Uncovering Shakespeare's House

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.8 • 878 Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2016

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since 2002, a major organization in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, has supported an archaeological dig on the former grounds of a house called “New Place.” New Place was one of the biggest houses in Stratford when Shakespeare was a boy. Once he became a wealthy and famous playwright, he bought it. When he wasn’t in London, he lived there with his family until his death, 19 years later, in 1616. The dig has revealed some tantalizing clues about how the Shakespeare family lived their lives – what they ate, how they cooked what they ate, and – as you’ll hear – how they worked and played. Kevin Colls is Archaeological Project Manager at the Centre of Archaeology at Staffordshire University in Stoke-on-Trent. Nic Fulcher of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is the Assistant Project Manager at New Place. They were interviewed by Neva Grant. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published December 13, 2016. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. “Now will I lead you to the house” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had technical help from Andy Grier at Sounding Sweet studios in Stratford-upon-Avon and Melissa Marquis, the Coordinating Producer for News Operations at NPR in Washington. http://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited/new-place-house-archaeological-dig

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.
0:07.0	I'm Michael Whitmore, the Folgers director.
0:10.0	This podcast is called, Now Will I Lead You to the House?
0:14.0	As you probably know, William Shakespeare was born in Stratford upon Avon, and in a way he never really left. His family continued to live in Stratford even as he worked in the London Theatre.
0:26.6	Since 2002, a major organization in Stratford, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, has supported an archaeological dig on the former grounds of a house called New Place.
0:39.3	New Place was one of the biggest houses in Stratford when Shakespeare was a boy.
0:43.3	Once he became a wealthy and famous playwright, he bought it.
0:47.3	When he wasn't in London, he lived there with his family until his death 19 years later in 1616.
0:55.3	The dig has revealed some tantalizing clues about how the Shakespeare family lived their lives,
1:01.5	what they ate, how they cooked what they ate, and, as you'll hear, how they worked and played.
1:07.5	Kevin Calls of Staffordshire University in Stoke-on-Trent was the lead archaeologist on the New Place project.
1:13.6	Nick Fulcher is with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
1:17.6	He is the assistant project manager at New Place.
1:20.6	Nick and Kevin spoke about New Place with Neva Grant.
1:24.6	If we were to go to Stratford on Avon now and visit the site of New Place,
1:30.0	what would we see there? What's there right now? Kevin? Well, what's on site now is very
1:35.7	different from what was there when we started the project. So when we started the project,
1:40.4	we had a garden and it tried to look at the historical record in terms of trying to show what was on the site, but it didn't really have background information to do that properly.
1:51.0	Right, but the point is there was no house there. I mean, for people who've not seen it and can only want to imagine it, what is actually there?
2:00.0	Yes, there was no house there. There haven't been a house there for an awful long time.
2:05.0	So when you visit the site six, seven years ago, then it was just a, it was a garden.
2:10.0	You couldn't have a sense that you were standing in Shakespeare's final home.
	...

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