02-01-威廉·莎士比亚 [10]
年时就没多少事能令她开心了。爱尔兰经常发生动乱，女王派遣爱塞克斯伯爵率兵2万去征战，随同出征的还有威尔的好友索桑普敦勋爵。当爱塞克斯率兵出征爱尔兰时，所有的伦敦市民都走上街头夹道欢送。那年夏天，威尔写了一部关于战争的鼓舞斗志的历史剧《亨利五世》，其中有一两处提到了爱尔兰的动乱。这部历史剧描绘了一位在法国征战的功名显赫的英国君主形象。
爱塞克斯毕竟不是亨利五世，他压根不懂如何作战，不久就逃回英国，女王也从此不再理他。
9月我们开放“环球剧院”。这座富丽堂皇的新剧院紧邻“玫瑰剧院”，由威尔，理查·白贝芝和其他股东出资建成，是伦敦当时最好的一座剧院，不久就成为最负盛名的剧院。尽管其它剧团的剧院设备和演员配备都不错，但是我们有著名的理查·白贝芝和最好的剧本。
第二年我们上演了威尔的三部新剧本和其他剧作家创作的一些剧本。其中一位就是刚出道的剧作家本·琼生。这人机智聪明，剧本也写得好，但人们还是推崇威尔的作品。本真不明白，他时常和威尔就如何创作剧本而争论不休，不过这人就爱与别人辩论。有一次因决斗杀了人，他还蹲过监狱。他比威尔小八岁，但两人是很好的朋友。
威尔的又一部剧是《丹麦王于哈姆雷特》。一天，我、威尔、理查·白贝芝、亨利·康德尔、约翰·海明和奥古斯丁·菲利普六个人一起聚在公猪头酒吧讨论剧本。
威尔将那堆手稿放在桌上，坐了下来。
“好吧，”他说，“剧本大家都看了，谈谈看法吧？”
“内容很好，”约翰·海明带头说道，“不过剧情太长，在剧院上演要演四个多小时。”
“我们并不需要全部剧情，”威尔说，“我们可以将剧本删减到三个小时，或者两个半小时也行。”
亨利·康德尔从桌上拿起一张手稿：“看这一段，奥菲利亚谈论哈姆雷特，”他说道，“我感觉剧中的哈姆雷特酷似爱塞克斯伯爵。你在写这段时是否想到爱塞克斯呢？”
威尔笑了起来。“或许有，”他说道，“或许也没有。”
“理查扮演哈姆雷特王子，对吧？”奥古斯丁说。
“那当然啦！”威尔说道，“这个角色专为他而写的。他是我们剧团的明星。我将扮演哈姆雷特父亲的幽灵。”他看看我，又说，“托比，哈姆雷特要穿黑衣服，而奥菲莉亚就准备白衣吧。”
亨利喝干了啤酒。“这故事取材不错，威尔，你为大家准备了好角色。不过，剧情进展太慢，观众会喜欢吗？他们看惯了剧情进展快而令人振奋的戏剧。哈姆雷特王子明知道叔父杀了他的父王，但他长时间只是用空话泄气，却没有采取任何行动，再说故事最终人物几乎都这样或那样地死去了。”
奥古斯丁并不同意这看法。“亨利，你还未真正理解这部戏，它会令人振奋，振奋不已的。这部戏的关键就在于哈姆雷特的内心活动。他想杀死叔父，但却不能，谋杀是不赦之罪，可他为了父王又必须杀死他。我们完全可以理解他的感受。”
理查·白贝芝一直一言不发。他重新看了看剧本的部分章节，然后放下手中的稿纸，抬起头，双眼奕奕放光、溢着兴奋之情。
“你们当中有谁真正领会剧中的语言呢？威尔，这是你写的最好的剧本了——所有戏剧中最好的一部。听听剧中的语言，剧中的诗歌吧！”他站起来，顿时整个房间回荡起他雄厚的嗓音。
“活着还是死亡，这是问题……”
我们默默地坐着，倾听那绝妙的声音将纸上的文字赋予了生命。威尔望着他，会意地微笑着。他知道，只有理查能如他一样，深深地迷恋着语言的妙处。
“……死亡，就是睡眠——
睡眠——也许要做梦，这就麻烦了。
我们一旦摆脱了尘世的牵缠，在死的睡眠里，还会做些什么梦呢？
一想到就不能不踌躇。”
理查真的说对了。观众迷上了这部悲剧，他们迷上了白贝芝扮演的哈姆雷特，他们为可怜的奥菲莉亚的死而哭泣，他们怒吼着让凶手克劳狄斯死去。我认为这的确是威尔最负盛名的戏剧。
■ 8 A Scottish King for England
Will's father died in September 1601．In his last years John Shakespeare was a happy man．His son was famous，and the Shakespeare family was important again in Stratford．But there weren't many children in the family．Will's sister Joan was married and had a little boy，but Will's brothers didn't have any children．
Susanna，Will's older daughter，was now eighteen，and Will said to her one day：
‘We must find you a husband soon，Susanna．’
But Susanna shook her head．‘Oh，I don't want to be married，Father，thank you．’
We all smiled at that，because there was already a young man who was often a visitor at New Place．That was John Hall，a clever young doctor．Will liked him．
Back in London，the theatres were always full，and actors were now important people in the city．Will and I were now living in very fine lodgings in Silver Street，with the Mountjoy family．The Globe and the Lord Chamberlain's Men were doing very well，and the older actors in the company were making money，and buying houses and land．But some people still thought that actors were dangerous，wicked people．
