William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is rather well known as an English playwright and poet. His works have much in common with Knightmare: through intriguing plots and bold, vibrant characters - such as jesters, knights, witches and clergymen - they immerse even the youngest of watchers and readers in a fantastic mediaeval world.

In more specific terms, Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream and Knightmare Series 6 have the following in common: a faerie character named Puck.

When Series 4 dungeoneer Dickon introduced himself to Brother Mace, the monk quoted germanely from the Shakespeare play King Richard III (Act V, Scene iii, Line 306) and named the Bard himself: "'Dickon thy master is bought and sold.' Shakespeare, you know."

At the end of Series 3 Episode 1, Treguard described Knightmare as "the stuff that dreams are made of", an apparent reference to the popular paraphrasing of a line from Shakespeare's The Tempest ("We are such stuff as dreams are made on").

Merlin's greeting to dungeoneer Martin from Team 11 of Series 3, "Is this Martin I see before me?", could be taken as a reference to Macbeth's line "Is this a dagger which I see before me?" in the eponymous play Act II Scene 1.

After the demise of Team 3 of Series 6, Lord Fear quoted from Romeo And Juliet (Act II, Scene ii, Line 185): 'Parting is such sweet sorrow.'

In Lord Fear's Domain, Sylvester Hands claimed that 'Bill Shakespeare' was a drinking partner of his at The Other Hearth, a pub with a hearth that connected the Knightmare realm to Shakespeare's. According to Hands, Shakespeare was known to drink fifteen pints of Old Sussex in one sitting. What's more, he got 'all 'is best lines' from Hands, who quotes Hecate and the witches' song from Macbeth (Act IV, Scene I) as an example - and a rather appropriate one at that, since the three witches of Birnan Wood were after him. Paul and Lucy, the siblings whom Hands had helped to safety, were sceptical.

Additionally, a character called Sir Fortinbras - which is also the name of one in Hamlet - was mentioned in Lord Fear's Domain. Ditto Osric in The Dragon's Lair. Osric's references to main character William as 'Will' and 'bard' serve to underline the connection as both are monikers associated with Shakespeare.

In 2004, Knightmare actor Edmund Dehn revealed that 'of stage authors, boringly, Shakespeare is my favourite [and] my one play I'd take to a desert island would be "King Lear".' In 2021 he appeared in the web series Lear Alone, delivering King Lear's lines from the play.

A number of Knightmare actors have been associated with performances of Shakespeare plays. These include:

Zoe Loftin who in April-September 1988 was involved with the NSC Season at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London, comprising A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale and Babes In Arms, the latter not Shakespeare;
Natasha Pope who appeared in Macbeth in 1993 and Hamlet? (sic) in 1994;
Cliff Barry who was part of the Heartbreak Productions theatre company's 2004 tour, playing Macbeth in the drama of the same name.

In September 2012, Knightmare fan Billy Hicks became a Shakespeare performer too, playing Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice. When a review of the production in the Gay Times described Billy as 'effortlessly sweeping in the necessary comic energy', it evoked his reputation among Knightmare fans.

[Earlier versions: 2014-10-13 17:27:14, 2006-08-30 23:21:07, 2006-05-14 23:07:17]

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