Elizabethan Street Fighting

Published: May 5, 2015, 2:22 p.m.

b'"Blood hath been shed ere now, i\' th\' olden time,\\nEre humane statute purged the gentle weal;\\nAy, and since too, murders have been performed\\nToo terrible for the ear."\\n\\u2014MACBETH(3.4.91\\u201394)\\n\\nFrom the duels in ROMEO AND JULIET to a brutal mob in JULIUS CAESAR, street fighting transforms several of Shakespeare\'s plays. How much, though, does it reflect (or differ from) the mean streets of his day?\\n\\nRebecca Sheir talks violence in Elizabethan times with Vanessa McMahon, author of "Murder in Shakespeare\'s England" (2004), and Casey Kaleba, an expert in Elizabethan street crime and one of the Washington, DC, area\'s most sought-after fight coaches for stage plays.\\n\\n----------------------------\\n\\nFrom the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published May 6, 2015. \\xa9 Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved.\\n\\nProduced for the Folger Shakespeare Library by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. Edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington.\\n\\nWith help from Folger Magazine editor Karen Lyon, Juliet Bury at Richmond, the American International University in London, Laura Green at The Sound Company, and Jonathan Charry at public radio station WAMU.'