My quick and dirty list of things that are (surprisingly) historically accurate in TNT’s Will
I wasn’t really expecting this show to have done as much research as it did. Props to the writers! p.s this is all based off what I remember from theatre history class and quick google searches, so salt grains!
There would have been bears at the Rose Theatre. Records kept by Henslowe show that bearbaiting was one of the entertainments the theatre offered. Whether or not he fed them while plotting to crush his competition is unknown.
Will did marry Anne Hathaway when he was 18. Possibly bit of a shotgun wedding sort of deal, as she gave birth six months later.
Will’s father was in the glove business.
Southwell mentioning turning a “foul” copy of his manuscript into a “fair” copy is the correct terminology: a foul copy was the name for the first draft of a script and a fair copy would have been the final draft
“Groundlings” was the nickname for the theater audience that stood on, well, the ground.
Henslowe was the owner of the Rose, with Edward Alleyn as its most famous actor, and James Burbage was the owner of The Theatre, with his son Richard being its most famous actor.
Alice Burbage existed too! (Although in real life she had two sisters)
It’s hard to say much for certain about whether Marlowe was as depicted in the show, as much of what is written about him was meant to slander, but he was unquestionably a controversial figure, and there is evidence that can build a good case for him being a spy, being gay, being an atheist, as well as being involved in some catholic controversy.
There was an oppressive crackdown on Catholics at the time, with many missionaries given the punishment for treason: hanged, disembowelled, and quartered.
Father Robert Southwell was a real person, however he is not known to be a relation to Shakespeare.
Richard Topcliffe was real too. And the show has not exaggerated his cruelty.
