The Tempest
Shakespeare and the Ocean, with Steve Mentz
Steve Mentz’s books connect literary criticism with marine ecology. He takes us on a deep dive into Shakespeare and the sea.
The Fairy King’s Grimoire
A guest post by Alexander D’Agostino I am an artist working with queer histories and images, through performance and visual art. During my Artist Research Fellowship with the Folger, I am creating The Fairy King’s Grimoire: a reimagining of the…
“Worthy service": The Tempest-uousness of The White Lotus
HBO’s Emmy-winning “The White Lotus” transforms Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” into a darkly funny satire of the hospitality industry, writes Austin Tichenor.
Birds of Shakespeare: The barnacle goose
The barnacle goose, referenced in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” was an unmistakable symbol of metamorphosis for a 17th-century audience. It was commonly believed that the barnacle goose evolved from driftwood. Artist Missy Dunaway shares her painting of this fascinating bird along…
Shakespeare's roles in the Caribbean
Shakespeare is woven into the culture of the British Caribbean, with a special emphasis on Caliban and The Tempest–but does he reflect the colonial past, influence anti-colonial authors, or both? Scholars Giselle Rampaul and Barrymore A. Bogues traced his complex…
Stephen Hopkins and Stephano
Shakespeare Unlimited: Epsiode 163 He was in a shipwreck. He was at Jamestown. He was on the Mayflower. And maybe, just maybe, he’s in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Stephen Hopkins was the only passenger on the Mayflower who had previously been…
ENCORES: ‘Our Revels Now Are Ended’ performed by Folger Consort (2014)
Folger Public Programs is pleased to present ENCORES, a weekly online series highlighting past performances and recalling the rich history of programming on the historic Folger stage. See Folger Consort perform ‘Our Revels Now Are Ended.’
Strange Shakespeare: Transforming ‘The Tempest’, classifying Caliban
Shakespeare became the Bard of Avon, the English national poet, in the roughly two hundred years following his death in 1616. During this period, his plays were constantly staged in theaters throughout the British Isles and their colonies—but often in…
Prospero's epilogue as Shakespeare's farewell? Excerpt - 'This is Shakespeare' by Emma Smith
In this excerpt from her new book, This is Shakespeare (published Mar 31 in the United States), Emma Smith probes the biographical interpretations that readers have layered over Shakespeare’s plays, particularly The Tempest, and how that shapes what we think…
"Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen": Hedgehogs in Shakespeare's plays and the early modern imagination
Edward Topsell. The historie of foure-footed beastes. 1607. FOLGER STC 24123 copy 1 While the global population of European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) is stable, their numbers have been rapidly declining in the UK for decades, especially in rural areas. This…
Outdoor Shakespeare: The pioneers of a summer tradition
Shakespeare by the sea, on the river, in the park or garden, on the common – in the summertime Shakespeare’s plays are everywhere outdoors! High-profile shows in New York’s Central Park or at Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival may come to…
Caliban by the Yellow Sands: Shakespeare and immigrant communities in New York - Excerpt: Here in This Island We Arrived
Here in This Island We Arrived: Shakespeare and Belonging in Immigrant New York is a 2019 book from Elisabeth H. Kinsley that explores Shakespeare performance in late 19th- and early 20-century Manhattan during a time of profound demographic change, when…