0:00:28 > 0:00:30William Shakespeare.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33From country boy growing up in rural Warwickshire
0:00:33 > 0:00:36to the greatest writer who has ever lived.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40So to mark the 400th anniversary of his death,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43we're travelling up and down the country,
0:00:43 > 0:00:48celebrating the way in which our countryside inspired Shakespeare
0:00:48 > 0:00:50and infused some of his greatest plays.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56Matt's in the Brecon Beacons discovering a hidden valley
0:00:56 > 0:01:00said to be the magical setting for one of his most popular plays.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays
0:01:03 > 0:01:06and you can feel this place in Shakespeare's writings.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08John is in Kent,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11along with one of our best loved actors,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14following in the footsteps of Shakespeare's theatre company.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
0:01:19 > 0:01:22"Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
0:01:22 > 0:01:26"Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
0:01:26 > 0:01:28"And I'll no longer be a Capulet."
0:01:28 > 0:01:31"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"
0:01:33 > 0:01:35Actor Bill Paterson is in Perthshire
0:01:35 > 0:01:39discovering the landscapes of the Bard's Scottish play.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42It's here in Birnam Wood in Perthshire
0:01:42 > 0:01:45that Macbeth met his tragic ending.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48At least according to Shakespeare.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53And Adam's making his way to the heart of Shakespeare's hometown
0:01:53 > 0:01:57with the most prized of Elizabethan stock - sheep.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59Stratford may well be renowned
0:01:59 > 0:02:04as being famous for one of England's most wonderful playwrights,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07but back then, it was wool that made the town tick.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26"This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle...
0:02:29 > 0:02:31"This blessed plot,
0:02:31 > 0:02:37"this earth, this realm, this England."
0:02:40 > 0:02:44At the heart of this scepter'd isle is Warwickshire,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47famous the world over as Shakespeare's county.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53This landscape played an important part
0:02:53 > 0:02:55in the playwright's life and work.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58But the Warwickshire Shakespeare knew
0:02:58 > 0:03:01would have looked very different in his day.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09The River Avon marks the boundary between two distinct areas.
0:03:09 > 0:03:10To the south, the Feldon,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13what we think of today as the Cotswolds,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17heavily cultivated land, organised around the wool trade.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19And to the north, the Forest of Arden.
0:03:22 > 0:03:27This vast forest is said to have inspired As You Like It,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30a play that, more than any other of Shakespeare's works,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33is a true celebration of the countryside.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39"And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43"Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47"Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
0:03:50 > 0:03:53'Professor Stanley Wells is a Shakespearean scholar
0:03:53 > 0:03:57'and honorary president of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.'
0:03:57 > 0:04:00To what extent would As You Like It have been set here
0:04:00 > 0:04:02in the real Forest of Arden?
0:04:02 > 0:04:05To a certain extent it would, I think.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Shakespeare was a very literary dramatist
0:04:07 > 0:04:09and he took the story of As You Like It
0:04:09 > 0:04:12from a book that had already been published, a book called Rosalind,
0:04:12 > 0:04:16which is set in the Ardennes area of Belgium and Holland.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19But he goes to the forest for the details, I think.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22The floral decoration of the play and so on
0:04:22 > 0:04:25he would have sourced from his own memory,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28from his own experience of walking around these hills.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30He owned some of the land around here, for example.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34- So he was very familiar with this land here?- Absolutely.
0:04:34 > 0:04:35He worked in London, of course,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38but he would come up to Stratford as often as he could.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41I've often described him as the first great literary commuter.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44He would, no doubt, have spent a lot of time in the woodlands,
0:04:44 > 0:04:45in the Forest of Arden.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48So I think he was very much a countryman at heart.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50- His heart was here in the countryside?- I think so, yeah.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Today, the Forest of Arden
0:04:54 > 0:04:58has been enveloped by Birmingham and its environs,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01the forest seemingly disappearing into the depths of history.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08But if you look hard enough, you can still see the hidden vestiges
0:05:08 > 0:05:11of the forest Shakespeare himself would have known.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17One man who knows where to look is naturalist Steven Falk,
0:05:17 > 0:05:18and I'm meeting him
0:05:18 > 0:05:21in what would have been the heart of Shakespeare's magical woodland.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25- This is a fabulous woodland. - It is, yeah.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26It kind of shows
0:05:26 > 0:05:29what a woodland would have looked like in Shakespeare's time,
0:05:29 > 0:05:30so very heavily managed,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33because wood of all sorts was a commodity.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36The standards, which are the big trees, were used as building timber,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39and then the coppice, which is what they called the underwood,
0:05:39 > 0:05:40was used for all sorts of things -
0:05:40 > 0:05:44charcoal making, making fences and hurdles,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47even the wattle and daub that was used in building houses
0:05:47 > 0:05:49in between the sort of big timbers.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51So, it wasn't the wild place that we have in our mind,
0:05:51 > 0:05:52the Forest of Arden?
0:05:52 > 0:05:54Certainly in Shakespeare's time,
0:05:54 > 0:05:56a lot of the Forest of Arden had been cleared,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58so they were actually losing it.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00Because this is managed woodland,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02the trees we can see are fairly young.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05But the forest Shakespeare would have known
0:06:05 > 0:06:06hasn't completely disappeared.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Some of the root stocks are very old.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11Some of the aspen here has probably got root stocks centuries-old.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15- So there's relics...?- Little relics, little bits of continuity.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17- But not much.- Uh-huh.- Yeah.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22The Arden wasn't all so heavily managed.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24We're heading to another part of the forest
0:06:24 > 0:06:26where I'm told there's a far more direct link
0:06:26 > 0:06:29to William Shakespeare's landscape.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33This looks so different here.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35Yeah, the Forest of Arden, it wasn't a huge area of woodland.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38It was actually quite open in places.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40You had lots of deer parks, you had heathland,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42you had boggy areas.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44In fact, deer parks, you had probably more deer parks here
0:06:44 > 0:06:47than almost any other part of Britain, possibly Europe.
0:06:47 > 0:06:48When there's this much space,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50the trees are allowed to grow that much bigger?
0:06:50 > 0:06:52- Yes, and often a lot older. - Yeah.- Yeah.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55- And I've got a really special one to show you.- Let's take a look.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08- This is a beaut. - Yeah, this is an amazing tree.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10I've spent many years measuring the trees of Warwickshire,
0:07:10 > 0:07:12but this is in a class of its own.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16- This is a tree that is potentially 1,000 years old.- Wow.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18It would have been old when Shakespeare was alive.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21- We don't want to chop it down to find out its age.- We don't want to.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24- What we can do...- We can measure it. - We can measure it.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26I've got a tape measure here, so...
0:07:26 > 0:07:29If I put this here... Ellie, would you like to walk round?
0:07:29 > 0:07:32I'll go on my merry dance round here. Here we go.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37Crumbs.
0:07:37 > 0:07:38Good grief!
0:07:38 > 0:07:40- You need a good tape measure for this.- You really do.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43- Gosh, look at that. - So what are we looking at?
