William Shakespeare by Jennifer Bassett

单词提示

1.playgoers 戏迷

2.wigs 假发

3.rehearsals 排练

原文

Chapter 4: A new life in London

It's two days journey to London by horse, and Will talked all the way.

His eyes were bright and excited.

He was full of plans, and poems, and a love of life.

“I talked to one of the queen's men.” he told me, “He said that he could find me work in the theatre, acting perhaps, or helping to write some plays. I showed him some of my writing and he was very interested.”

When we rode into London, I began to feel afraid.

This was a big, big city, and we were just two unimportant young men from a small town.

I'll never forget the noise, and the smells, and the crowds.

There were 200000 people living in the city of London.

I never saw so many people before in my life.

We went down to the River Thames, and saw the famous London Bridge with all its shops and houses.

Down the river was the Tower of London.

Enemies of the Queen went into the tower through the river gate and mostly came out without their heads.

We found a small inn in east, cheap, not too expensive, and had some bread, meat,and beer for our supper.

“Well,we're here.” Will said at last.

I said, “What do we do next?”

He laughed everything.

The next day, we began to look for work.

Those early years were wonderful.

We didn't have much money of course, and we had to work very hard.

A new actor only got six shillings a week, and there wasn't work every week.

I decided not to be an actor.

“Why not?” said Will, “It's a great life.”

We were working that month for the Queen's men at the theatre called The Curtain Up in Shoreditch.

Will was acting four small parts in two different plays.

He played a soldier and a murderer in one play.

And in the other play, he was a thief and also an Italian lord in love with the Queen of the knight, and he loved it.

“I'm not clever like you,” I said, “I can't remember all those words. I forget who I am. I say the soldier's words when I'm an Italian lord, I come on stage too late or too soon. I stand in all the wrong places.”

Will laughed, “What are you going to do then?”

“Costumes,”I say, “and properties. I had a talk with John Hemmings, and he said they need a new man to help with all the clothes and the other things.”

“Yes,”Will said slowly, “you'll be good at that now. I've got a fight on stage tomorrow and I have to die with lots of blood. How are you going to get me some blood? I've already got it.”

I smiled kindly at him, “Sheep's blood, I got it down at Smithfield Market this morning. You can have as much blood as you want. I'm keeping it warm for you.”

Will was good at acting, not the best, but good.

An actor had to do everything, he had to learn his words of course, perhaps for six different plays at the same time.

No theatre put on the same play every day, he had to dance and sing and play music,he had to jump and fall and fight and the fights had to look real.

The playgoers of London knew a real fight when they saw one.

John Hemmings of The Queen's Men taught us both a lot.

He was a good friend then, and for many years.

I had a lot to learn, too.

I learned how to make shoes out of brown paper, how to clean the actor's hats with a bit of bread, then they looked like new again.

I ran all over London to buy the best hair for the wigs.

I learned how to make fish and fruit and a piece of meat out of wood and colored paper.

Will was busy day and night.

I don't know when he slept.

He was acting in plays, he was writing his own plays, he was reading books, he was meeting other writers, making friends.

He was learning, learning, learning…

One day, we were having a glass of beer with Richard Burbage at the Boar's Head in east cheap.

Burbage was an actor with Lord Strange's Men. He was very friendly with Will.

“You've written four plays now, Will.” he said, “they're good and you're getting better all the time. And I'm getting better as an actor all the time. Come and work with Lord Strange's men at the Rose Theatre on Bankside. You can write for us.”

So,we both went to the Rose.

John Hemmings came with us.

And Augustine Phillips, he was a good actor, too.

We worked harder than ever at the Rose.

Plays were always in the afternoon because of the daylight.

We had rehearsals in the morning.

And by lunchtime, people were already coming across the river to get their places for the play, and more and more people came.

By 1592, London was hearing the name William Shakespeare again and again.

