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History

38 Facts About Shakespeare’s 38 Plays

BY Paul Anthony Jones
April 22, 2016
Getty Images
Getty Images

William Shakespeare died 400 years ago on April 23, 1616. His complete works—at least 38 surviving plays (including several collaborations), 154 sonnets, and five narrative poems, totaling a staggering 884,000 words—are a cornerstone of English literature, and have remained (albeit intermittently) popular ever since his death. So to commemorate the quadricentenary of Shakespeare’s death, here are 38 facts, stats, anecdotes and origins about his 38 plays. 


1. ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

Everyone knows Macbeth is supposed to be unlucky, but if you’re superstitious, you might be best off avoiding All’s Well That Ends Well, too. According to A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800, during rehearsals for a revival of the play in London in 1741, one of its stars, William Milward, turned up wearing “too light and airy [a] suit of clothes,” caught “a Spotted Fever,” and fell gravely ill. The premiere was postponed until the following January, but during the opening performance, the female lead, Peg Woffington, fainted, and her part had to be read by another actress. They postponed the next performance so that Woffington could recover, but Milward fell sick again, causing more postponements. Milward died several days later after completing only one performance. The entire debacle was enough to put producers off staging Shakespeare’s tragi-comic romance for another decade.

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