0:07:43 > 0:07:459 metres...35?
0:07:45 > 0:07:48Yes. I measured it ten years ago.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51- It's put on ten centimetres in those ten years.- Growing healthily.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54It's still growing and it's still got a very solid trunk.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56- It's doing pretty well. - It's pretty fabulous, isn't it?
0:07:56 > 0:07:59So this would have been around in Shakespeare's time.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01This would have been a big tree in Shakespeare's time, yeah.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04And this is part of the Forest of Arden,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08so maybe Shakespeare would have come along and sat under this tree?
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Well, they reckon Shakespeare did come to Stoneleigh Deer Park
0:08:11 > 0:08:13and they reckon he sat under a tree.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Whether it was this one, we don't know,
0:08:15 > 0:08:16but we call it the Shakespeare Oak.
0:08:16 > 0:08:17We like to think
0:08:17 > 0:08:20that he sat underneath it and wrote interesting things.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23- It's a lovely idea. Let's pretend that he definitely did.- Yeah.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28As You Like It portrays the forest
0:08:28 > 0:08:31as a place of sanctuary and protection.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34And standing beside this mighty oak,
0:08:34 > 0:08:36I can really identify with that sentiment.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Later on, I'll be finding out
0:08:41 > 0:08:44about Shakespeare's extensive knowledge of plants.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48But first, Matt's in the Brecon Beacons in a hidden valley
0:08:48 > 0:08:53said to be the inspiration for one of Shakespeare's most popular plays.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
0:08:59 > 0:09:02"Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
0:09:02 > 0:09:06"Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10"With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine."
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Those are the words of Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22I know them well, as I played Oberon in college.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24But my involvement didn't stop with the words.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27I was in charge of the set, so what we did was,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30I went back to our farm, went into the woodlands
0:09:30 > 0:09:33and got loads of branches and littered the stage with them.
0:09:33 > 0:09:34And I'll tell you what -
0:09:34 > 0:09:37I am so excited about the destination of this walk.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42And that's because I'm heading to the very spot
0:09:42 > 0:09:47that we think inspired Shakespeare to write A Midsummer Night's Dream.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51That same place I was trying to recreate onstage 20 years ago.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58This is Cwm Pwca, near Abergavenny,
0:09:58 > 0:10:02which translates from the Welsh as Puck's Valley.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Now, because this place is so hidden away from the outside world,
0:10:05 > 0:10:06I need a guide.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09- John, how are you doing? All right?- Hiya.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12- You must be king of the fairies, then, are you?- Uh...
0:10:12 > 0:10:14You never know.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16John Wohlgemuth from Natural Resources Wales
0:10:16 > 0:10:19is one of the few men who knows the best way
0:10:19 > 0:10:21to negotiate this tough terrain.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Could Shakespeare really have known this place?
0:10:26 > 0:10:28I can't imagine Shakespeare kind of scrambling down here
0:10:28 > 0:10:31in his tights and his slip-ons.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33THEY CHUCKLE
0:10:33 > 0:10:36I guess, John, because it's so challenging to access this place,
0:10:36 > 0:10:38that kind of helps with preserving it?
0:10:38 > 0:10:40Yeah, although there's been
0:10:40 > 0:10:42a lot of industrial activity here in the past,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44nature has reclaimed it.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48There is a lot of rare and interesting wildlife here
0:10:48 > 0:10:51that was here in Shakespeare's day and is still here today.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54So, certainly violets and roses.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56Luscious woodbine.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58- Certainly some of that!- Yes!
0:11:00 > 0:11:02- WATER BABBLES - I hear a river, or a stream.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07Look at this beautiful little waterfall.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10You can just imagine sort of fairies and pixies
0:11:10 > 0:11:12just skipping around here.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Really sweet.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20A Midsummer Night's Dream is the tale of mischievous fairies
0:11:20 > 0:11:23who wreak havoc on humans.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26The story of Puck and the belief in the fairies
0:11:26 > 0:11:28was commonplace in these valleys.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Dr Juliet Wood believes it's these tales
0:11:31 > 0:11:33that could have inspired A Midsummer Night's Dream.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39This place being called Puck Valley, or translating into Puck Valley,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43suggests that it's loaded with fairy folklore here.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Oh, it is. Absolutely.
0:11:45 > 0:11:46I mean, Puck isn't the only one,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50but he's certainly the most notorious, shall we say.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52- Yeah. - Because he's a very naughty fairy.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54And he likes to mislead travellers.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57And he will appear as if he's carrying a light,
0:11:57 > 0:12:01and you follow him and he will lead you right to the edge,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03and if you took one more step, you'd fall over.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07And then he disappears in a burst of maniacal Puckish laughter.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10And what other elements did Shakespeare include
0:12:10 > 0:12:13from, potentially, this area, that he used in Midsummer Night's Dream?
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Well, the landscape itself and the stories of the fairies,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20but you also get this notion of the fairies stealing human children,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23or looking after human children.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25And those are the changeling stories.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29And, of course, that is how Midsummer Night's Dream starts.
0:12:29 > 0:12:30But there's still this sense
0:12:30 > 0:12:34that there is an uncanny world kind of just beyond our vision,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36or just over the hill.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39And I'm very fond of plays that have this kind of magical quality,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43and one feels, you know, you need a little magic in life.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04We're getting closer to the bottom of the valley.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07John is leading me to where Shakespeare allegedly penned
0:13:07 > 0:13:10the first lines of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18Are there any kind of thoughts to how he found this place?
0:13:18 > 0:13:23Well, they say he had friends further north in Breconshire
0:13:23 > 0:13:29and as this place has been a bit of an attraction for years,
0:13:29 > 0:13:34even then we think he probably would have been brought here to visit it
0:13:34 > 0:13:37- as a wild, remote and picturesque place to come.- Yeah?
0:13:37 > 0:13:40This has been called Shakespeare's Cave
0:13:40 > 0:13:42for as long as anyone can remember.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46- Whereabouts is the cave, then? - The cave is just down...
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Just down there to the right, beyond the last fallen tree.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53- Oh, OK.- So we need to sort of slide down there.- Show me the way.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57- Foot on there, and then right over. - This is more like it.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04There we are. We're here. Shakespeare's Cave, just there.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06We've arrived!
0:14:06 > 0:14:08- And this is it.- Yeah.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10It is several hundred metres long,
0:14:10 > 0:14:13but it gets very narrow and very wet.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16I'm sure people like Shakespeare
0:14:16 > 0:14:19would have wondered how these were created...
0:14:19 > 0:14:21- Oh, yeah.- ..why they were here, who lived down here.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24I mean, it's great... It's great food for thought, isn't it,
0:14:24 > 0:14:25for a playwright like him?
0:14:25 > 0:14:28It would get your imagination going, wouldn't it?
0:14:32 > 0:14:33A Midsummer Night's Dream
0:14:33 > 0:14:37marks that magical time of midsummer night, the summer solstice,
0:14:37 > 0:14:39when the fairies come out of their hiding place
0:14:39 > 0:14:42to play in the human world.
