We all know that tired old story about Shakespeare not writing Shakespeare.
But did Shakespeare freebase cocaine? Was that one of the reasons for his genius?
Or was it one of his neighbors in Stratford?
Take a look: ten things you didn’t know about Shakespeare.
Here’s something else you may not have known about Shakespeare: he had a cousin with the same name who came to stay at his lodgings in Bishopsgate in 1593 and went on to become London’s first private detective.
Well actually, he didn’t. But everything else in the books about Shakespeare is true.
And no, there isn’t a scene with him freebasing cocaine with Walter Raleigh.
Should there be?
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Oh, yes, I know this Youtube video! Great fun, isn’t it? I’ve shown it to my Year 8 English class when we were doing an intro to Shakespeare. They were especially excited by that bit about Much Ado About Nothing.
But I don’t think I can swallow that bit about the 15th century pipe with cocaine in it. The coca plant is native to South America and didn’t reach Europe till some time in the 16th and I’m betting it got to Spain or Portugal before it reached England.
You’re absolutely right, Sue. Coca leaves don’t travel well anyway. The pipe would have been at least very late sixteenth century - Marlowe and Raleigh were the first famous pipe smokers. By that stage if tobacco was reaching England then coca leaves might have also - perhaps that’s what Shakespeare meant by “eternal lines” in sonnet 18!
Love old Willy. When I was a kid, we read “MacBeth” with astounding frequency, most certainly because of the Scottish connections. But, even as a kid, I loved the sound of his language and my parents would “act” out (read holler drunkenly) the various parts. Naturally, my favorite soliliquy in MacBeth begins, “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. . . ” The best performance I ever witnessed was when Ian MacKellan played MacBeth, back in the 80s. By the way, I think the pipe was a set-up by Marlowe!
You’re right Mary, it was the sort of thing Mazza would do.