Perhaps that helps explain why Marin Shakespeare Company — after 37 years as the North Bay’s premiere summertime Shakespeare company — is just so darn good at putting on a show. Not only do they have great material to work with, they’ve had a lot of experience learning how to delight their audiences.

The Taming of the Shrew” and “Much Ado About Nothing” are each difficult shows to stage in the modern day. Directors confronted the challenges in divergent ways.

Yes. Hamnet was the only son of Agnes and William, and the twin brother of their second daughter, Judith. He died at the age of 11, buried at the Holy Trinity church in Stratford-upon-Avon on Aug. 11, 1596, as official parish records reveal to us. However, these same records do not reveal the cause of his death.

One is an Oscar winner, the other is an aspiring Oscar contender. But both are largely fictionalized accounts of Shakespeare's life.