0:14:44 > 0:14:45But where are they?
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Talk about combining elements of your youth.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52Gymnastics and Shakespeare.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Wheey! Stay with me, stay with me.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58Here we go. Look at this for a shot.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01A beautiful, beautiful waterfall.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Do you know, Midsummer Night's Dream
0:15:03 > 0:15:05is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08and it had a big impact on me when I was at school.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10And you can see, you can sense,
0:15:10 > 0:15:14you can feel this place in Shakespeare's writings.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16Mind you, I haven't seen any fairies yet.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18They'll probably all come out and laugh at me
0:15:18 > 0:15:20when I fall off this log!
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Now from hidden valleys to bloody battlefields.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33Shakespeare's plays drew inspiration from across Britain.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Actor Bill Paterson is in Perthshire,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40exploring the myths and legends of the landscape of the real Macbeth.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45We all know the tale of Macbeth,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48the grisly tale of an ambitious Scottish general, Macbeth,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50who assassinates his king.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55Bloody battles, witchcraft and an ever-increasing body count
0:15:55 > 0:15:59make this, understandably, one of Shakespeare's most popular plays.
0:16:02 > 0:16:08"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
0:16:08 > 0:16:10"What thou art promised."
0:16:12 > 0:16:15But there was a real Macbeth, a real man,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19who inspired Shakespeare's tortured monster,
0:16:19 > 0:16:23and a real backdrop that inspired Shakespeare's famous tragedy.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30The performance history of Macbeth is so filled with tragedy and death
0:16:30 > 0:16:33that many actors are really frightened to mention its name,
0:16:33 > 0:16:35so they call it "The Scottish Play".
0:16:35 > 0:16:38In fact, I've been sent out of a dressing room for mentioning it,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42I've been made to turn round three times, shout an obscenity,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44and then wait to be invited back in.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47It's also a play filled with some of the most memorable quotes,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49like, "Out, damned spot!"
0:16:49 > 0:16:52and "Something wicked this way comes,"
0:16:52 > 0:16:54but the quote that interests us today
0:16:54 > 0:16:57is, "Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be
0:16:57 > 0:17:01"until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill
0:17:01 > 0:17:02"shall come against him",
0:17:02 > 0:17:06cos it's here in Birnam Wood in Perthshire
0:17:06 > 0:17:09that Macbeth met his tragic ending,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12at least according to Shakespeare.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22So, what of Great Birnam Wood today?
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Mike Strachan from the Forestry Commission is going to introduce me
0:17:26 > 0:17:30to an ancient Shakespearean relic.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33This would have been only a part of a vast forest, wouldn't it?
0:17:33 > 0:17:36That's correct. The whole valley here
0:17:36 > 0:17:37would have been one massive woodland
0:17:37 > 0:17:39and it's very often been described
0:17:39 > 0:17:42as a jungle, very much a very, very large jungle...
0:17:42 > 0:17:44Really dense?
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Very, very dense and people always refer to Scotland
0:17:47 > 0:17:48as being impassable.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52It's 1,000 years old so in the time of Shakespeare,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54it was a growing tree and it became
0:17:54 > 0:17:59a significant, almost dramatic character in Shakespeare's play.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02I mean, act five, scene four, he says,
0:18:02 > 0:18:05"Let every soldier hew him down a bough
0:18:05 > 0:18:07"And bear't before him:
0:18:07 > 0:18:10"Thereby shall we shadow the numbers of our host and make discovery
0:18:10 > 0:18:13"Err in report of us."
0:18:13 > 0:18:15In other words, "We will hide ourselves,
0:18:15 > 0:18:17"we will camouflage ourselves."
0:18:17 > 0:18:20I keep looking at these boughs. That is some hacking down, wasn't it?
0:18:20 > 0:18:23There wouldn't have been anything of that size.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26I think what they were talking about was much smaller branches
0:18:26 > 0:18:29so they could make a sort of fan shape out of branches
0:18:29 > 0:18:33so they could hide behind it and carry on creeping along.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38"Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be
0:18:38 > 0:18:42"Until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill
0:18:42 > 0:18:44"Shall come against him."
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Professor Ted Cowan is a Scottish historian who has explored
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Macbeth's twisted blend of fact and fiction.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59Well, here we are, Ted, at the foot of "Dunsinnen" or Dunsinane.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01- You take your choice. - Lead on, Macduff.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03THEY LAUGH
0:19:03 > 0:19:05- I believe it's a long way. - It sure is.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12So, who was the real Macbeth?
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Macbeth was a great chieftain up there - a dux, a war leader,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19says one of the sources. A real hard case.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24And how different was he, then, from Shakespeare's Macbeth?
0:19:24 > 0:19:25Well, in many ways,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27he was quite different from Shakespeare's Macbeth
0:19:27 > 0:19:29because he was regarded as quite a good king.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32One of the obituaries, if you like, or two of them say,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36"In his time, there were fertile seasons," and, for this period,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39that's a good sign that he was a very, very successful king.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Yes, so far from being monster,
0:19:41 > 0:19:46is he flawed in some way that allowed this legend to build up?
0:19:46 > 0:19:49It's hard to know if we can say he was flawed, per se, but I think,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53to contemporaries, he would be regarded as more of a hero than not.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57So, now, do you think that Birnam Wood did make it
0:19:57 > 0:20:01across the ten miles of Strathmore to Dunsinane Hill?
0:20:01 > 0:20:03Ooh, well, I don't know, it might have done,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05but since we don't believe in such things,
0:20:05 > 0:20:07there's a much nicer story about this, Bill,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10and that is the old Celtic motif of the Battle of the Trees
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and that's what Shakespeare's using in this point -
0:20:13 > 0:20:16the idea that the trees are so outraged
0:20:16 > 0:20:19that the woods themselves wanted to take part in it.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Nature was against him and so the trees were on the march.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27"So foul and fair a day I have not seen."
0:20:31 > 0:20:35And here we are, right in the middle of Macbeth's castle. Imagine that.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39He actually was here, even though he didn't die here.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43- Did a fight actually take place here?- Yes, without doubt.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48They fought here in 1054 and Macbeth was defeated in that battle.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50If only Willie Shakespeare could have seen this,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52he'd have written a play about it.
0:20:52 > 0:20:53He might have, you know.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56- Blimey!- It'd probably have ended badly, though.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04Even if Shakespeare did take liberties with Scottish history,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07it's quite possible that the name of the real King Macbeth
0:21:07 > 0:21:09might have been forgotten to us
0:21:09 > 0:21:12and would not have the worldwide fame that it has
0:21:12 > 0:21:15and these incredible settings would have been forgotten
0:21:15 > 0:21:19so perhaps I should end with the witches' words.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24"All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!"
