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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare & Beyond

The Shakespeare & Beyond blog features a wide range of Shakespeare-related topics: the early modern period in which he lived, the ways his plays have been interpreted and staged over the past four centuries, the enduring power of his characters and language, and more.

Birds of Shakespeare: The ring-necked pheasant
Shakespeare and Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The ring-necked pheasant

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Author
Missy Dunaway

Artist Missy Dunaway explores references to the pheasant in “The Winter’s Tale” on her bird-watching expedition through Shakespeare’s works.

Adapting Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra' for opera
Amina Edris as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra
Shakespeare and Beyond

Adapting Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra' for opera

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Author
Lucia Scheckner

Get an insider’s look at adapting a Shakespeare play for opera with this blog post by the dramaturg and libretto consultant for the new John Adams opera of “Antony and Cleopatra.”

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in September
Shakespeare and Beyond

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in September

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Author
Ben Lauer

Find out what’s onstage at a Shakespeare theater near you in September.

Excerpt - "Susanna Hall, Her Book" by Jennifer Falkner
Susanna Hall Her Book cover
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt - "Susanna Hall, Her Book" by Jennifer Falkner

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Shakespeare & Beyond

In the opening scene of Jennifer Falkner’s novella “Susanna Hall, Her Book,” the queen of England has just arrived at New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon. But Susanna, the eldest daughter of William Shakespeare, has reasons for not wanting to host Henrietta…

Gaming and grieving with Shakespeare: Gabrielle Zevin’s new novel puts the ghostliness in gameplay
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Shakespeare and Beyond

Gaming and grieving with Shakespeare: Gabrielle Zevin’s new novel puts the ghostliness in gameplay

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Author
Sophia Richardson

Sophia Richardson explores how Gabrielle Zevin’s new novel about video games, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” is also a book about Shakespeare.

“I do fear thy nature”: Kim Wexler and echoes of 'Macbeth' in 'Better Call Saul'
A man and woman sitting on a bed apart from each other in Better Call Saul
Shakespeare and Beyond

“I do fear thy nature”: Kim Wexler and echoes of 'Macbeth' in 'Better Call Saul'

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Author
Austin Tichenor

Austin Tichenor draws comparisons between Kim Wexler and Lady Macbeth, unpacking Shakespearean themes in the “Better Call Saul” series.

Sometimes the old tropes are the best tropes: Shakespeare and Our Flag Means Death
Two pirates on board a ship in Our Flag Means Death
Shakespeare and Beyond

Sometimes the old tropes are the best tropes: Shakespeare and Our Flag Means Death

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Author
Melissa Rohrer

Melissa Rohrer explores how “Our Flag Means Death,” a show inspired by the true story of the early 18th-century “Gentleman Pirate” Stede Bonnet, draws on character types and narratives that Shakespeare used frequently across many of his plays, while breathing…

Birds of Shakespeare: The kingfisher
kingfisher painting
Shakespeare and Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The kingfisher

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Author
Missy Dunaway

Artist Missy Dunaway explores references to the kingfisher in two Shakespeare plays, King Lear and 1 Henry VI.

Tips for taking your kids to their first Shakespeare play
A woman with her young daughter in the Folger theater
Shakespeare and Beyond

Tips for taking your kids to their first Shakespeare play

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Author
Ben Lauer

Read great tips for helping your kids have a blast watching their very first Shakespeare play.

The soliloquy and Hamlet - Excerpt: 'The Elizabethan Mind' by Helen Hackett
The Elizabethan Mind
Shakespeare and Beyond

The soliloquy and Hamlet - Excerpt: 'The Elizabethan Mind' by Helen Hackett

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Helen Hackett explores Shakespeare’s use of the soliloquy in “Hamlet,” including the famous “To be or not to be” speech, in this excerpt from her new book, “The Elizabethan Mind: Searching for the Self in an Age of Uncertainty,” published…

Quiz: Plan the perfect summer and reveal who you are in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: Plan the perfect summer and reveal who you are in A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Author
Ben Lauer

Plan your perfect summer and we’ll tell you which character you are in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Active reading in the 16th century: Commonplace books and sammelbands
Sammelband
Shakespeare and Beyond

Active reading in the 16th century: Commonplace books and sammelbands

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Collecting extracts of text in commonplace books and binding multiple books together to create a sammelband were two notable practices of readers in the 16th and 17th centuries, as Jason Scott-Warren (University of Cambridge) explains in this excerpt from a…

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