Then Queen Elizabeth died，on the 24th of March 1603，at Richmond．I remember the day well．The theatres were closed —you can't have plays when a queen is dying—and we were all at Henry Condell's house．He and John Heminges lived verg near our lodgings in Cripplegate．
We were all very worried．The new King of England was James the First．He was already King of Scotland，and he had a young wife，Queen Anne of Denmark，and three young children．But what was he like？Would he be a good king？And，most importantly，did he like plays？
‘If King James doesn't like plays，’said Henry Condell，‘we're finished．There are already a lot of Puritans on the London City Council，and they'd love to close the theatres down．’
Henry always looked at the black side of everything．
‘Well，he's written a lot of books himself，’said Will ‘Perhaps he'll be interested in plays，too We'll just have to wait and see．’
We didn't have to wait long．On the 19th of May I was underneath the stage in the Globe．I was trying to mend a bro-ken door in the floor of the stage．We used this door when a ghost came on or went off in a cloud of smoke．Suddenly，I heard feet running across the stage．I looked up through the hole，and saw Will and John Heminges and Richard Burbage．They were all very excited．
‘Listen to this，Toby，’said Will．He was holding a piece of paper in his hand．‘It's a letter from King James！From today，we are the King's Men
爱塞克斯毕竟不是亨利五世，他压根不懂如何作战，不久就逃回英国，女王也从此不再理他。
9月我们开放“环球剧院”。这座富丽堂皇的新剧院紧邻“玫瑰剧院”，由威尔，理查·白贝芝和其他股东出资建成，是伦敦当时最好的一座剧院，不久就成为最负盛名的剧院。尽管其它剧团的剧院设备和演员配备都不错，但是我们有著名的理查·白贝芝和最好的剧本。
第二年我们上演了威尔的三部新剧本和其他剧作家创作的一些剧本。其中一位就是刚出道的剧作家本·琼生。这人机智聪明，剧本也写得好，但人们还是推崇威尔的作品。本真不明白，他时常和威尔就如何创作剧本而争论不休，不过这人就爱与别人辩论。有一次因决斗杀了人，他还蹲过监狱。他比威尔小八岁，但两人是很好的朋友。
威尔的又一部剧是《丹麦王于哈姆雷特》。一天，我、威尔、理查·白贝芝、亨利·康德尔、约翰·海明和奥古斯丁·菲利普六个人一起聚在公猪头酒吧讨论剧本。
威尔将那堆手稿放在桌上，坐了下来。
“好吧，”他说，“剧本大家都看了，谈谈看法吧？”
“内容很好，”约翰·海明带头说道，“不过剧情太长，在剧院上演要演四个多小时。”
“我们并不需要全部剧情，”威尔说，“我们可以将剧本删减到三个小时，或者两个半小时也行。”
亨利·康德尔从桌上拿起一张手稿：“看这一段，奥菲利亚谈论哈姆雷特，”他说道，“我感觉剧中的哈姆雷特酷似爱塞克斯伯爵。你在写这段时是否想到爱塞克斯呢？”
威尔笑了起来。“或许有，”他说道，“或许也没有。”
“理查扮演哈姆雷特王子，对吧？”奥古斯丁说。
“那当然啦！”威尔说道，“这个角色专为他而写的。他是我们剧团的明星。我将扮演哈姆雷特父亲的幽灵。”他看看我，又说，“托比，哈姆雷特要穿黑衣服，而奥菲莉亚就准备白衣吧。”
亨利喝干了啤酒。“这故事取材不错，威尔，你为大家准备了好角色。不过，剧情进展太慢，观众会喜欢吗？他们看惯了剧情进展快而令人振奋的戏剧。哈姆雷特王子明知道叔父杀了他的父王，但他长时间只是用空话泄气，却没有采取任何行动，再说故事最终人物几乎都这样或那样地死去了。”
奥古斯丁并不同意这看法。“亨利，你还未真正理解这部戏，它会令人振奋，振奋不已的。这部戏的关键就在于哈姆雷特的内心活动。他想杀死叔父，但却不能，谋杀是不赦之罪，可他为了父王又必须杀死他。我们完全可以理解他的感受。”
理查·白贝芝一直一言不发。他重新看了看剧本的部分章节，然后放下手中的稿纸，抬起头，双眼奕奕放光、溢着兴奋之情。
“你们当中有谁真正领会剧中的语言呢？威尔，这是你写的最好的剧本了——所有戏剧中最好的一部。听听剧中的语言，剧中的诗歌吧！”他站起来，顿时整个房间回荡起他雄厚的嗓音。
“活着还是死亡，这是问题……”
我们默默地坐着，倾听那绝妙的声音将纸上的文字赋予了生命。威尔望着他，会意地微笑着。他知道，只有理查能如他一样，深深地迷恋着语言的妙处。
“……死亡，就是睡眠——
睡眠——也许要做梦，这就麻烦了。
