Shakespeare & Beyond
Share Your Shakespeare: Highlights from our 2020 Shakespeare's Birthday celebration
For Shakespeare’s birthday this year, the Folger Shakespeare Library partnered with the Royal Shakespeare Company to throw a virtual birthday party for Shakespeare, inviting people all around the world to #ShareYourShakespeare. Fans responded by reciting Shakespeare lines, staging scenes, striking…
Excerpt - "How to Think Like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education" by Scott Newstok
What habits of mind should we seek to cultivate? In his new book How to Think Like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education, Scott Newstok draws on Shakespeare’s plays and common instructional practices of his day to answer this question.…
Quiz: What do you know about the life of William Shakespeare?
You may know that April 23 is the day we mark William Shakespeare’s birth and death. But what else do you know about his life and family? Test your knowledge with this quiz.
Savor Shakespeare's sonnets with Patrick Stewart
Need some quality poetry to help you through these difficult times? Sir Patrick Stewart has been reading a Shakespeare sonnet a day on Twitter.
Prospero's epilogue as Shakespeare's farewell? Excerpt - 'This is Shakespeare' by Emma Smith
In this excerpt from her new book, This is Shakespeare (published Mar 31 in the United States), Emma Smith probes the biographical interpretations that readers have layered over Shakespeare’s plays, particularly The Tempest, and how that shapes what we think…
Teller on his magical 'Macbeth' at Folger Theatre
Ian Merrill Peakes (Macbeth), Macbeth, conceived and directed by Teller and Aaron Posner, Folger Theatre in a co-production with Two River Theater Company, 2008. Carol Pratt. “Our premise is that Macbeth is Shakespeare’s supernatural horror thriller, and should be done…
7 excerpts from Shakespeare-inspired novels
Looking to escape in a good book? Take a break from non-fiction, and read these excerpts from Shakespeare-inspired novels that we’ve featured in the past two years on Shakespeare & Beyond. 1. The Assassin of Verona by Benet Brandreth In…
"The Taming of the Shrew" on the American stage before "Kiss Me, Kate": An excerpt from "Shakespeare in a Divided America" by James Shapiro
The Taming of the Shrew is often referred to as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays” because of its controversial depiction of gender roles; last year’s Broadway production of Kiss Me, Kate, the 1948 musical based on The Taming of the…
These 7 women have had enough. Match the Shakespeare character to her speech.
Take our quiz to see how well you know Shakespeare’s plays.
The madness of Hamlet and King Lear: When psychiatrists used Shakespeare to argue legal definitions of insanity in the courtroom
King Lear, III, 2. Johann Heinrich Ramberg. 19th century. Folger Shakespeare Library. Well-known Shakespeare characters such as King Lear and Hamlet suffer (or appear to suffer) from madness — and early American psychiatrists took note. Observations drawn from literature began…
Year in review: Top Shakespeare & Beyond stories of 2019
What were some of our most popular stories this year? Let’s take a look. Chopping chocolate. Photo by Teresa Wood. Recipe adaptations and blog posts about food culture We published several recipes in conjunction with First Chefs: Fame and Foodways…
Top 10 Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episodes of 2019
Our top Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episodes from 2019 feature interviews with authors, directors, actors, and scholars. Happy listening! 1. Deborah Harkness: A Discovery of Witches In 1994, Deborah Harkness was doing research at Oxford University’s Bodleian Library when she stumbled…