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Now, whilst the drama has been unfolding in Scotland,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38the Bard of Barnsley and friend of Countryfile, Ian McMillan,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40is in Warwickshire,
0:21:40 > 0:21:46combining his two favourite things - ale and poetry.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55I swear my ale will be poetic
0:21:55 > 0:21:57Will dance on the tongue like a rude mechanical
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Will linger in the head like King Lear's lines
0:22:01 > 0:22:04My ale will not fail to set sail
0:22:04 > 0:22:09And regale you with a pale and interesting beautiful tale.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Shakespeare's plays are peppered with references to his love of ale.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20This could have been because his father, John Shakespeare,
0:22:20 > 0:22:24was once the official ale taster of Stratford-upon-Avon.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29So, in honour of Shakespeare's love of a good pint,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32I've come to Mary Arden's Farm in Stratford,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35which is not only a working Tudor farm,
0:22:35 > 0:22:37but was home to Shakespeare's mother.
0:22:39 > 0:22:40It's only 9am,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43but I'm here to brew some authentic Shakespearean ale
0:22:43 > 0:22:44with Sharon Lippett.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50What's the first thing we have to do?
0:22:50 > 0:22:51Well, we need to crack the grain.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53As you can see, this is malted grain.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56- Have a sniff.- Oh, yeah! - It's lovely, isn't it?
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Yes, that's very nice, very Shakespearean.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02So, we're going to put it through the quern first.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06- Who would have drunk this kind of ale?- Everybody.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09- You were put on ale as soon as you were weaned.- Really?
0:23:09 > 0:23:15So, children as young as two would have been drinking small ale.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20It was the daily drink. Everybody drank ale, even the Queen.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24In Henry V, it says, "I would give all my fame for a pot of ale."
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Every working man got an allowance with his daily pay
0:23:28 > 0:23:32- and a good hearty meal of eight pints.- Eight pints?- For the day.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37The water was very dangerous. Your ale was safe.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40- Because it was boiled water. - It was boiled water, yes.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45'After straining, splurging and fermenting,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47'my brew is almost ready.'
0:23:47 > 0:23:52- Have a squeeze.- Oh, gosh! - You had to have strong hands.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54I've got weak poet's hands.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58We always name our brews
0:23:58 > 0:24:04and I think it would be nice if you would name our brew for us.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08- I think I'd like to call it McMillan's Ale.- McMillan's Ale.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10It's got a certain something.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13I was going to call it The Winter's T'Ale, but of course it's spring.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Oh, yes! That's a taste of history, isn't it?
0:24:18 > 0:24:20And art and language and craft.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27400 years later, the brewing of ale
0:24:27 > 0:24:31is still alive and well in Shakespeare's county.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35On a farm just up the road is Purity, an independent eco-brewery.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41I've come here to meet John Conod
0:24:41 > 0:24:43to see how they do it - or brew it - today.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53I wonder what the difference is between how they made it then
0:24:53 > 0:24:55and how you make it now.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57Well, I suspect one of the biggest differences
0:24:57 > 0:25:00will be the introduction of hops into the brewing process.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03It really wouldn't have been common in Shakespeare's time.
0:25:03 > 0:25:04- Grab a bit of it, give it a good rub.- Mmm.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07And give it a good smell as well. Get it right up to your nose.
0:25:07 > 0:25:08The first thing you'll notice, I hope,
0:25:08 > 0:25:12is those wonderful aromas - citrus and pine and fruit.
0:25:12 > 0:25:13They're also a preservative.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16They stop the beer or the ale from going off.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19- We talked about Shakespeare's dad John being an ale tester.- Yeah.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22- Do they still have ale testers these days?- Yeah, absolutely.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25We obviously run 50 different tests through our lab on the ales
0:25:25 > 0:25:28that we're producing and it's a very precise science, but, then,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31at the end of the day, we have a round table tasting every Friday.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Do these sessions start off very seriously
0:25:34 > 0:25:36with people making notes on clipboards
0:25:36 > 0:25:39and, by the end, you're all singing shanties
0:25:39 > 0:25:41and doing a bit of Cumberland wrestling?
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Arm in arm, yeah, yeah, wandering round the brewhouse.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47No, it's a very serious endeavour. We only have little mouthfuls.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51Oh, it's great. It reminds me of my Uncle Les's shed.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54That's fine, you can come onto the tasting panel with that one.
0:25:54 > 0:25:55That's absolutely perfect.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58I'll bring Uncle Les if I can get him out of the shed.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Well, I'm not sure what Uncle Les would make of my Shakespearean brew,
0:26:04 > 0:26:08but I'm off to see what the locals think of McMillan's Ale.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15- What do you think?- Oh, that is really nice.- Is it?- Very, very nice.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19It's got quite a nice fruitiness to it as well.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23But what about an expert ale taster?
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Like John Shakespeare,
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Frenchman Florent Vialan is an official ale tester.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33But, unlike John Shakespeare, he's a certified biochemist.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40- What do you think?- Interesting!
0:26:42 > 0:26:46- There is no hops to it, there is no bitterness.- Is it a pleasant taste?
0:26:46 > 0:26:48I think that can grow on me.
0:26:50 > 0:26:51- To the Tudors.- The Tudors.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Back in Shakespeare's day,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59a Frenchman disliking an Englishman's ale
0:26:59 > 0:27:02would be grounds for war. But I don't hold a grudge.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05It was his father's ale tasting that led to Will Shakespeare
0:27:05 > 0:27:07getting a free grammar school education.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12Without it, we might never have met Hamlet or Lear so, to the ale,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15I give you this final ode on my road home.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18Shakespeare's plays and Shakespeare's ale
0:27:18 > 0:27:22Both lift the spirit and never fail
0:27:22 > 0:27:25To fill the stage with a tale to tell
0:27:25 > 0:27:29In the words of the bard, "Ale's well that ends well!"
0:27:35 > 0:27:39So, we know that Shakespeare's father was paid to taste ale.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42He was also a jack of all trades, making money from glovemaking
0:27:42 > 0:27:45and dealing in hides and wool.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48But there are suggestions that his wool dealings
0:27:48 > 0:27:52weren't strictly above board, as Adam's been finding out.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55Lie down. Lie down.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Here in the Cotswolds, we're known for our mixed farming
0:27:58 > 0:28:01so livestock and arable, but back in Elizabethan times,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04it was wool that underpinned the rural economy.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08In fact, wool was so lucrative 400 years ago
0:28:08 > 0:28:11that whole towns were built upon its wealth.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14To celebrate the Bard's relationship with wool,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17I'm taking a small flock of historic Cotswold sheep,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20with Peg's help, to Shakespeare's home town of Stratford.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24With me for some of our journey
0:28:24 > 0:28:27is Philip Walling, a writer and historian.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31I'm hoping he can tell me more about the Elizabethan sheep industry.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33There'd be hundreds of thousands of these sheep,
0:28:33 > 0:28:36grazing everywhere they could find a blade of grass.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39And the popularity of the sheep was because of their wool.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Yeah, they were enormously profitable.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45A fleece of one of these Cotswolds would be
0:28:45 > 0:28:49- worth £120-£150 in today's money. - Goodness me!
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Now, they're worth, what, four or five quid for a fleece?
