Every year we took more and more plays to court at Christmas．In 1598 one of Will's plays was Henry IV．A lot of the play was about the King's son and his friend，Sir John Falstaff．Sir John was old，fat，lazy，drank too much，talked too much，laughed too much．But you had to love him．He was a great favourite with the London playgoers，and there were a lot of Falstaff jokes going round at the time．

每年圣诞节我们要安排愈来愈多的戏剧进宫演出。1598年上演了威尔的一部历史剧《亨利四世》。剧中大多描写亨利四世之子和他的朋友约翰·福斯泰夫爵士两人。约翰爵士已是垂暮之年，身体肥胖，游手好闲，只会酗酒聊天、寻欢作乐，但这个角色挺招人喜欢。他一度成为最受伦敦观众欢迎的人物，那时街头巷尾到处流传着关于福斯泰夫的种种笑料。

After the play，the Queen wanted to speak to Will．

演完戏后，女王传令召见威尔。

‘Why？What have We done wrong？’John Heminges said to me in a very quiet voice．

“怎么啦？我们是否做错事啦？”约翰·海明轻声问我。

‘We'll find out in a minute，’I said．

“我们一会儿就知道了。”我说道。

We all watched while Will walked over to the Queen's chair．She was an old woman，she wore a red wig，and she had black teeth．But she was still a very great queen．And if the Queen was not pleased…

我们目不转睛地看着威尔走到女王的座椅前。女王已是垂暮之年，戴着红色假发，一口黑齿，但又不失女王风度。如果女王一不高兴……

She had a good，strong voice—an actor's voice．We could hear her easily．

女王天生一副演员般的好嗓子，铿锵有力，我们可以很容易地听到她讲话。

‘Mr Shakespeare，she began．Then she smiled，and suddenly you knew why all Englishmen¹ loved the Queen．It was like the sun coming out on a spring morning．

“莎士比亚绅士，”她开口说道，接着启齿一笑，这微笑犹如春天早晨的旭日，我恍然明白，为什么全英国人民如此爱戴女王。

‘Mr Shakespeare，you are the best playwright² in England．I enjoyed your play，and I thought that Sir John Falstaff was very funny．I have known³ many Englishmen like him．Will you write me another play？I would like to see Sir John in love．’

“莎士比亚绅士，你不愧为英国最杰出的剧作家，我非常欣赏你这部戏剧。我觉得剧中的约翰·福斯泰夫非常滑稽诙谐，我认识不少这样的英国人。你能否为我续写一部喜剧？我想看看福斯泰夫谈情说爱。”

When Will came back to us，his eyes were bright，but he was already thinking about it．

威尔回到了我们身边，双眼闪闪发亮，看得出他已在构思了。

‘Don't talk to me，’he said．‘I've got a play to write．’

“暂且别来找我说话，”他说道，“我得着手续写一部戏剧。”

He wrote it in two weeks，and we took it down to Richmond Palace and played it before the Queen on February the 20th．She laughed and laughed at The Merry Wives of Windsor．

两星期后他就把剧本赶写了出来。2月20日我们便到里士满宫为女王演出此剧《温莎的风流娘儿们》，逗得女王开怀大笑。

She didn't have much to laugh about in 1599．There was a lot of trouble in Ireland，and the Queen sent the Earl of Essex with 20，000 men to fight a war．Lord⁵ Southampton，Will's friend，went with him．All London came out on to the streets to watch when Essex and his men left for Ireland．Will wrote an exciting play about war that summer，and he put in a word or two about Ireland．That was Henry V，about a very famous English King who fought a war in France．

但1599年时就没多少事能令她开心了。爱尔兰经常发生动乱，女王派遣爱塞克斯伯爵率兵2万去征战，随同出征的还有威尔的好友索桑普敦勋爵。当爱塞克斯率兵出征爱尔兰时，所有的伦敦市民都走上街头夹道欢送。那年夏天，威尔写了一部关于战争的鼓舞斗志的历史剧《亨利五世》，其中有一两处提到了爱尔兰的动乱。这部历史剧描绘了一位在法国征战的功名显赫的英国君主形象。

But Essex was not Henry the Fifth．He didn't know how to fight a war，and he ran away back to England later that year．The Queen never spoke⁶ to him again．

爱塞克斯毕竟不是亨利五世，他压根不懂如何作战，不久就逃回英国，女王也从此不再理他。

In September we opened the Globe theatre．It was a grand，new building near the Rose．Will，Richard Burbage，and the others paid for it themselves．It was the best playhouse in London，and soon the most famous．The other companies had good theatres and some good actors，but we had the famous Richard Burbage—and the best plays．

9月我们开放“环球剧院”。这座富丽堂皇的新剧院紧邻“玫瑰剧院”，由威尔，理查·白贝芝和其他股东出资建成，是伦敦当时最好的一座剧院，不久就成为最负盛名的剧院。尽管其它剧团的剧院设备和演员配备都不错，但是我们有著名的理查·白贝芝和最好的剧本。

We put on three new plays by will in the next year，and some plays by other writers．One of the new playwrights⁷ was Ben Jonson．He was a clever man and he wrote clever plays，but people still liked Will's plays best．Ben couldn't understand it．He was always arguing with Will about how to write plays．He argued with everyone．He went to prison once because he killed a man in a fight．He was eight years younger than Will，but he and Will were very good friends．

第二年我们上演了威尔的三部新剧本和其他剧作家创作的一些剧本。其中一位就是刚出道的剧作家本·琼生。这人机智聪明，剧本也写得好，但人们还是推崇威尔的作品。本真不明白，他时常和威尔就如何创作剧本而争论不休，不过这人就爱与别人辩论。有一次因决斗杀了人，他还蹲过监狱。他比威尔小八岁，但两人是很好的朋友。

