“Shakespeare was a black woman” - now I’ve heard it all!

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Study if a Shakespeare play is mandatory in A levels.

I don’t think we need to “fear” Shakespeare “disappearing”

Mr Google says:

“The GCSE English Literature syllabus for 2026, particularly for English (9-1) qualifications, will continue to assess core skills in Shakespeare, 19th-century novels, modern texts, and poetry (anthology & unseen), with exam boards like AQA, Edexcel, and WJEC outlining specific texts for 2024-2026, but students should focus on core skills, text analysis (language, structure, themes), and exam technique across genres, preparing for exams that test detailed text knowledge and comparative analysis.”

Aveline

Why do black people want to claim our heritage and stories. There must be many many legends and stories stretching back into the countries where black people originated in the past.

I find your comment offensive (I’m a white woman) I don’t think anyone has stated it’s a black person who has come up with this “story”

Maremia

How many of your grandchildren study Shakespeare in school, to tthe extent that we did?
When was the last time one of your grandchildren went to the theatre to see one of his plays?
Yes, there are plenty of modern adaptations, for example the musical 'And Juliet'.
But, once our generation shuffles off our mortal coil, who will remember?

Are you actually serious?!
Do you mean that when we are gone nobody will study Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets or enjoy going to see them?
He’s lasted for several hundred years so far and I can’t see that stopping in say 20 or 30 years time.
It would be a poor kind of school that didn’t include at least studying and reading one of his plays.
My grandchildren aren’t old enough to go to Stratford to see a play but both my daughters have, and more than once.

Maremia

Yes, I too am a fan of Shakespeare, and despite its dark themes, Midsummer Night's Dream is my favourite.
Last play I watched live, ten years ago, was Macbeth and it was a thrill to remember so many of the lines.
Have a look at your children's and grandchildren's libraries next time you visit, and count the number of 'Shakespeare' book they have.

I can't think of Macbeth without remembering going to see a production at the boys' grammar school when I was a schoolgirl.

Of course, the boys had to take the female parts, as was traditional of course, in Shakespeare's time, but one of our best friends played Lady Macbeth complete with a lot of stage makeup 😀

Yes, I too am a fan of Shakespeare, and despite its dark themes, Midsummer Night's Dream is my favourite.
Last play I watched live, ten years ago, was Macbeth and it was a thrill to remember so many of the lines.
Have a look at your children's and grandchildren's libraries next time you visit, and count the number of 'Shakespeare' book they have.

Shakespeare didn't write documentaries! He wrote to entertain. He did that cleverly and well.

We went to plays at Stratford from school and I'll always remember them; brought to life by such great actors as Ian Holm, Dinsdale Landen, Dorothy Tutin etc.

I loved Hamlet, much preferred it to Macbeth which we also studied. I was 17 when I saw my first production of Hamlet, I can still remember the awe in watching that production.
My son actually preferred King Lear to Romeo and Julliet.

I loved doing Romeo and Juliet at school, it's one of his plays that can transpose time and lends itself to umpteen different settings such as the one used in West Side Story in that it's very relatable to teens I think. My husband got tickets for a performance of it at the Royal Shakespeare, Stratford quite a few birthdays ago.

We also did Henry IV Part 2 at school, during which I practically lost the will to live, completely lost. When o/h told me he'd got tickets for a Shakespeare play from my school days. I had a nano second of panic, please not Henry 1V part 2, I'll never survive it

He isnt historically accurate

He was writing plays, not history text books.
Poetic (or artistic) licence.

So many of his phrases endure today and are used in everyday speech.
He was a genius and to try to take that away from him for whatever reason is to deny that an ordinary grammar school boy can be a genius.

I have always loathed Shakespeare ever since we did the Merchant of Venice at school and the very daft midsummers nights dream…. ugh

David49

Plenty of diverse casting in plays today, but its pretty sure the Shakespeare was a white male and went to school at Stratford.
However because he never set foot out of England he had many colaborators recounting tales from overseas.
He isnt historically accurate, he was playing to please a Tudor audience, his first play was Henry VI when he was 26 plenty of time to learn the titled way of speaking.

Besides the audience, he also had to please (or at least not annoy/enrage) whoever was in power at the time, or face jail/charges of treason.

I am in my fifties and therefore still have a child who is a young man. He studied Romeo and Julliet for gcse and king lear for a levels.

How many of your grandchildren study Shakespeare in school, to tthe extent that we did?
When was the last time one of your grandchildren went to the theatre to see one of his plays?
Yes, there are plenty of modern adaptations, for example the musical 'And Juliet'.
But, once our generation shuffles off our mortal coil, who will remember?

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Allira

Fair enough!

Actually, I was just wondering if Philistine was a derogatory term but the Philistines as a people died out a long time ago or were absorbed into other cultures.

Thats the reason Philistines is used as the term it is. They failed to thrive and died out.

I won't be wasting any reading time on this.

Fair enough!

Actually, I was just wondering if Philistine was a derogatory term but the Philistines as a people died out a long time ago or were absorbed into other cultures.

Somehow I suspect we won't agree. 🙂

Philistines 🤫

Good description for those who come out with this tosh and deny our greatest playwright his due respect.

Philistines 🤫

(*no point engaging whatsoever, when you just get "drivel and tosh" but no analysis at all* - of course Shakespeare Studies and Critiques have changed ever since the man wrote his work! Its not fixed in a graveyard, its prose that is incredibly alive - on the human condition - and can be used as a basis for all kinds of discussions)

Maremia

But they are all fascinating, and keep his work alive.

I really don't think one of the most well known and performed writers this world has known needs this kind of drivel to keep his work alive.

Errata -Kurth not Kurt .