In late July 1606—part way through a season that would soon premiere King Lear, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra—William Shakespeare was ordered by London's Privy Council to shut down his theater.
The plague was in town.
The Privy Council was worried that audiences would be “pestered together in small romes" where "infeccion with the plague may rise and growe, to the great hynderaunce of the common wealth of this citty.”
Rather than lay off the troupe, Shakespeare urged his actors to flee hot-spot London for a tour of the provinces, where they could strut the stage while staying safe from the dreadful disease.
But country villages were sleepy places; and many of the days and weeks the actors spent in them were spent idly.
Shakespeare, however, chose to capitalize on the downtime, using it to write three new plays, as recounted by historian James Shapiro in The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606.
Thanks to the plague, 1606 was a very good year for the bard.
Indeed, no other of his remaining life would be as fruitful a year.
And how about you?
What are you doing with your time?
When May is rushing over you with desire
To be part of the miracles you see in every hour.
To be part of the miracles you see in every hour.
You'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something
That will grow and bloom in you.
That will grow and bloom in you.
— Natalie Merchant
