01
The Cosmos
What filled the heavens in 1600? The book explores a spherical universe with humanity at its center, opening fresh readings of Antony & Cleopatra, King John, and Romeo & Juliet.
Shakespeare's WorldSeeing the Plays Through Elizabethan Eyes
A fascinating, readable distillation of Dennis Krausnick's actor-training legacy at Shakespeare & Company, with practical notes for every Shakespeare play.
About the Book
Recover the worldview behind the words.
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, such as language, technology, living standards, and 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,” an understanding of the Elizabethan worldview illuminates Shakespeare's plays in new and surprising ways.
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 humors, and the great chain of being. Detailed notes for each Shakespeare play show how this worldview permeates the text, enriching the experience of anyone looking to understand and engage with Shakespeare's writing in a practical, personal, and active way.
Four Lenses
How the book helps readers and practitioners see differently
02
The Great Chain of Being
What if everything in existence had a rightful place? See how Shakespeare's plots often turn on the breaking, and restoration, of cosmic order.
03
Human Bodies & Humors
Step into early modern physiology, where body, mind, and spirit were inseparable. A practical lens for actors shaping character from the inside out.
04
Correspondences
Everything connects in the Elizabethan imagination. The plays' poetry becomes newly vivid when kings can be roses and lovers can be oysters.
Lineage
From Shakespeare & Company's training room to the page
For decades, Dennis Krausnick brought Elizabethan worldview training to life in the world-renowned Month-Long Intensive at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts, where actors still study the era's cosmology, physiology, and stagecraft, including the direct actor-audience relationship at the heart of Elizabethan performance. This book distills that immersive teaching tradition, usually reserved for actors training in person over weeks, for any performer, director, or curious reader working with the plays.
Authors
Teachers, artists, and lifelong Shakespeare practitioners
Dennis Krausnick
Beloved classical acting teacher and former Director of Training at Shakespeare & Company (1942–2018), whose immersive worldview work shaped generations of performers.
Josh Lubarr
Writer and longtime Shakespeare student with a focus on what the plays reveal about ourselves and the universe; collaborator on multiple Shakespeare productions.
Rebecca Goodheart
Producing Artistic Director of Elm Shakespeare Company, designated Linklater voice teacher, director, actor, and published scholar in Shakespeare performance.
Companion Workshops
Four evenings with Rebecca Goodheart
A discussion and performance series exploring how Shakespeare and his audience understood the world, and what that perspective can still unlock for us today.
- The Cosmos
- The Great Chain of Being
- Human Bodies
- Correspondences
