During the 16th century, William Shakespeare reimagined the chivalric spirit of the High Middle Ages in his comic and tragic plays, which transformed the Elizabethan Era into a Renaissance for the literary arts that proliferated the English language.
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The theme of courtly love runs through many of Shakespeare’s popular works including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It and others highlighted in the Quills! Elizabethan Edition II game set. The Italian Renaissance also made an impression on the bard in which some of its literary traditions and cultural contributions influenced his vision.
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William Shakespeare, Chandos Portrait, 1610, John Taylor from Wikimedia Commons. All other photos by Janine Fron ©2018.
Quills! Elizabethan Edition II is a cooperative game experience that explores the courtship of twelve couples from the bard’s most beloved plays:
Rosaline & Berowne, Helena & Demetrius, Portia & Bassanio, Beatrice & Benedick, Rosalind & Orlando, Viola & Duke Orsino, Miranda & Ferdinand, Perdita & Florizel, Katherine & Petruccio, Romeo & Juliet, along with Queen Elizabeth I and the bard himself are among the leading characters featured in the gameplay, while fragments from sonnets appear as inspirations. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are also included as Royal Patrons of the Arts and regular theatre goers during the Victorian Era in which Shakespeare’s popularity soared.
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I think you have
As little skill to fear as I have purpose
To put you to’t. But come; our dance, I pray:
Your hand, my Perdita: so turtles pair,
That never mean to part.
Florizel in The Winter’s Tale : Act IV, Scene IV
>Featured in Quills! Elizabethan Edition II: Heroes & Heroines of William Shakespeare
For 2-4 players, suggested ages 13+
Cooperative, social, playful and dramatically fun!
Imagine a time when people collected butterflies, wrote with feather quill pens by candlelight and wore brocade fashions. Gather Hannah’s windblown notes and pages from William Shakespeare’s plays written and performed during the Elizabethan era to help complete a manuscript in the Queen’s honour.
Each couple comes with a Hero/Heroine, Plot Summary, and Courtship Butterfly Story Card to rescue from Hannah’s windblown desk as she races the clock to meet her manuscript deadline.
Help replenish Hannah’s inkwell, rescue sonnets, and gather all of the missing book pages to become a ‘Feather in Hannah’s Cap,’ ‘Co-Editor of Hannah’s Next Book,’ or ‘Plume Laureate’ of the game. When Butterfly Story Cards are shared aloud, a unique story between the couples begins to emerge that ignites the imagination of the players. The pressed butterflies symbolize the transformation of the couples’ journey.
Quills! Elizabethan Edition I additionally highlights the challenges and insights for twelve of Shakespeare’s leading heroines. The complete QEI game set offers fans a delightfully enriching experience, and provides educators with an engaging teaching tool that reveals a lively glimpse into Shakespeare’s extraordinary world.
Each bespoke game is made to order, uniquely crafted by hand and signed as a playable work of art. No special assembly required.
>>Available @ Marigold Games
O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound
And crown what I profess with kind event
If I speak true! if hollowly, invert
What best is boded me to mischief! I
Beyond all limit of what else i’ the world
Do love, prize, honour you.
Ferdinand in The Tempest : Act III Scene I
>Featured in Quills! Elizabethan Edition II: Heroes & Heroines of William Shakespeare
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Heroes & Heroines of Shakespeare Montage:
Miranda & Ferdinand, Portia & Bassanio, Viola & Orsino, Helena & Bertram, Romeo & Juliet, Katherine & Petruchio, Aliena & Ganymede, Beatrice & Benedick, and Imogen & Posthumus, .
All historic images from Wiki Commons, featuring John Henry Ford, Sir John Everett Millais, Edward John Poytner, Norman Price, Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys and John William Waterhouse.
O Rosalind! these trees shall be my books
And in their barks my thoughts I’ll character;
That every eye which in this forest looks
Shall see thy virtue witness’d every where.
Orlando in As You Like It : Act III, Scene II
>Featured in Quills! Elizabethan Edition II: Heroes & Heroines of William Shakespeare
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It is interesting to note that Virginia Woolf authored an innovative novel, with the name of Orlando–the namesake of the leading male character in Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Woolf is a featured heroine in the Special Messages for the Quills! Classic Edition game set.
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.”
-William Shakespeare
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*Poetic quotes by the bard that are featured in the garden also appear in the Prairie Prose game set.
An historic project that celebrated Jens Jensen’s love of storytelling included the Shakespeare Garden at Northwestern University. Founded in 1915 by the Garden Club of Evanston to honor William Shakespeare in which flowers, herbs and other plants mentioned in his plays that were also native to the Evanston area were included in his formal design.
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Poetic quotes by the bard that are featured in the garden appear in the Prairie Prose cooperative game set, which can also be paired with the theatrical Quills! Elizabethan Edition I & II.