Shakespeare in the world
America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to Hollywood
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…
America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to California’s Gold Rush mining camps
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…
The First Folio tour: How American communities celebrated Shakespeare in 2016
The First Folio tour in Hawaii (April 25 – May 25, 2016). Image courtesy of Kapi’olani Community College. Shakespeare’s stories have inspired creative works in almost every genre and medium: countless novels, poems, plays, movies, songs, comic books, paintings and…
Six great Shakespeare quotes about power and politics
Shakespeare has a lot to say about power and politics in his plays. These six quotes touch on what it means to be a king, the power of the law, what separates royal from common, and speaking truth to authority. Folger…
'The magic of his language': Authors Nicole Dennis-Benn, Paul Goldberg, and Elizabeth Nunez share their Shakespeare stories
Three authors talk about the Shakespeare plays they’ve connected with and the way Shakespeare’s stories have influenced their own writing. Nicole Dennis-Benn Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun, says her favorite Shakespeare play is The Taming of the…
Which Shakespeare plays are most often taught in high school English classes?
Photo by James R. Brantley Think back to your high school English classes. Did you read Romeo and Juliet as a freshman? What about Hamlet in your senior year? Studying Shakespeare is required in the Common Core English Language Arts standards, but…
Comic book casts Shakespeare's First Folio in a horror story
Cue the scary music! A new comic book injects a little horror and occult magic into the story of the First Folio, in an effort to make Shakespeare more accessible to a younger generation. 13th Night was written to accompany…
How is Shakespeare relevant? Share why he matters to you
We were inspired by the “wall of cards” about Shakespeare created by San Diego visitors to the First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare tour, and we’d like to know why Shakespeare matters to you, too. Try our new Shakespeare Matters card to join the conversation,…
America's Shakespeare: Connections between the Bard and the Founding Fathers
America’s Shakespeare: How George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams quoted Shakespeare during and after the American Revolution.
War and America's Shakespeare
“Extremity is the trier of spirits/ Common chances common men will bear.” Quoting from Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Abigail Adams praised the courage of the militiamen at the Battle of Bunker Hill in a letter to her husband, John Adams, in 1775. From the…
Follow the First Folio tour! Updates from Maine, Michigan, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and Texas
“If music be the food of love, play on…” At the National Music Museum in South Dakota, Shakespeare’s First Folio is surrounded by musical instruments from the playwright’s era, including the only English-made Renaissance cittern (c. 1579) known to survive…
Follow the First Folio! Tour updates from Florida, Vermont, Kansas, Illinois, New Mexico, and Arizona
This Marlon Brando costume is on display with the First Folio exhibition at Lake County Discovery Museum in Wauconda, IL. From a Hot Pepper Shakespeare contest to a Romeo and Juliet masquerade ball, the party doesn’t stop. These First Folio…