我们一旦摆脱了尘世的牵缠，在死的睡眠里，还会做些什么梦呢？
一想到就不能不踌躇。”
理查真的说对了。观众迷上了这部悲剧，他们迷上了白贝芝扮演的哈姆雷特，他们为可怜的奥菲莉亚的死而哭泣，他们怒吼着让凶手克劳狄斯死去。我认为这的确是威尔最负盛名的戏剧。
■ 8 A Scottish King for England
Will's father died in September 1601．In his last years John Shakespeare was a happy man．His son was famous，and the Shakespeare family was important again in Stratford．But there weren't many children in the family．Will's sister Joan was married and had a little boy，but Will's brothers didn't have any children．
Susanna，Will's older daughter，was now eighteen，and Will said to her one day：
‘We must find you a husband soon，Susanna．’
But Susanna shook her head．‘Oh，I don't want to be married，Father，thank you．’
We all smiled at that，because there was already a young man who was often a visitor at New Place．That was John Hall，a clever young doctor．Will liked him．
Back in London，the theatres were always full，and actors were now important people in the city．Will and I were now living in very fine lodgings in Silver Street，with the Mountjoy family．The Globe and the Lord Chamberlain's Men were doing very well，and the older actors in the company were making money，and buying houses and land．But some people still thought that actors were dangerous，wicked people．
Then Queen Elizabeth died，on the 24th of March 1603，at Richmond．I remember the day well．The theatres were closed —you can't have plays when a queen is dying—and we were all at Henry Condell's house．He and John Heminges lived verg near our lodgings in Cripplegate．
We were all very worried．The new King of England was James the First．He was already King of Scotland，and he had a young wife，Queen Anne of Denmark，and three young children．But what was he like？Would he be a good king？And，most importantly，did he like plays？
‘If King James doesn't like plays，’said Henry Condell，‘we're finished．There are already a lot of Puritans on the London City Council，and they'd love to close the theatres down．’
Henry always looked at the black side of everything．
‘Well，he's written a lot of books himself，’said Will ‘Perhaps he'll be interested in plays，too We'll just have to wait and see．’
We didn't have to wait long．On the 19th of May I was underneath the stage in the Globe．I was trying to mend a bro-ken door in the floor of the stage．We used this door when a ghost came on or went off in a cloud of smoke．Suddenly，I heard feet running across the stage．I looked up through the hole，and saw Will and John Heminges and Richard Burbage．They were all very excited．
‘Listen to this，Toby，’said Will．He was holding a piece of paper in his hand．‘It's a letter from King James！From today，we are the King's Men