Shakespeare was at the height of his career in 1597.
But his theater was robbed from him by his landlord.
So, Shakespeare and a group of men devised a secret plan to move the entire theater across the Thames River...
Shakespeare looks up at the men putting the last reeds on the roof of their newly built theater.
They were finally free.
The first theater built by actors, for actors, had been created.
At this time, Shakespeare's plays were captivating the city of London.
Everyone wanted to come and listen to his wonderous and moving stories.
Up until Shakespeare entered the arena, a lot of plays were fairly simple:
1. Guy faces dragon
2. Guy defeats dragon somehow
3. Guy rescues girl
4. Happily ever after
But Shakespeare's plays hit a different note in the folks of London.
The plays were multidimensional and his characters had depth.
This change of pace/direction allowed people to relate to his plays in ways they had never quite experienced before...
So, things were going well for Shakespeare.
He was making good money too.
He bought himself a large place in Stratford, called the New Place.
The New Place was the second biggest dwelling in the area.
The estate had:
- 10 fireplaces
- Five aesthetic gables
- Two barns
- An orchard
- And was made of timber and brick
Not bad, but things were about to take a turn for the worst...
The lease had expired on the Globe Theater where Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain's Men had been performing.
(the Lord Chamberlain's Men was the acting group that Shakespeare worked with heavily throughout his career)
The owner of the property, "Mr. Allen," did not like the theater and charged an absurd price for their lease renewal.
Shakespeare and his friends could not pay the heightened rent.
They tried to reason with the landlord but failed.
Mr. Allen had made up his mind and was strangely evasive about the whole thing.
So, they took matters into their own hands...
On the night of December 28, 1598, Shakespeare, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and about a dozen other workmen, began dismantling the theater.
By the time Mr. Allen had come back from Christmas break, the theater was gone.
Shakespeare and his men stored all the building materials on a property one of the men owned.
Then the Lord Chamberlain's Men pitched in money to lease a new plot of land on the other side of the Thames River.
Some say they did this without consent.
Some say they used a contract loophole.
What appears to have been the most legitimate story was that they told Mr. Allen they would take the building down for free, if they could use the material for miscellaneous stuff, like firewood.
After rebuilt, the theater was a huge success.
These were the plays that were first showcased in the New Globe Theater:
- Julius Caesar
- Macbeth
- The tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra
- Measure for Measure
- King Lear
- Hamlet
Their secret plan paid off, to say the least...
How can this story from Shakespeare's life be applied to your own life though?
Unfortunately, not everyone is looking out for you in this world.
It shouldn't be that way, but it is, at least for now.
There is a great deal of selfishness motivating people's decisions, so you need to do what you can to foster some sort of independence.
There's no such thing as being 100% independent, we are an interdependent species - we need each other.
But, you want to avoid having ALL your eggs in SOMEONE ELSE'S basket...
Sounds simple enough, but the idea isn't taken seriously by many.
Shakespeare and his men had no safety net and it almost ended in their demise.
We may never have gotten all the incredible plays out of Shakespeare if they hadn't thought outside of the box, taken matters into their own hands, and then all collaborated to gain independence.
So, you may not need to dismantle your company's office and rebuild it across town, but make sure that you cover your bases when it comes to independence.
Life sucks when you are extremely dependent upon someone and they pull the rug out from underneath you.
Some don't recover.
KNOWLEDGE:
- Cover your bases in terms of independence, especially with work.
- And if you get caught in the rainstorm without a coat, move/think fast.
Shakespeare was an incredible man. Rumor has it, he wrote the first King James Bible... might have to write a thread on… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
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