0:28:53 > 0:28:57- Something like that. That's after clipping them.- Yes, yes.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00And they were the North Sea oil of their day.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04And is it right that Queen Elizabeth sort of protected them
0:29:04 > 0:29:06because of their value?
0:29:06 > 0:29:08There was protection for the trade
0:29:08 > 0:29:13and there was one of the ordinances in 1571 that Elizabeth passed
0:29:13 > 0:29:17which required every male over the age of six
0:29:17 > 0:29:20to wear a woollen cap on Sundays and holidays.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22And that was just to get everybody buying wool?
0:29:22 > 0:29:24That's right. People had to be buried in wool.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26- Incredible, isn't it? - It's astonishing.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29That's why I think farming was so profitable at the time.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32'So, it's no wonder, then,
0:29:32 > 0:29:34'that a writer brought up in the English countryside,
0:29:34 > 0:29:39'surrounded by sheep, would reflect his environment in his work.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41'A bale of wool in Shakespeare's day was called a tod
0:29:41 > 0:29:44'and was very valuable.'
0:29:44 > 0:29:46"Let me see.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49"Every leven wether tods;
0:29:49 > 0:29:53"Every tod yeilds pound and odd shilling;
0:29:53 > 0:29:55"Fifteen hundred shorn.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57"What comes the wool to?"
0:30:01 > 0:30:04'Well, the wool would have come to a small fortune.'
0:30:06 > 0:30:09The way he prices it, the way he talks, the terms he uses -
0:30:09 > 0:30:11this is someone who really understands them.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13'David Fallow has spent years
0:30:13 > 0:30:16'studying the Shakespeare family's wealth.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18'He believes William Shakespeare was much more involved
0:30:18 > 0:30:21'in the family's trade in wool than previously thought.'
0:30:21 > 0:30:23The whole family were wool traders.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26John Shakespeare, his father, does not strike me
0:30:26 > 0:30:30as the sort of man who is ever going to have four sons sitting about
0:30:30 > 0:30:32not in the family business.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34'There is evidence, though,
0:30:34 > 0:30:38'that the Shakespeare family's wool dealings were a bit shady.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41'Records show that in 1572,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44'John Shakespeare was accused of illegal wool dealing,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47'paying hundreds of pounds for tods of wool in London,
0:30:47 > 0:30:49'which was an offence.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53'And, as David says, the family were suspiciously well-off.'
0:30:53 > 0:30:58The father, over a period of time, accumulated several hundred pounds.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01Now, that doesn't sound very impressive today,
0:31:01 > 0:31:04but Shakespeare goes on to buy the second biggest house in Stratford
0:31:04 > 0:31:09for £60 and we know that, either side of about the year 1600,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12he's investing very heavily.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16He's buying land. So the family becomes considerably wealthy.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20'But all this played to William's advantage
0:31:20 > 0:31:21'and wool gave him the finances
0:31:21 > 0:31:26'to move to London and buy into the world of theatre.'
0:31:26 > 0:31:28Writers over the centuries have commented on this.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30He had to buy his share of the theatre.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32Where was the money coming from for that?
0:31:32 > 0:31:34Where was the money coming from for the big house?
0:31:34 > 0:31:38Where was the money coming from for this and that?
0:31:38 > 0:31:39It just doesn't make any sense.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41The money has to come from somewhere.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44'And there's one final piece of evidence
0:31:44 > 0:31:46'of Shakespeare's wool-dealing credentials
0:31:46 > 0:31:47'that David's keen to show me.'
0:31:47 > 0:31:49There's only really one illustration -
0:31:49 > 0:31:51I've brought a copy with me -
0:31:51 > 0:31:53of Shakespeare's tomb.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55If you go to Stratford today and you look at that,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58what you don't see is this.
0:31:58 > 0:31:59This is a wool sack here.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04What we know is that the tomb was worked on at a later date
0:32:04 > 0:32:07and the way they worked on it was they took this away
0:32:07 > 0:32:09and made it a desk and a pen.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12Now, it's more than curious that the only illustration we have of it
0:32:12 > 0:32:16from this sort of date in the middle of the 17th century
0:32:16 > 0:32:19has got his hands on a wool sack.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23So, do you think his love was of the wool or of the word?
0:32:23 > 0:32:28Oh, I think his LOVE was the word, but I think the way to stay alive
0:32:28 > 0:32:32and get fed and be successful financially was the wool.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Go on.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44'As a farmer, I can't help but be really pleased that the success
0:32:44 > 0:32:47'of our greatest ever playwright was all down to the wool trade.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50'But now the sun is out
0:32:50 > 0:32:52'and there's only one place I want to go
0:32:52 > 0:32:54'to celebrate Shakespeare and sheep...
0:32:54 > 0:32:58'and that's a rather aptly named street in Stratford, of course.'
0:33:14 > 0:33:17Well, here we are driving Cotswold sheep
0:33:17 > 0:33:19down Sheep Street in Stratford.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22'I doubt the mayor would have turned out to greet Shakespeare,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25'but today's mayor, Tessa Bates, has come to welcome me.'
0:33:25 > 0:33:28Lovely to see you! Quite fitting, do you think,
0:33:28 > 0:33:30walking the Cotswold sheep down Sheep Street?
0:33:30 > 0:33:33I think it's amazing to have sheep in Sheep Street
0:33:33 > 0:33:35and to be associated with Shakespeare
0:33:35 > 0:33:37in this special year for Stratford,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40to bring the countryside right into Stratford's streets,
0:33:40 > 0:33:41it's marvellous and I want to feel
0:33:41 > 0:33:43the sheep are enjoying their day out.
0:33:43 > 0:33:44They seem to be very relaxed.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47It's something different on a nice April afternoon.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50- Well, I'll leave you to it. I'd better get on.- Nice to meet you.
0:33:50 > 0:33:51All the best.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57Well, it's been a real treat walking these Cotswolds down Sheep Street.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00It's certainly drawn the crowds and the sheep, well,
0:34:00 > 0:34:02they've been fairly calm in meeting the public
0:34:02 > 0:34:05and they don't mind being stroked and that sort of thing,
0:34:05 > 0:34:06which is quite extraordinary
0:34:06 > 0:34:08because they're not used to walking on tarmac.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11They prefer to be on the grass. In fact, that's what I'll do now.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13I'll get them down there and put them on the parkland,
0:34:13 > 0:34:15onto a bit of grass.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19Come on, sheep, move on! Move on, then, that's it, good girls!
0:34:19 > 0:34:22Lovely, that'll do, that'll do. Coming through, coming through!
0:34:22 > 0:34:25'But, just when it was all going so smoothly,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28'the sheep decide they have a plan of their own.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34'Maybe with the theatre in their sights,
0:34:34 > 0:34:37'they decide to put on their own performance.'
0:34:50 > 0:34:52'But All's Well That Ends Well.'
