In this episode of That Shakespeare Life, we explore the surprising presence of monkeys, apes, and baboons in early modern England and the role these animals played in the culture of Shakespeare’s world. Shakespeare refers to primates dozens of times in his plays, and those references were not purely imaginative—exotic animals were arriving in England through global trade, kept as fashionable pets by elites, and even trained to perform tricks for public entertainment. By examining travel narratives, natural history books like Edward Topsell’s The History of Four-Footed Beasts, and records of animal performances near the London theatres, we uncover how early modern audiences understood these creatures and why primates became such vivid symbols in Renaissance literature and stage culture.
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About Teresa Grant
Teresa Grant is Director of the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance and Professor of Renaissance Theatre in the department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. Her primary research interests are in early modern theatre, though she also publishes more widely on Renaissance culture and on the history of the book. Her recent publications include Apes and Monkeys on the Early Modern Stage, 1603-1659 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) and she is a general editor of Oxford University Press’s The Complete Works of James Shirley (2022-).
What We Talk About
In this episode of That Shakespeare Life, we explore the surprising presence of monkeys, apes, and baboons in early modern England. Shakespeare mentions these animals dozens of times in his plays, and Renaissance theatre historian Professor Teresa Grant joins the show to explain how audiences in Shakespeare’s lifetime would have understood those references. From exotic pets kept by aristocrats to performing animals that appeared in public entertainments and theatrical jokes, primates were a recognizable part of the cultural landscape of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Our conversation looks at how early modern writers classified and described primates, drawing on influential works like Edward Topsell’s The History of Four-Footed Beasts and the earlier natural history encyclopedias of Conrad Gessner. We also discuss the trade routes that brought monkeys from Africa and the Americas to Europe, the fascination elites had with keeping these animals as status symbols, and the ways monkeys appeared in Renaissance theatre—sometimes as trained performers and often as powerful metaphors for human behavior. Together, these stories reveal that the monkeys Shakespeare referenced were not purely imaginary creatures but part of a broader world of exploration, curiosity, and spectacle that shaped the culture of his age.
Where to Learn More
Apes and Monkeys on the Early Modern Stage by Teresa Grant**
Edward Topsell’s History of Four-Footed Beasts
**Books marked with an asterisk are priced at $50 or more at the time of this episode’s publication. I note this fact in quiet protest of an academic pricing model that I find both arbitary and largely inaccessible to general readers. These works are excellent and well worth consulting, and I encourage you to seek them out through a library or in collaboration with a trusted history friend.
