Shakespeare & Beyond

See education in Shakespeare’s day through the eyes of Ben Jonson: learning ABCs and the Lord’s Prayer with hornbooks, and drilling Latin grammar endlessly.

Charles Gounod’s 19th-century opera “Roméo et Juliette” is a love story of heartbreaking tragedy, punctuated by four masterful duets. Matthew Shilvock of San Francisco Opera explains why the work is such a masterpiece.

Star Trek owes a striking thematic and linguistic debt to William Shakespeare, as in classic episodes like “The Conscience of the King” and “The Defector.”

There’s no other character from Shakespeare who has charmed the imaginations of opera composers and librettists more than Sir John Falstaff.

Attitudes towards mushrooms in Shakespeare’s England reveal deeply held cultural anxieties about groups perceived as threats to the social fabric.

Every month, we check in with our theater partners to find out what’s onstage. Here’s what’s happening at Shakespeare theaters in August.

The witty, fast-paced dialogue at the heart of the battle of the sexes in Love’s Labor’s Lost is straight out of a golden-age screwball comedy film.

Shakespeare and opera is a winning combination, with the plays providing compelling dramatic material and a ‘name’ that would help sell tickets.

The Folger Shakespeare Library building is filled (inside and outside) with inscriptions of quotations by famous writers praising Shakespeare. See if you can successfully fill in the blanks for these quotes

The Folger’s collection includes a miniature set of Shakespeare’s plays that belonged to the Man in Black himself.

We asked our Twitter followers to share their favorite stories from outdoor Shakespeare performances: incredible actors, unexpected animal visitors, dramatic weather events, and more. Tell us your story using #SummerShakesMemories. https://twitter.com/Zorrah/status/1144605770702442496 https://twitter.com/NateMetcalf/status/1154529272117071873 https://twitter.com/jaybaltz/status/1145838297803087872 https://twitter.com/ERLathrop/status/1143612005577822208 https://twitter.com/AlexJArmstrong/status/1146132142868578304 https://twitter.com/GoodTickleBrain/status/1146021764276871168 https://twitter.com/michaelmc_hugh/status/1144529821114019841 https://twitter.com/MysticCindi/status/1144474064397848581 https://twitter.com/xmacdonald/status/1152337120117366784

In many ways Simba resembles Prince Hal more than Hamlet, in that he’s also a headstrong prince who disobeys his father but ultimately learns to accept responsibility and claim his throne.