0:34:52 > 0:34:53Here we are, we finally made it to the pen,
0:34:53 > 0:34:55thanks to the help of all these lovely visitors.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59There were some exciting moments, the sheep nearly ended up in a shop,
0:34:59 > 0:35:00but let's just grab this sheep.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02It's lovely to think, really,
0:35:02 > 0:35:04with the Royal Shakespeare Company behind us,
0:35:04 > 0:35:09that it was the money made from these beautiful sheep's wool
0:35:09 > 0:35:11that gave William Shakespeare the wealth to forge
0:35:11 > 0:35:15a career as a playwright and become famous worldwide.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19So, next time you're watching a Shakespeare play,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22spare a thought for the humble Cotswold sheep.
0:35:22 > 0:35:23Aren't they beautiful?
0:35:30 > 0:35:33From Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare travelled
0:35:33 > 0:35:36to the theatres of London, where the Globe became home
0:35:36 > 0:35:40to the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later the King's Men,
0:35:40 > 0:35:44a group of travelling actors including Shakespeare himself.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Although London was at the heart of all things theatrical,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52acting companies regularly left the capital
0:35:52 > 0:35:54and headed out into the countryside,
0:35:54 > 0:35:58taking their plays on the road to perform to rural communities.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03I'm in Kent, a county described by the Bard
0:36:03 > 0:36:05in his play Henry VI, Part 2 as
0:36:05 > 0:36:08"The civilest place of this isle."
0:36:10 > 0:36:14Today, I'm following in the footsteps of Shakespeare's players
0:36:14 > 0:36:16through this lovely countryside.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20With me is going to be one of our best-loved Shakespearean actors.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Dame Judi Dench made her professional debut
0:36:24 > 0:36:26playing Ophelia in Hamlet.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1961
0:36:29 > 0:36:33and she's toured the world in Shakespeare productions.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Your Majesty shall mock at me.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40- Hello, Judi.- Hello. What kept you?
0:36:40 > 0:36:42I'm been learning my lines, sorry.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45- Of course you have.- What a lovely place to sit and wait.- Isn't it?
0:36:45 > 0:36:49Now, you've had an enduring passion for Shakespeare, haven't you?
0:36:49 > 0:36:51All your life, really. How did it start?
0:36:51 > 0:36:55It started when I was taken to see
0:36:55 > 0:36:58my brothers at St Peter's in York -
0:36:58 > 0:37:00as a little girl, really.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02My eldest brother walked on as Duncan and said,
0:37:02 > 0:37:04"What bloody man is that?"
0:37:04 > 0:37:07And I thought, "This has blown my mind!
0:37:07 > 0:37:10- "This is Shakespeare and swearing all in one."- All at once!
0:37:10 > 0:37:12"I get to do that."
0:37:12 > 0:37:15When you were touring as a young actress,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17what was it like in those days?
0:37:17 > 0:37:19It was fantastically exciting
0:37:19 > 0:37:23when I think of the places we played all over America and Canada.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26I remember once when we played in Philadelphia,
0:37:26 > 0:37:29we got there and our first performance was Twelfth Night,
0:37:29 > 0:37:34and we hadn't had a lot of time to check the entrances and exits
0:37:34 > 0:37:36and going under the stage and up the other end like that.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39And three people were off,
0:37:39 > 0:37:41were simply not there when you turned round.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43And I entered at one point and said,
0:37:43 > 0:37:45"Get ye all three into the box-tree,
0:37:45 > 0:37:47"Malvolio's coming down this walk."
0:37:47 > 0:37:49And John Neville said to me, "Do you want to bet?"
0:37:49 > 0:37:52- He said to me - loudly! - No sign of them.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55What it must have been like to have been an actor and have
0:37:55 > 0:38:00Shakespeare either present in the theatre or acting alongside you.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03And helping with the lines, I hope, you know?
0:38:03 > 0:38:05I mean, that's just...
0:38:05 > 0:38:08That blows your mind, doesn't it? I can't...
0:38:08 > 0:38:10I can't imagine what that was like.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13- Fancy going on a little bit of a tour now?- Oh, absolutely.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16- Why don't we go?- See what we find. - Yes.- Let's go.- Let's go.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19- Exit left.- Pursued by a bear.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24To help Judi and I find the rural routes that Shakespeare
0:38:24 > 0:38:26and his troupe would have taken,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28we're meeting up with Siobhan Keenan,
0:38:28 > 0:38:32a leading expert on Elizabethan touring players.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35- Hello, Siobhan.- Hello. - Nice to see you.- Hello, Siobhan.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37Is this the kind of rural pathway that Shakespeare
0:38:37 > 0:38:39and his men would have travelled?
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Well, not dissimilar to some of the routes.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43We're very close here, where we are in Kent,
0:38:43 > 0:38:45to the old Pilgrims' Way to Canterbury.
0:38:45 > 0:38:47That was the main artery heading down to Canterbury.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49If you were going on a tour in the south-east,
0:38:49 > 0:38:51that would often be a route that you would take.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53There's a good chance that Shakespeare will have been
0:38:53 > 0:38:55very close to where we are today when he will have made
0:38:55 > 0:38:57a journey down into south-east.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00I'd no idea that they toured so much, the company.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03Yes, thankfully we know this partly because of the wonderful work
0:39:03 > 0:39:04a project called the Records Of
0:39:04 > 0:39:06Early English Drama project have been doing.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09What they've discovered is that players went to places
0:39:09 > 0:39:11all across England.
0:39:11 > 0:39:12So they go up as far north as York,
0:39:12 > 0:39:16down in the south-west to Bristol, across here to places like Dover.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18So they really did go a lot of places.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21Siobhan, how were the touring companies regarded?
0:39:21 > 0:39:22And did that go down well?
0:39:22 > 0:39:25The only players who were actually allowed to travel from the 15th
0:39:25 > 0:39:29century onwards were people who had a royal patron or a noble patron.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31If you didn't have one of those patrons you could
0:39:31 > 0:39:35be deemed a rogue or a sturdy vagabond.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37Nothing's changed, has it?!
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Is there anywhere around here do you think that Shakespeare
0:39:40 > 0:39:42and his troupe might have gone?
0:39:42 > 0:39:44They went to some well-known places like Canterbury,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46but they also went to some lesser-known places and I'm
0:39:46 > 0:39:49- really hoping there's one I can show you.- Right.
0:39:49 > 0:39:50- Well, let's go, shall we?- Let's go.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54It's thought that one of the ways Shakespeare's acting company
0:39:54 > 0:39:56may have travelled was by boat.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00'So that's how we're getting to the pretty little town of Fordwich
0:40:00 > 0:40:03'on the River Stour.'
0:40:03 > 0:40:06In Shakespeare's time, the river made it a thriving thoroughfare
0:40:06 > 0:40:09and the major port for Canterbury.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13It was also on the circuit for Elizabethan strolling players.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17Well, if Shakespeare and his company did indeed come to Fordwich by river
0:40:17 > 0:40:19we're now on what would had been the main landing point
0:40:19 > 0:40:22and these are the main gates into the town of Fordwich.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25- Oh, right. Are they still open? - I think it is.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29All the stone for Canterbury Cathedral came in through here.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31I believe that's true.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34But it's Fordwich's 16th century town hall,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37where Shakespeare himself could have performed,
0:40:37 > 0:40:39that we've really come to see.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42Well, what a wonderful building, isn't it?
