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Shakespeare's Circle

Imagined accounts from the people Shakespeare would have known

Shakespeare's circle of relatives, friends, fellow-actors, collaborators and patrons comes to life as friends of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust take on new voices and read creative accounts of their lives.

These accounts are based on contributions to the original book The Shakespeare Circle. Written by a distinguished team of Shakespeare scholars, this collection of biographical essays casts fresh light on Shakespeare and the time he lived in by examining the lives of those around him.

"Anyone who reads these collected biographical essays and sketches will come to know Shakespeare himself better." -Dame Margaret Drabble.

Mary Shakespeare

Shakespeare's mother

John Shakespeare

Shakespeare's father

Joan Hart

Shakespeare's sister

Edmund Shakespeare

Shakespeare's youngest brother

Anne Shakespeare

Shakespeare's wife

Susanna Hall

Shakespeare's eldest child

Hamnet Shakespeare

Shakespeare's son

Judith Quiney

Shakespeare's daughter

John Hall

Shakespeare's son-in-law

Elizabeth Barnard

Shakespeare's granddaughter

Thomas Quiney

Shakespeare's son-in-law

Earl of Southampton

Shakespeare's patron

Ben Jonson

Shakespeare's contemporary and rival author

Christopher Marlowe

Shakespeare's contemporary and important English writer

William Walker

Shakespeare's godson

Thomas Greene

Shakespeare's cousin

Richard Field

Shakespeare's Stratford contemporary and printer of his first two works

Thomas Combe

Son of Shakespeare's close family friends in Stratford

Christopher Mountjoy

Shakespeare's landlord in London

Robert Armin

Member of Shakespeare's theatre company The Lord Chamberlain's Men

Will Kemp

Actor, founder, and shareholder of Shakespeare's theatre company The Lord Chamberlain's Men

John Fletcher

Shakespeare's successor as house playwright for the King's Men and prolific dramatist

Thomas Middleton

Prolific English dramatist, who collaborated with Shakespeare and revised some of his works after his death

John Heminges

Principal actor in the King's Men and compiler of Shakespeare's First Folio

Henry Condell

Principal actor in the King's Men and compiler and editor of Shakespeare's First Folio

William Basse

English poet and composer of Shakespeare's elegy

George Wilkins

English writer and collaborator with Shakespeare

With special thanks to The Chapel Lane Theatre Company, @ChapelLaneTC, www.chapellane.co.uk and Northern Gold Personal Management, www.northerngoldpm.co.uk