Shakespeare’s Play Settings

Shakespeare set his plays in dozens of locations across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, with some settings cropping up multiple times, and again, and others used only once.

The interactive map below shows all of the locations that Shakespeare used in his plays. You can zoom in on the map for a more detailed view of an area, and click the icon to see which of Shakespeare’s plays have one of more scenes in that location. Below the map is a list of each of Shakespeare’s plays with links through to a page detailing the locations of all scenes in that play.

All’s Well That Ends Well Settings
Antony and Cleopatra Settings
As You Like It Settings
The Comedy Of Errors Settings
Coriolanus Settings
Cymbeline Settings
Hamlet Settings
Henry IV Part I Settings
Henry IV Part II Settings
Henry V Settings
Henry VI Part I Settings
Henry VI Part II Settings
Henry VI Part III Settings
Henry VIII Settings
Julius Caesar Settings
King John Settings
King Lear Settings
Love’s Labour’s Lost Settings
Macbeth Settings
Measure For Measure Settings
The Merchant Of Venice Settings
The Merry Wives of Windsor Settings
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Settings
Much Ado About Nothing Settings
Othello Settings
Pericles Settings
Richard II Settings
Richard III Settings
Romeo and Juliet Settings
The Taming Of The Shrew Settings
The Tempest Settings
Timon Of Athens Settings
Titus Andronicus Settings
Troilus and Cressida Settings
Twelfth Night Settings
The Two Gentlemen of Verona Settings
The Winter’s Tale Settings

Three of Shakespeare’s Most Common Scene Locations

London

Ten of Shakespeare’s plays have some of their action in the Bard’s second home of London – interestingly, these plays are all classified as Shakespeare’s ‘history plays’:

• Henry IV Part 1
• Henry IV Part 2
• Henry V
• Henry VI Part 1
• Henry VI Part 2
• Henry VI Part 3
• Henry VIII
• King John
• Richard II
• Richard III

 

Venice

The bustling and exotic trading port of medieval Venice was used as a backdrop for two of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays:

• The Merchant of Venice
• Othello

 

Paris

One of the closest great foreign cities to London in Shakespeare’s era was Paris, so it’s no surprise that the city features in three of Shakespeare’s plays:

• All’s Well That Ends Well
• Henry VI Part 1
• Henry VI Part 3