0:40:42 > 0:40:44It's incredible.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47Before you could perform in the town, you needed to get permission.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49So here, the chances are that you came to the town hall
0:40:49 > 0:40:53to visit the mayor to seek his licence to perform in the community.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55Shall we go and have a look inside?
0:40:55 > 0:40:57- Oh, yes.- Are we allowed to? - Yes, we can.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05How about this, then?
0:41:07 > 0:41:09- Oh, my word!- Isn't it wonderful?
0:41:15 > 0:41:17Not very big, though, is it?
0:41:17 > 0:41:21I mean, if you have 12 actors...
0:41:21 > 0:41:24This first performance that they might have done before the mayor,
0:41:24 > 0:41:25it might have been a select audience.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27It might have basically been civil dignitaries.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29Actually, for the larger performances,
0:41:29 > 0:41:32you might have gone off somewhere else in the community,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35so perhaps a local inn or a church or even outdoors.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Oh, I was going to say, isn't it believed, yes, that they also came
0:41:38 > 0:41:42- and found an area or courtyard or something?- Yes.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44Market squares were sometimes used.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47I think here this probably would have been a select audience.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51Is there any evidence today that the King's Players actually did
0:41:51 > 0:41:53put on a performance here?
0:41:53 > 0:41:56- There is and in fact, I can show you...- And what plays?
0:41:57 > 0:42:00- Oh, I say! - What we've got here is a copy
0:42:00 > 0:42:04of the mayor's accounts from 1605.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Just here, and it says, "To the King's players
0:42:07 > 0:42:12"on the 6th of October, ten shillings."
0:42:12 > 0:42:16We know that at court in 1605 they performed revivals of Henry V
0:42:16 > 0:42:19and Love's Labour's Lost and The Merchant Of Venice.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21So any of those plays could have been in the reparatory that
0:42:21 > 0:42:25- they brought here.- And maybe Will himself was in the cast, who knows?
0:42:25 > 0:42:28It's entirely possible in that he's definitely still active
0:42:28 > 0:42:31in the company at this date, he's still writing plays for them.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33So there's a chance that he could have come here.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35You sense the history here, don't you?
0:42:35 > 0:42:37Imagine what the atmosphere must have been like
0:42:37 > 0:42:39when the players were first performed.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41Does it inspire you to give us a few lines?
0:42:41 > 0:42:43- Romeo and Juliet?- Yeah.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47- A bit of Romeo and Juliet.- A bit of Romeo and Juliet.- Yeah, yeah.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
0:42:51 > 0:42:55"Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not,
0:42:55 > 0:43:00"be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet."
0:43:00 > 0:43:03"Shall I hear more or shall I speak at this?"
0:43:03 > 0:43:05THEY LAUGH
0:43:05 > 0:43:06Very good!
0:43:06 > 0:43:08I'm actually acting with Dame Judi Dench!
0:43:08 > 0:43:12That's what they did, you see, they came in here and nobody rehearsed.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14- They just got up and did it.- Yeah, yeah.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23Aren't we lucky to still have a place like this
0:43:23 > 0:43:25- where Shakespeare could well have played?- I know.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29And just imagine him arriving and going in and playing.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32It's extraordinary to think of, isn't it?
0:43:32 > 0:43:35I've really enjoyed following in his footsteps with you, Dame Judi.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38- Thank you very much.- Me too. And how do we find out more
0:43:38 > 0:43:41about where he went to and where he took his company?
0:43:41 > 0:43:43Well, you could go to this website...
0:43:48 > 0:43:51- Good.- Shall we have a cup of coffee now?- Oh, what a good idea!
0:44:02 > 0:44:06Cornwall, famous for its rugged, weather-beaten coastline.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11Exposed to the mercy of the elements.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18And it's here among the stunning natural features
0:44:18 > 0:44:22that Shakespeare has had a dramatic influence on the landscape.
0:44:30 > 0:44:31This is the Minack Theatre.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34Now, at first glance it looks like it's been here for centuries,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37a relic of some ancient civilisation.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42But actually it was carved from this Cornish hillside in the 1930s
0:44:42 > 0:44:45and all for a staging of Shakespeare's The Tempest.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48It was the creation of a remarkable woman.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55"We are such stuff as dreams are made on."
0:44:59 > 0:45:02This incredible auditorium was hewn out of granite
0:45:02 > 0:45:05by theatre lover Rowena Cade
0:45:05 > 0:45:09and it stands as a powerful monument to her imagination.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16Rowena and her gardener Billy Rawlings began building it
0:45:16 > 0:45:19when she discovered a local theatre group were looking to stage
0:45:19 > 0:45:23a production of Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31After six months of backbreaking work,
0:45:31 > 0:45:35finally on 16th August 1932 the very first audience
0:45:35 > 0:45:39made their way down steep paths to get their first glimpse
0:45:39 > 0:45:43of this spectacular outdoor stage, inspired by Shakespeare.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46It was the perfect setting for his magical tale
0:45:46 > 0:45:49set on a rocky and remote island.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55"To thy strong bidding, task Ariel and all his quality."
0:45:55 > 0:46:00"Hast thou, spirit, performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?"
0:46:00 > 0:46:03Phil Jackson is the theatre's operations manager.
0:46:04 > 0:46:09Now, I've got a copy of the programme from back then.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11I think you might knows somebody on this cast list, do you?
0:46:11 > 0:46:14There's a Jackson in the cast list, which is my Aunt Marion.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16It was very much local people, local actors
0:46:16 > 0:46:19and the children came from local schools.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23My Aunt Marion was one of the nymphs back then.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26- That's wonderful! So that's her, right there?- Yeah, absolutely.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29There's having an artistic dream here
0:46:29 > 0:46:31and then there's the reality of making it happen.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34This would have been hard work to create a space like this.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37Rowena was creative but she was also tough.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40Brought up in a Victorian home, you know, with servants
0:46:40 > 0:46:42and stuff like that.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44So she was a genteel Cheltenham Ladies' College girl
0:46:44 > 0:46:47but you don't expect her to come and mix concrete on the cliff.
0:46:50 > 0:46:55Rowena Cade was driven by her passion to create the ultimate
0:46:55 > 0:46:57setting for The Tempest.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01You can see why she thought this was the perfect spot for a play
0:47:01 > 0:47:06that starts with a shipwreck in the midst of a terrible storm.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08The theatre is surrounded by crashing waves.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11Up here you're exposed to the full force of the elements.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13There really is no hiding place.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16Even today, the weather has the power to scare us
0:47:16 > 0:47:20but back in Shakespeare's time it played a much more profound role
0:47:20 > 0:47:22in people's lives.