Will's next play was Hamlet，Prince of Denmark．We all met one day in the Boar's Head to talk about it．There were six of us—me and Will，Richard Burbage，Henry Condell，John Heminges，and Augustine Phillips．

威尔的又一部剧是《丹麦王于哈姆雷特》。一天，我、威尔、理查·白贝芝、亨利·康德尔、约翰·海明和奥古斯丁·菲利普六个人一起聚在公猪头酒吧讨论剧本。

Will put his pile of papers⁸ on the table and sat down．

威尔将那堆手稿放在桌上，坐了下来。

‘Well，’he said．‘You've all read it．What do you think？’

“好吧，”他说，“剧本大家都看了，谈谈看法吧？”

‘It's very good，’John Heminges began，‘but it's too long．It'll take about four hours in the theatre．’

“内容很好，”约翰·海明带头说道，“不过剧情太长，在剧院上演要演四个多小时。”

‘We don't have to use it all，’Will said．‘We can cut it down to three hours，perhaps two and a half．’

“我们并不需要全部剧情，”威尔说，“我们可以将剧本删减到三个小时，或者两个半小时也行。”

Henry Condell picked up one of the paper from the table．‘Look at this bit，when Ophelia is talking about Hamlet，’he said．‘Hamlet sounds like the Earl of Essex to me．Were you thinking of Essex when you wrote this？’

亨利·康德尔从桌上拿起一张手稿：“看这一段，奥菲利亚谈论哈姆雷特，”他说道，“我感觉剧中的哈姆雷特酷似爱塞克斯伯爵。你在写这段时是否想到爱塞克斯呢？”

Will smiled．‘Perhaps，’he said．‘And perhaps not．’

威尔笑了起来。“或许有，”他说道，“或许也没有。”

‘Richard will play Prince Hamlet，yes？’said Augustine．

“理查扮演哈姆雷特王子，对吧？”奥古斯丁说。

‘Of course！’Will said．‘I wrote the part for him．He's our star actor．I'll play the ghost of Hamle's father．’He looked at me．‘Hamlet will wear black，Toby，and Ophelia will wear white．’

“那当然啦！”威尔说道，“这个角色专为他而写的。他是我们剧团的明星。我将扮演哈姆雷特父亲的幽灵。”他看看我，又说，“托比，哈姆雷特要穿黑衣服，而奥菲莉亚就准备白衣吧。”

Henry finished his beer．‘It's a good story，Will，with good parts for us all．But will the playgoers like it？It moves very slowly，and they like a play to be fast and exciting．Prince Hamlet knows that his uncle Claudius murdered the king his father．But he doesn't do anything about it for a long time．He just talks about it．And in the end nearly everybody dies，one way or another．’

亨利喝干了啤酒。“这故事取材不错，威尔，你为大家准备了好角色。不过，剧情进展太慢，观众会喜欢吗？他们看惯了剧情进展快而令人振奋的戏剧。哈姆雷特王子明知道叔父杀了他的父王，但他长时间只是用空话泄气，却没有采取任何行动，再说故事最终人物几乎都这样或那样地死去了。”

Augustine didn't agree with that．‘You haven't understood the play，Henry．It is exciting，very exciting．The play is inside Hamlet himself．He wants to kill his uncle，but he can't Murder is wrong．But he must kill him，because of his father．We can all understand how he feels．’

奥古斯丁并不同意这看法。“亨利，你还未真正理解这部戏，它会令人振奋，振奋不已的。这部戏的关键就在于哈姆雷特的内心活动。他想杀死叔父，但却不能，谋杀是不赦之罪，可他为了父王又必须杀死他。我们完全可以理解他的感受。”

All this time Richard Burbage was silent．He was reading bits of the play again．Now he put down the paper in his hand and looked up His eyes were bright，excited．

理查·白贝芝一直一言不发。他重新看了看剧本的部分章节，然后放下手中的稿纸，抬起头，双眼奕奕放光、溢着兴奋之情。

‘Have any of you really listened to the language of this play？This is your best play yet，Will—the best of them all．Just listen to the language，the poetry！’He stood up，and his great voice filled the room．

“你们当中有谁真正领会剧中的语言呢？威尔，这是你写的最好的剧本了——所有戏剧中最好的一部。听听剧中的语言，剧中的诗歌吧！”他站起来，顿时整个房间回荡起他雄厚的嗓音。

To be，or not to be—that is the question…

“活着还是死亡，这是问题……”

We sat and listened，silently，while that wonderful voice brought the words to life．Will watched him，smiling．He knew that Richard，like him，was in love with words．…To die，to sleep—

我们默默地坐着，倾听那绝妙的声音将纸上的文字赋予了生命。威尔望着他，会意地微笑着。他知道，只有理查能如他一样，深深地迷恋着语言的妙处。

To sleep—perchance to dream．Ay，theer's the rub．

“……死亡，就是睡眠——

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

睡眠——也许要做梦，这就麻烦了。

When we have shuffled¹¹ off this mortal¹² coil¹³

我们一旦摆脱了尘世的牵缠，在死的睡眠里，还会做些什么梦呢？

Must give us pause．

一想到就不能不踌躇。”

Richard Burbage was right，of course．The people loved the play，they loved Burbage as Hamlet，they cried for poor Ophelia's death，and they shouted for the murderer¹⁵ Claudius to die．I think it was Will's most famous play．

理查真的说对了。观众迷上了这部悲剧，他们迷上了白贝芝扮演的哈姆雷特，他们为可怜的奥菲莉亚的死而哭泣，他们怒吼着让凶手克劳狄斯死去。我认为这的确是威尔最负盛名的戏剧。