翻译

第四章：在伦敦的新生活

骑马去伦敦有两天的路程，一路上威尔说个不停。
他的双眼闪烁着兴奋的光芒，脑子里装满了计划、诗歌，以及对生活的无限热爱。

“我和‘女王剧团’的一个演员聊过了，”他告诉我，“他说能帮我在剧院找份活儿，也许是当演员，或者帮着写写剧本。我给他看了我写的一些东西，他非常感兴趣。”

当我们骑马进入伦敦时，我开始感到害怕了。
这是一座极其庞大的城市，而我们不过是两个来自小镇、无足轻重的年轻人。
我永远不会忘记那里的喧嚣、气味和拥挤的人潮。
当时伦敦城里住着20万人。
我这辈子从没见过这么多人。

我们来到泰晤士河畔，看到了著名的伦敦桥，桥上密密麻麻全是店铺和房屋。
顺着河往下游走，便是伦敦塔。
女王的政敌们会被从水门押进塔里，而大多数人都身首异处地出来。

我们在东边找了一家小客栈，价格便宜，不算太贵。

晚饭我们吃了些面包、肉，喝了点啤酒。
“好吧，我们到了。”威尔终于说道。
我问：“我们接下来做什么？”
他对一切都充满干劲。

第二天，我们便开始找工作。
最初的那几年真是奇妙无比。
当然，我们没多少钱，而且必须拼命工作。
一个新演员一周只能赚6先令，而且并不是每周都有活儿干。

我决定不去当演员了。
“为什么不呢？”威尔说，“这可是个极好的行当。”
那个月，我们正在肖迪奇区一家名叫“帷幕剧院”的地方为“女王剧团”干活。
威尔在两出不同的戏里演了四个小角色。
在一出戏里，他演了一个士兵和一个刺客；在另一出戏里，他演了一个小偷，还演了一位爱上骑士女王的意大利领主。他简直爱死演戏了。

“我不像你那么聪明，”我说，“我记不住那么多台词。我连自己是谁都会忘。演意大利领主的时候，我会说出士兵的台词；我上台不是太早就是太晚，还总是站错位置。”
威尔大笑起来：“那你打算做什么？”
“管服装和道具，”我说，“我和约翰·赫明斯聊过了，他说他们需要个新人来帮忙打理衣服和其他物件。”
“是啊，”威尔慢条斯理地说，“你现在做这个肯定合适。明天我在台上有一场打斗戏，我得‘死’得血肉模糊才行。你打算怎么给我弄点血来？”
“我已经弄到了。”我温和地对他笑了笑，“羊血，今天早上我在史密斯菲尔德市场买的。你要多少有多少。我还一直给你温着呢。”

威尔是个不错的演员，虽算不上顶尖，但也相当出色。
当演员什么都得干，背台词自然是基本功，有时候还得同时背下六出不同戏的台词。
剧院不会每天只演同一出戏，所以演员还得会唱歌、跳舞、演奏乐器，还得在台上跳跃、摔倒、打斗，而且打斗必须看起来像真的一样。
伦敦的观众可是火眼金睛，一眼就能看出打斗是不是来真的。

“女王剧团”的约翰·赫明斯教了我们很多东西。
他当时是我们的好朋友，后来也是，这份友谊持续了许多年。

我也有一大堆东西要学。
我学会了怎么用牛皮纸做鞋，怎么用一小块面包把演员的帽子擦得焕然一新。
为了买到做假发最好的毛发，我跑遍了整个伦敦。
我还学会了怎么用木头和彩纸做出鱼、水果和肉块。

威尔从早忙到晚。
我都不知道他什么时候睡觉。
他忙着演戏，忙着写自己的剧本，忙着看书，忙着结交其他作家、交朋友。
他一直在学，学，学……

有一天，我们在东边齐普赛区的“野猪头酒馆”和理查德·伯比奇一起喝啤酒。
伯比奇是“斯特兰奇勋爵剧团”的演员，他和威尔关系极好。
“威尔，你现在已经写了四出戏了，”他说，“写得很好，而且你一直在进步。作为演员，我也在不断进步。来南岸的玫瑰剧院为斯特兰奇勋爵剧团效力吧。你可以专门为我们写剧本。”

于是，我们俩都去了玫瑰剧院。
约翰·赫明斯也跟着我们一起去了。
还有奥古斯丁·菲利普斯，他也是个出色的演员。
在玫瑰剧院，我们比以前更加拼命地工作。
因为需要自然光，演出总是安排在下午。
我们上午排练。
到了吃午饭的时候，人们就已经开始过河来占座等看戏了，而且人越来越多。

到了1592年，伦敦城里的人开始一遍又一遍地听到“威廉·莎士比亚”这个名字。