Where Did This Shakespeare Play Take Place? Quiz

Answer: Italy

Verona is a city, midway between Venice and Milan, situated on the banks of the Adige River, in northern Italy.

In the play, the two gentlemen, Proteus and Valentine, compete for the affection of Silvia, the daughter of the Duke of Milan. Valentine gets the girl, but Proteus also has a happy ending, marrying his fiancé, Julia.

The play is thought to have been Shakespeare's first, written about 1859, and is the only one with a dog as a character. The dog, confusingly named Crab, belongs to one of the minor characters, Lance.

Answer: An unnamed island

Prospero, the Duke of Milan, is ousted by his evil brother Antonio, and set adrift in a small boat, to die. However he and his young daughter, Miranda, wash ashore on a magical island. He learns magic, and can control Ariel, a good fairy, and Caliban, a monster.

When Antonio's ship crashes into the same island, the fun begins! Unlike many of Shakespeare's plays, 'The Tempest' has a happy ending.

Answer: Denmark

'Hamlet' is probably one of Shakespeare's best-known plays. It is centred around Kronborg, a castle and stronghold in the town of Helsingør, Denmark, which is Anglicised to Elsinore. Construction of the castle started in 1420. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000 and it is open to the public.

The play is typical of the bard's tragedies, with a huge body count. There are three deaths before the play even starts - King Hamlet, who was murdered by King Claudius, Fortinbras (King of Norway), and Yorick.

Polonius, Ophelia (suicide), Prince Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, and the title character all die violent deaths during the play.

One of the most well-known of Shakespeare's quotes comes from Hamlet, when he is contemplating taking his own life- "To be, or not to be, that is the question".

Answer: England

The play tells of the affairs of court of Henry VI, shortly after the death of his father, Henry V, and leading up to the War of the Roses (1455-87). He was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471.

'Henry VI, Part II' and 'Part III', together with 'Richard III' complete the War of the Roses and its aftermath, signaling the end of the Plantagenets and the start of the Tudor era. All these plays were set in England, chiefly in London.

Answer: Greece

Set in Athens, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a fairytale, and features a play-within-a-play, with a group of incompetent actors playing the ancient Greek couple, Pyramus and Thisbe' for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta.

Meanwhile, over in Fairyland, Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of the fairies are having relationship troubles, and magic seems to be the only answer. The magic misfires, and the queen falls in love with a donkey-headed actor!

This play has the quirkiest character names - Nick Bottom, Snug, Puck, Peter Quince and Francis Flute.

Answer: Italy

Another play set in the city of Verona, Shakespeare's tragic tale of young love is one of his best-known. Romeo Montague fell for Juliet Capulet, even though their families despised each other. Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, is quite angry about the liaison, and kills Mercutio, Romeo's friend, before being killed by Romeo. Friar Laurence, who had married them soon after they met, tried to assist the young couple, but the whole plan backfires badly.

The play has spawned many cultural releases, including 'West Side Story', where the two feuding families were represented by two street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets. Baz Luhrmann directed 'Romeo + Juliet' in 1996, and there is even a Bollywood version, 'Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela'.

Answer: Turkey

A confusing comedy, involving two sets of identical twin brothers, named Antipholus and the Dromio, who were separated just after birth and reunited as adults. Hilarity results from mistaken identity, practical jokery, mistaken paramours, and lots of 'errors'.

The play was mainly set in Ephesus, on the Turkish western coast.

Answer: Austria

'Measure for Measure' is classed as a comedy, and relates the story of Angelo, the Deputy Duke of Vienna, whose suitability for the top job is tested by the Duke Vincentio. The Duke adopts a disguise (a common mechanism in Shakespeare's plays), to monitor Angelo's performance. Angelo becomes a despot, so Vincentio sets a trap for him.

The play has some rather interesting character names - Mistress Overdone, a brothel madame, Froth, a fool, and Elbow, a policeman. The title of the play comes from the Bible, referring to the Sermon on the Mount.

From the Gospel of Matthew 7:2 (NIV) "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Answer: Italy

The main location is Venice, with a short trip to Cyprus.

'Othello' is another bloodthirsty play with much deceit and double-crossing, particularly by that arch-villain, Iago. The title character is a nobleman and Iago feels wronged when he is overlooked for promotion, and vows revenge. He insinuates that Othello's wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful, and the killings start. At the end, both Othello and Desdemona are dead, and Iago is in disgrace.

Answer: Spain

The King of Navarre (northern Spain) and his courtiers swear a vow of chastity for three years, but fail miserably when the Princess of France and her entourage turn up. Shakespeare uses one of his stock scenarios, where many of the main players are in disguise.
The play contains the longest word in the bard's works - Honorificabilitudinitatibus, a Latin word which translates as "the state of being able to achieve honours".

Answer: Italy

The play is classified as a comedy, but it certainly has its dramatic parts. Antonio, the title character needs money, but can only secure a loan from the nasty Jewish lender, Shylock. There is a large element of anti-Semitism in the portrayal of Shylock. Antonio's girlfriend, Portia, comes to his aid when he cannot pay his debt, disguising herself as Balthazar, a 'doctor of the law'. (ANOTHER disguise, Will, really?).

Shakespeare must have had a good day when he wrote the play in 1596, as the body count is zero!

Answer: Albania

This play, subtitled 'What You Will', was set in Illyria, historically a region centred on present-day Albania, on the western Balkan peninsula.

A shipwreck separates the twins Viola and Sebastian and both think the other is dead. In mourning, Viola disguises herself as a man named Cesario, but gets involved in a strange love triangle. When Sebastian shows up, confusion ensues, but in typical Shakespearian comedic outcomes, nobody gets killed, and everyone gets married and lives happily every after.

Answer: England

Poor King Lear! He had three daughters, two of them (Regan and Goneril) that flattered their way into a share of his kingdom, and one, Cordelia, who only said that she loved him as her father. This reply was not what he wanted to hear from her, so he banished her- she married the King of France.
The two ugly sisters (oops, wrong story), married other lords and turned against dear old dad, who subsequently went mad with grief, shame and rage. Not content with that, Regan and Goneril turned on each other, leading to the death of both of them. Cordelia is executed and Lear dies of a broken heart.

Another large body count!

The eponymous Lear seems to be based on the 9th century ruler, Leir, who gives his name to the English city of Leicester.

Answer: Scotland

Macbeth was a general in King Duncan's army, but a chance meeting with three witches starts a bloody chain of events. They prophesise that Macbeth will one day be King of Scotland. His social-climber wife wants to hurry the process and urges her husband to murder Duncan. To divert suspicion, he also is responsible for the murder of Banquo, his friend. After seeing Banquo's ghost, Macbeth starts his descent into guilt-filled madness. After the slaughter of Macduff's family, Lady Macbeth, filled with remorse gives her famous "Out, damned spot" soliloquy and kills herself.
Shortly afterwards, Macduff returns, seeking revenge, and in the final battle, kills Macbeth. Bodies everywhere!

The Macbeth castle is in Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands.

Answer: Italy

Set in the Italian city of Padua, 'The Taming of the Shrew' is a comedy. Two sisters, Katherina (the shrew) and Bianca want to marry, but their father has said that Bianca, who has several suitors, cannot be wed before her older sister. Enter Petruchio, who accepts the challenge of 'taming' the strong-willed Kate. He eventually wins her love, and they are married. Bianca marries Lucentio, and they all live happily ever after.

The play has sourced a few modern adaptations, 'Kiss Me, Kate' (1948), 'McLintock!', a comedy western starring John Wayne, and the 1999 comedy '10 Things I Hate About You'.