Anne Hathaway's Cottage and Hamlet in Stratford by Kathleen Leppla

 


China in Anne Hathaway's Cottage

The city of Stratford in England is known for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare.   Even though the town is small there are many things to do.  We first visited Anne Hathaway's Cottage.  Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare.  Anne and her family lived in this cottage for many years until it was sold to the trust in 1892. This is supposedly where Shakespeare courted Anne before they were married. Much of the furniture in the cottage is original to the Hathaway family. 

Oven in the cottage
 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

We all went to see a production of Hamlet put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company.  The Royal  Shakespeare Company has  many different productions going on during the same time.

 

 

Shakespeare's play Hamlet was said to be written in 1601.  The play is set in Denmark.  A young Hamlet finds out that his father was killed and is asked to seek revenge.  Hamlet is supposed to kill his uncle, Claudius, who is accused of killing Hamlet's father.  Eventually Hamlet pretends to go mad so he can figure out if he should kill Claudius.  In the end we see a broken family.  Hamlet's family dies, Ophelia, Hamlet's love, drowns herself and Laertes, Ophelia's brother, is killed as well.  This leaves the country of Denmark to be overtaken by the Norwegians.

 

Many people have different opinions of the production.  Some say that the play was like "hipster Hamlet" in terms of the clothing.  This tended to throw a lot of people off during the play.  Others would say that the actor who played Hamlet was the best one that they had ever seen.  The language and the clothes worn in the production provided a major disconnect.  All in all though the play was good and the actors were phenomenal.