How many plays did Shakespeare write? The Encyclopedia Brittanica says about 37. Other sources say about 38. Why “about”? Apparently, after 400 years, you kind of have to dig around to figure out who wrote what and how much of it. There are multiple versions of almost everything from back then floating around, and you can’t be completely sure which ones are his work with some revision by other authors, and which ones are works by other authors with some revisions by him. The discrepancy between 37 and 38 seems to center around whether or not “Two Noble Kinsmen”, which Shakespeare is believed to have written with a coauthor named John Fletcher, should be considered a Shakespeare play.
We don’t care though. If it’s a famous play commonly attributed to Shakespeare, there’s going to be trivia questions about it.
So from a trivia training perspective, what do you need to know about Shakespeare’s plays? Everything. Every setting, every plot, every named character. For Jeopardy anyway. For lesser shows, you might get away with just knowing that Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet.
Casual trivia competition will probably concentrate on just the most famous plays, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. Elite shows like Jeopardy and the Chase will cover these, but tend to concentrate on Shakespeare’s second-tier titles, Othello, King Lear, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There will also be questions about The Merchant of Venice and As You Like it. Even more obscure plays might generate a question if they contain a famous quote, such as “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse,” in Richard III.
Here’s a tip. If you are asked for the name of a secondary character from a Shakespeare play, and you have no idea what it is, guess, “Antonio.” Half of the guys in Shakespeare’s plays are named “Antonio.” Okay, it may just seem like it.
For some reason, I have seen more questions about King Lear’s daughters recently than anything else to do with Shakespeare. Their names are Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. Remember those names. Cordelia is the good one.
You can use “drill” mode at Bzzword University Trivia Training to gently pound these names, and a lot of other very useful facts, into your memory.