0:47:22 > 0:47:27Many believed that extreme weather was the work of a vengeful
0:47:27 > 0:47:31God or evil agents like witches and spirits.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35And it's thought that a shipwreck off the coast of Bermuda might
0:47:35 > 0:47:38have inspired Shakespeare to write The Tempest.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42It's an idea that intrigues weather historian Peter Moore.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49Across here in June 1609 you would have seen a fleet of ships
0:47:49 > 0:47:53carrying about 600 people starting off on their voyage
0:47:53 > 0:47:57across the Atlantic for what was to be Nova Britannia -
0:47:57 > 0:48:00a new British colony in the Americas.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03This fleet sailed straight into an enormous
0:48:03 > 0:48:04West Indian hurricane.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12There were survivors but a lot of the people on the ship
0:48:12 > 0:48:13thought to have been lost,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16- turned up a year later back in London.- Yeah.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18So not only do you have people coming back from the dead,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22because they all thought that these people on sea venture had
0:48:22 > 0:48:25been drowned at sea, now they turned out to be alive, but they had
0:48:25 > 0:48:28this description of weather that no-one had ever
0:48:28 > 0:48:30- really experienced before. - Couldn't conceive of.
0:48:30 > 0:48:32So this was perfect for drama.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45How amazing it must've been to see the drama of The Tempest
0:48:45 > 0:48:49acted out on a stage with the mighty Atlantic as a backdrop.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52Rowena was a true visionary.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55But her work didn't stop with that production,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58the Minack became her lifetime's work.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02And how proud she would have been to know that it continues
0:49:02 > 0:49:06to inspire the next generation of theatre lovers.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10- 'I saw you wearing a crown. - Oh, yes, I am the King of Sicilia.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12- 'You're the King of Sicilia?- Yes.'
0:49:12 > 0:49:14When I was in primary school we used to come
0:49:14 > 0:49:15and watch a lot of plays here
0:49:15 > 0:49:18and I always thought this was a really cool place
0:49:18 > 0:49:20to be able to perform.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22Amazing to perform on here
0:49:22 > 0:49:24and also I feel like it makes everyone realise
0:49:24 > 0:49:26how good Shakespeare was because
0:49:26 > 0:49:29obviously the Romeo and Juliet balcony and everything is here.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32- It's all Shakespeare. - Fun to play with.- Yeah.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36Tonight, local schools are performing scenes
0:49:36 > 0:49:38inspired by the Bard.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45It is great to see that Shakespeare's influence
0:49:45 > 0:49:47is still strong here at the Minack.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52The local community coming together just as it did in those early days.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09We've been celebrating Shakespeare's connection
0:50:09 > 0:50:13to the British countryside on the 400th anniversary of his death.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19Earlier, I was exploring the ancient Forest of Arden,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22getting a tantalising glimpse of the landscape
0:50:22 > 0:50:25Shakespeare himself would have known.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29But the woodland setting holds other clues to Shakespeare the countryman.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35Shakespeare's works are filled with images of nature
0:50:35 > 0:50:38and plants have an important role.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42He mentions more than 180 different kinds in his plays.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44It's clear that the Bard had a particular
0:50:44 > 0:50:47interest in the flora that surrounded him.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52I'm taking a walk with garden writer Jackie Bennett
0:50:52 > 0:50:56to learn about some of the stars of his plays.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59We're surrounded by spring colour here.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02What's the connection with Shakespeare and spring flowers?
0:51:02 > 0:51:06Well, Shakespeare was born in spring and he died in spring,
0:51:06 > 0:51:09so we always associate him with this season.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11In a sense, they're the bookends of his life.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14But also, because he came from a farming background,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17he was really clued-in to the seasons.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19The expectation was that his audience were equally
0:51:19 > 0:51:21clued-in to the natural world.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23Maybe we aren't so much today, but they were then.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26Yeah, I mean, even in London there were lots of green spaces,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29so people weren't quite as disconnected perhaps
0:51:29 > 0:51:32as they are now from the wild and from nature.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35People weren't just more in tune with nature
0:51:35 > 0:51:40in Shakespeare's time. Objects in the natural world held meanings
0:51:40 > 0:51:43that would have been understood by most people.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47Flowers, in particular, had a language of their own.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51And it was this language that Shakespeare called upon
0:51:51 > 0:51:54during one of his most powerful scenes.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Just before the character of Ophelia drowns in Hamlet,
0:51:58 > 0:52:01she distributes flowers to those around her.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06"There's rosemary, that's for remembrance.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08"Pray you, love, remember.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11"And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14"There's fennel for you, and columbines.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17"There's rue for you, and here's some for me.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20"We may call it herb of grace o'Sundays.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23"O, you must wear your rue with a difference!
0:52:23 > 0:52:25"There's a daisy.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27"I would give you some violets but they wither'd all
0:52:27 > 0:52:29"when my father died.
0:52:29 > 0:52:30"They say he made a good end."
0:52:34 > 0:52:38What seems to be going on in this scene with Ophelia?
0:52:38 > 0:52:40She's obviously demented with grief.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44She's lost her father and Hamlet's been really horrible to her.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48But she's got together this kind of strange bunch of plants that,
0:52:48 > 0:52:51to our eyes, don't really fit very well together.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54You've got herbs and you've got flowers, but actually these would
0:52:54 > 0:52:58all be strewing herbs for the bedchamber, for example.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02You'd strew them on the floor with the rushes to make it smell nice.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06Do the individual plants that she refers to have particular meaning?
0:53:06 > 0:53:08Yeah, I think to Shakespeare's audience
0:53:08 > 0:53:11that each one of them would have a meaning.
0:53:11 > 0:53:12That's what she's picking up on.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16So she talks about rosemary and she says that's for remembrance.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18That was the association -
0:53:18 > 0:53:23it was used at funerals and it signifies longevity.
0:53:23 > 0:53:28Rue's a very interesting plant because we don't find it much now,
0:53:28 > 0:53:31- cos it's actually quite dangerous if you touch it.- Oh.
0:53:31 > 0:53:32You can get blisters from it.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35Ophelia calls it the herb of grace and that's
0:53:35 > 0:53:39because it was taken into church on a Sunday
0:53:39 > 0:53:42and if you were genuinely repentant
0:53:42 > 0:53:45then you would get forgiveness, basically.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48- And then violets? - Violets signify humility.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52That's because they're quite understated
0:53:52 > 0:53:57and they're thought of as dim and growing in low places and not showy.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59Gosh, it makes giving a bunch of flowers these days
0:53:59 > 0:54:02seem like a doddle, doesn't it? There's no meaning!
0:54:02 > 0:54:04- "Have some daffodils."- That's right.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11In Shakespeare's day, the natural world held a deep-seated resonance
0:54:11 > 0:54:14for people in a way that's different from today.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17Shakespeare used this to great effect
0:54:17 > 0:54:20because he was a countryman at heart.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23And it's his passion for nature and our countryside
0:54:23 > 0:54:25that has proved timeless.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30So it's only fitting we end with the words of William Shakespeare.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40"This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43"This other Eden, demi-paradise."
0:54:46 > 0:54:49"This precious stone set in the silver sea."
0:54:51 > 0:54:54"This earth, this realm."
0:54:55 > 0:54:56"This England."