Two Tempests blow onstage this month, in Atlanta, GA, and Bethesda, MD. Meanwhile, Macbeth conquers Seattle. Here’s what the Folger’s Shakespeare theater partners are up to in November.
Staging Shakespeare
We know you think Julius Caesar is boring
We ask theater artists across the country to tell us why it isn’t.
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters this winter
Sometimes it seems like January and February drag on forever. Thankfully, in 2023, there’s lots of thrilling theater to keep our spirits up. Here’s our round-up of performances from our theater partners across the United States this winter.
Q&A: Reynaldo Piniella and Emily Lyon on their bilingual Hamlet
In this bilingual Hamlet, a Black and Latinx prince has his sense of identity fractured by the loss of his Black father.
Q&A: Lauren Gunderson on her new play, A Room in the Castle, about the women of Hamlet
Fiona Ritchie on Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble
We talk to scholar Fiona Ritchie, whose new book, Shakespeare in the Theatre: Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble, details their rise to fame.
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in December
This month, Shakespeare theaters across the country are getting ready for the holidays with stories of Scrooge-i-ness defeated. Even Malvolio learns a lesson!
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in November
An Ofrenda to Shakespeare’s Afterlives
Katherine Gillen, Adrianna M. Santos, and Kathryn Vomero Santos write about stage adaptations of “Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet” that engage with Día de los Muertos traditions, reframing Shakespeare’s meditations on life and death according to Indigenous and Latinx worldviews.
Ian McKellen on Richard III, Macbeth, and Gandalf
Sir Ian McKellen tells us about some of his most famous roles: playing Macbeth opposite Dame Judi Dench, King Richard III with a screenplay he co-wrote, and Gandalf the Grey in The Lord of the Rings films.
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in October
King John (2022): Jessika D. Williams in “King John,” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Photo by Jenny Graham. The fall harvest is ready, and this year, we’ve got a bumper crop of Shakespeare plays! If you’re in the mood for…
Ian McKellen on Playing Hamlet
Sir Ian McKellen played Hamlet in his thirties, and again in his eighties. He gives us his take on the Melancholy Dane.
John Adams Gives Antony and Cleopatra the Operatic Treatment
Adams talks with host Barbara Bogaev about how he turned a five-act play into a two-act opera—which scenes got the hook, new lines written in the style of the Bard, and what Shakespeare may have thought of the play’s characters.