Shakespeare's World

It goes nearly without saying that Elizabethan England, the society that produced William Shakespeare, was dramatically different from the modern world of today.

This is true not only in the most obvious ways—language, technology, living standards, politics—but in the ideas and beliefs that shaped Elizabethans’ understanding of themselves and the world around them. Just as audiences 400 years from now will need guidance to understand concepts like “the American dream” or “wokeness,” so too does an understanding of the Elizabethan worldview illuminate Shakespeare’s plays in new and surprising ways.

For decades, Dennis Krausnick (1942-2018), a beloved teacher of classical acting, brought Shakespeare’s world and worldview to life for professional actors as Director of Training at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. As part of the company’s world-renowned actor-training programme—its “Month-Long Intensive”—Dennis created a full-day immersive experience that helped actors experience, understand, and embody the philosophies and beliefs underlying the Elizabethan world.

A fascinating and readable distillation of the insights developed by Dennis Krausnick and Shakespeare & Company, Shakespeare’s World gives performers and directors an engaging tour of the Elizabethan worldview, unpacking such alien concepts as the four elements, the bodily humours, and “the great chain of being.” It includes detailed notes for each Shakespeare play showing how this worldview permeates the text—it will enrich the experience of anyone looking to understand and engage with Shakespeare’s writing in a practical, personal, and active way.