Discover the Wonderful World of Shakespeare with

Elinor, Your Elizabethan Girl™

Get to know Shakespeare through some fun family challenges and two incredible Elizabethan days out, perfect for fun with your very own Elinor, Your Elizabethan Girl™ 

The Great Shakespearean Quiz

Fun Shakespearean Facts:

1. How many siblings did Shakespeare have?
2. How old was Shakespeare when he got married?
3. How many female actors did Shakespeare employ in his plays?
4. What did Shakespeare famously leave his wife in his will?
5. How many plays did Shakespeare write?

‘Who said’:

1. ‘To be or not to be, that is the question’.
2. ‘Out damned spot, out I say’.
3. ‘If music be the food of love, play on’.

 Shakespearean challenges:

1. Name 3 phrases Shakespeare made up. If you can’t name three make some up yourself. Who can make up the best phrase?
2. The longest word in any of Shakespeare’s plays is ‘honorificabilitudinitatibus’. Try saying it as many times as you can in 30 seconds and take turns guessing what it means.
3. Shakespeare was famous for his incredible characters from witches, to queens, to waring families, try making up your own Shakespearean character, where would Elinor fit into his stories?

Shakespearean Days Out - from your own home! 

The Globe Theatre (London)

The hustle and bustle of the Globe was one of Elinor’s favourite things about London. Everyone could go, from rich nobles to ‘groundlings’ who paid a single penny to attend. 

Nowadays you can visit The Globe Theatre on the Southbank to see Shakespeare’s plays as Elinor would have seen them.  For grown-ups, The Globe offers online versions of their most popular plays, whereas the kids can get into the real action with the online ‘playground’ of fun videos and activities. You can even learn together with online teaching resources or take a virtual tour of the magnificent building. 

Stratford Upon Avon (West Midlands)

Before she was sent away to escape the plague, Elinor’s house in London would have looked like the preserved houses in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

The town hosts many famous sites linked to the bard himself, from his birthplace, to his wife’s home, to the ‘new house’ which he built with his growing fortune.

Some of  these attractions have re-opened, so make sure to check out their Coronavirus regulations here. You can also get involved in some Shakespearean fun from home with these online educational activities for children, or poetry competitions and pub quizzes for grown-ups through their ‘museum from home’!

Answers to our Great Shakespearean Quiz

Fun Shakespearean Facts:

1. Seven! 
2. Shakespeare was only 18 when he married. His wife was 8 years older.
3. None, women were not allowed to be actors in Elizabethan times. In his plays women would have been played by young boys in makeup and dresses.
4. He famously left her his ‘second best’ bed.
5. We don’t know! Shakespeare may have published many more plays that the 37 we are familiar with, plays were never written down and instead the actors would learn the lines from quickly written line sheets, ink still wet from Shakespeare’s quill.

‘Who said’:

1. Hamlet in Hamlet. In his famous speech Hamlet questions himself amid his grief for his father and anger at his mother.
2. Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. One of Shakespeare’s best female characters, Lady Macbeth’s famous soliloquy foreshadows her tragic end.
3. Orsino in Twelfth Night. The opening line of the play, Orsino asks for better luck after being rejected by his love Countess Olivia.

Shakespearean challenges:

1. ‘In a pickle’, ‘lacklustre’, ‘one fell swoop’, ‘wild goose chase’, ‘seen better days’, ‘good riddance’, ‘you’ve got to be cruel to be kind’, ‘love is blind’, ‘be all and end all’, ‘break the ice’ and ‘knock, knock, who’s there’ are all Shakespearean terms.
2. Honorificabilitudinitatibus is from the play Love’s Labour Lost and means“invincible glorious honorableness”.

Limited availability: Your Elizabethan Girl, Elinor™is available for pre-order now.

If you loved this blog be sure to check out our Tudor Days Out with Your Tudor Girl, Matilda™or Your Elizabethan Girl, Elinor’s™ diary entries.

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Comment below how you got on with our challenges and what you would like to see from our A Girl For All Time™ blogs!