Shakespeare & Beyond

Richard (Drew Cortese) and the Duke of York (Remy Brettell) in Richard III, directed by Robert Richmond, Folger Theatre, 2014. Photo by Teresa Wood. This is an excerpt from Yale professor Joseph Roach’s talk for the Shakespeare Anniversary Lecture Series…

If Shakespeare characters were making New Year’s resolutions, what would (or should) they be? Here are a few of our favorite responses from Twitter. https://twitter.com/JoeDramaTurg/status/814157862897381380 What Shakespeare quote sums up your New Year’s resolution? https://twitter.com/DrRubidium/status/814186091599147009 We also asked if anyone…

Park’s Shakspearean Twelfth-Night Characters. Handcolored print, ca. 1830. Folger Shakespeare Library. Twelfth Night is a Christian holiday typically celebrated on January 5 or 6, concluding the 12 days of Christmas and celebrating the visit of the Magi (the three kings). Twelfth…

1. Othello and Blackface This podcast episode, which deals with race, Othello, and how the Elizabethans portrayed blackness onstage, offers a startling, new interpretation of Desdemona’s handkerchief that is changing the way scholars understand the play. Our guests are Ayanna Thompson,…

Let’s take a moment to revisit some of the biggest Shakespeare stories in the news this year, from the discoveries that grabbed headlines to the spectacular celebrations of the 400th anniversary to the celebrity performances that generated the most buzz.…

The Folger is the world’s largest Shakespeare collection. We love mining this rich archive for gems, and on social media we often share collection items using #FolgerFinds. This blog post takes us through a year of Shakespeare #FolgerFinds on Instagram. January We start…

Francine Segan is a food historian with a taste for the Renaissance. She’s the author of six cookbooks, including Shakespeare’s Kitchen (2003) and the Opera Lover’s Cookbook, which was nominated for a James Beard award. This year she’s been spending…

Did you pick up a souvenir X-wing figurine for the opening of Rogue One last night? Maybe you’re getting a tie-in edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for Christmas this year, or a poster from the Ghostbusters…

If you’re going to see a performance of The Winter’s Tale, perhaps you’ve read the play (or maybe just the plot summary)—or maybe you’re going in cold. So, what should you look for in this Shakespeare play?

The costumes for Alan Bates and Glenn Close in Hamlet (1990). (The Collection of Motion Picture Costume Design: Larry McQueen) Shakespeare has provided rich material for Hollywood’s film industry over the decades, from The Taming of the Shrew (1967) with…

Theater was explosively popular in California’s Gold Rush era, and miners couldn’t get enough of Shakespeare. San Francisco and Sacramento had major theaters that were repeatedly burning down and being rebuilt almost immediately. Even the small gold-mining towns had stages…

One the First Folio’s owners, Captain Charles Hutchinson, clearly valued the book as a reflection on his family’s place in English history. Not only did he restore it, but he also treated it as a scrapbook of sorts, working in details and documents related to his family history.