Shakespeare's world, like our world, was/is a very dangerous place.

The bubonic plague swept through London in 1563, 1578-9, 1582, 1592-3, and 1603. The outbreaks in 1563 and 1603 killed as much as a quarter of London's population of about 500,000.


Each outbreak of the plague brought the development of the city's young, burgeoning theater industry to screeching halts.

England was in the midst of the Religious Wars of the Reformation. Elizabeth I, the Protestant British Monarch of Shakespeare's London was in constant danger after Pope Pius V issued the Bull Regnans in Excelsis of Excommunication and Deposition - a green light for Catholics to rise against and kill her.

The Privy Council/Star Chamber, became England's version of the Inquisition. People perceived as religious or political opposition to Elizabeth I, The Church of England, the established order, were horribly tortured, broken, imprisoned for life.

Shakespeare and his London playwright contemporaries, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Thomas Kyd, lived in fear of the police knock on the door, the dungeon, the torture chamber, the 'justice' of the Privy Council/Star Chamber.

Thomas Kyd was one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama. Some scholars believe he was the author of a Hamlet play pre-dating Shakespeare's, which is now known as the Ur-Hamlet.

On May 12,1593,  Kyd, was arrested for allegedly posting "divers lewd and mutinous libels" around London. He would later say he had been the victim of an informer.

His lodgings, which he had shared with Christopher Marlowe, were searched. A tract was found that was said to be "vile heretical conceits denying the eternal deity of Jesus Christ..."

Kyd was tortured, and broken.

He told his torturers that the tract belonged to his fellow dramatist and former room mate. He said Marlowe was a blasphemous traitor, an atheist who believed Jesus Christ was a homosexual”.

Kyd died from his injuries, less than a year after being tortured.

Marlowe was summoned by the Privy Council/Star Chamber.

Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe, was born in 1564, the same year Shakespeare was born. When Shakespeare arrived in London's world of theater sometime around 1590, Marlowe was the most prominent, celebrated playwright.

At the very least he was Shakespeare's biggest literary influence. And yet, there are prominent Shakespearean scholars who claim Marlowe was much more than this.

Last November, Oxford University Press released its new edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare. It credited Marlowe as a co-author on the three Henry VI plays.

Marlowe was released. But he was commanded to report to the authorities, "each day there after until licensed to the contrary".

Ten days later, he was stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer, a government secret agent.

Henry VI was one of Shakespeare's earliest plays. And yet it clearly states his perennial themes of political overthrow, legitimate vs. illegitimate princes, usurpation and tyranny, power and it's abuse, the ways in which ambitious men plot to gain power, usually the throne, by illegitimate means.

Henry VI, Part 3, is the latest of Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s (CSF) 2017 “Original Practices” productions in the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre. These productions attempt to duplicate the practices and performances of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

With the performances of Henry VI, Part 3, the final play in Shakespeare’s War of the Roses chronicle  (an inspiration for HBO's Game of Thrones series), August 6-8, CSF completes the 37-play Shakespeare canon for a second time.

Why Shakespeare wasn't arrested, tortured, imprisoned for life for writing another play 'Richard II' (which was performed by CSF in 2013) is a historical mystery.

The play tells of Henry Bolingbroke, who becomes Henry IV, the founder of the Tudor dynasty.

To become king Bolingbroke usurps the rule of a weak, effeminate king.

Some scholars say the play demonstrates Shakespeare's support of the Essex Rebellion against Elizabeth I.

"...let us sit upon the ground/And tell sad stories of the death of kings,” says Shakespeare's Richard II, shortly before he is himself murdered; “How some have been deposed; some slain in war, …/Some poisoned by their wives; some sleeping killed;/All murdered.”

In February 1601, on the eve of a failed rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I. The Earl of Essex, a former favorite of the queen, paid for a special public performance of “Richard II. When the queen found out about these performances she recognized, “I am Richard II; know ye not?” 

“This tragedy,” she noted, “was forty times played in open streets and houses.”

And, though Essex was beheaded, Shakespeare suffered no known consequences for seemingly writing something that supported Essex's rebellion.

And yet, 416-years later, Shakespeare is again in political trouble.

New York City's  Public Theater’s production of “Julius Caesar” in Central Park depicts the assassination of an aspiring dictator, much like Donald Trump.

Two corporate sponsors of 'Shakespeare in the Park,' Delta Air Lines and the Bank of America, withdrew their support. President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., has asked about the "taxpayer-funded" support of Central Park's free Shakespeare.

CSF 2017 is also performing Julius Caesar. The production is said to be about "Lies, scheming and scandal."

And yet, there is nothing about 'Julius Caesar' that is subversive that advocates political violence/assassination.

The message of 'Julius Caesar' is that political violence - no matter how well-intentioned - no matter if it's done to protect democracy from tyranny - will backfire and will undermine democracy and bring tyranny.

Hamlet, which will also be performed at the CSF 2017, has a much more dangerous message for this time.

The message of Hamlet is there is no compromise, no negotiating with illegitimate, unnatural, rulers.

They must be revealed for what they are.

They must be killed.

 And you must be willing to die in the struggle.