"Hamnet"
Two cinema visits in one week! This morning I braved our snowy streets and caught a number 218 to the bus stop on Paternoster Row, right outside The Showroom. I was there to see the first screening of "Hamnet" directed by Chloé Zhao. The first character we encounter in the film is Anne Hathaway. She is in a forest near to Stratford-upon-Avon and she has her hawk with her. That summer she meets a young William Shakespeare and as the sap rises, they fall in love and make a baby together. They are married at short notice and soon after their first child is born - Susanna. By the way, in history rather than fiction, Shakespeare was eighteen at the time and Anne Hathaway was twenty six. Two years later, in 1585, Anne gave birth to twins - another daughter called Judith and a son who was named Hamnet. Seven years later we find Shakespeare in London working in the theatre and becoming a playwright. He goes back to Stratford occasionally to be with his family but London is re...