1.What was the name of shakespeare’s new theatre in Southwark?

It was a little tavern called Willy’s Watering Hole. They sold drinks in the front and had a tiny black box theatre in the back. One of the rooms was painted red, because it was where the patrons could hire hookers. But the agents of the
Queen discovered it, so they quickly repainted the room green. It became known as the Green Room.

2.Why did shakespeare retire?

He wrote in his diary that he got tired of all the auditions, and there were women coming him pretending to be boys and wanting to act. It was a lot of trouble. He just got sick of it. But he was also running away from gambling debts. See below.

3.Where did shakespeare probably first see plays, jousting, and entertainment on a grand (and royal. scale?

Very likely at Monte Carlo. It was a big vacation spot even back then, and Shakespeare was a notorious gambler. He once put up the entire Globe Theatre against one throw of the dice, in a bet with another Venetian gambler called Cilocchi. The resulting negotiations and their denouement formed the basis of his play, “The Merchant of Venice.” Cilocchi was a member of the Mafia, and to avoid the vendetta, Shakespeare changed his name to Shylock and produced the play.

4.How did other playwrights, especially Robert Greene, react to Shakespeare’s plays?

Robert Greene was famous for his comments on the plays. He was not only a playwright, but a critic for the Elizabethan Post. In his review of Hamlet, Greene wrote: “Tis ludicrous in the extreme. The hero, we are told, can barely make up his mind. At times, his thought retardeth his actions. And the lad who plays Ophelia hath hair upon his lip and on his legs. Disgusting.”

5.What probably drove Shakespeare tp write so many plays in 20 years?

Shakespeare was a compulsive gambler. He wrote plays to pay his debts, especially to the Cilocchi Crew in Venice, who had strongarms in England. They killed Christopher Marlowe in a tavern over money. Plus Shakespeare hated to work with his hands. In his diary, he wrote revealingly, “How it doth make me laugh to think of all the work I ha’ scaped, and all for the writing of so paltry a thing as a play. Hath it a body? No. Can it be seen? No, but only when it is enacted. Can a man take it with him? No. Can he digest it? No. It giveth nothing but idle joy, but so much more to he that writeth it, for he that writeth it never worketh a dayeth in his lifeth.”