Center Left:
Page 21 and 22: American Shakespeare CenterA The W
Page 24 and 25: History: The Tower of London Tower
Page 28 and 29: History: The Tower of London “Tow
Page 30 and 31: Filter Macbeth Following critical a
Page 32 and 33: Filter Macbeth Filter’s maverick
Page 34 and 35: Filter Macbeth idea is that it’s
Page 36 and 37: Historic places The Letter of the L
Page 38 and 39: Historic places Actors “Storytell
Page 40 and 41: Historic places Xpxppp xpx px ppx p
Page 42 and 43: Interview: Lois Leveen 42 SHAKESPEA
Page 44 and 45: Interview: Lois Leveen and I could
Page 46 and 47: Interview: Lois Leveen project. Whi
Page 48: Next issue We hope you’ve enjoyed

Shakespeare Magazine 05

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