Oscar Film 'Hamnet' Boosts Shakespeare Tourism by 20%

Visitors are flooding into William Shakespeare's childhood home and his wife's cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon, thanks to an Oscar-nominated film that's making the 400-year-old story feel brand new.

"Hamnet," starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, tells the fictional story of Shakespeare's relationship with his wife Anne Hathaway (also called Agnes) and the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet in 1596. The film has earned 11 BAFTA nominations and eight Oscar nods, with Buckley favored to win best actress.

Since the movie's release in January, visitor numbers at Shakespeare heritage sites have jumped 15 to 20%, according to Richard Patterson, chief operating officer for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Around 250,000 people typically visit these locations each year from across the UK, Europe, the United States, China, and beyond.

Anne Hathaway's cottage, where the young Shakespeare would have courted his future wife, is particularly popular with film fans. Visitors want to see the spaces and landscape that inspired one of history's greatest writers.

The film takes a fresh approach by showing Shakespeare as a young father and husband, not just a literary genius. He was 18 when he married the 26-year-old Hathaway in 1582, and they had three children together: Susanna in 1583 and twins Judith and Hamnet in 1585.

Why This Inspires

The movie opens up Shakespeare's mysterious personal life in a way that feels deeply emotional. While we know his writing explored humanity and conflict, where his own heart lived in those stories has puzzled people for centuries.

Charlotte Scott, a professor of Shakespeare studies at the Trust, believes the film creates "a new way of accessing Shakespeare" for people who might never have connected with his work before. Instead of focusing only on the famous plays, it shows creativity and storytelling as a process driven by real love and grief.

The film acknowledges that Hamnet and Hamlet were interchangeable names in Shakespeare's time. While grief over his son's death dominates the story, audiences also see Shakespeare fall in love while teaching Latin to pay off his father's debts, and experience fatherhood through his eyes.

This human angle is bringing fresh attention to the preserved sites where these real events unfolded centuries ago. Visitors can walk through the same rooms where Shakespeare's father worked as a glove maker and imagine the young couple's early courtship at the cottage.

The surge in tourism shows how powerful storytelling can bridge centuries and make history feel immediate and personal.