Monthly Archives: November 2012

The Sam Wanamaker Theatre

Major congratulations are due to Shakespeare’s Globe, where the building of their new indoor theatre has just begun. It has just been announced, here and here, that the theatre will be named after the man who devoted himself to the creation … Continue reading

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C Walter Hodges and Shakespeare’s Theatre

I spent Saturday at the conference Who invented the “Shakespearean theatre”?, held at the University of Reading. I wrote about the conference in advance,  and I’ll be writing more about the conference in a later blog (or two), but just now … Continue reading

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Chaos, Jack Cade and the men of Kent

But then are we in order when we are most out of order. This contradictory line is spoken by the rebel Jack Cade in Shakespeare’s play Henry VI part 2. In his very first history play Shakespeare chose to explore … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and the power of music

22 November is Saint Cecilia’s day, when we should be celebrating music in all its forms, yet on Tuesday morning BBC Radio 4’s Today programme broadcast a piece criticising the fact that only a small minority of people attend ballet, opera … Continue reading

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So who did invent the Shakespearean Theatre?

Who invented the “Shakespearean theatre”? Burbage and Shakespeare and/or Henslowe and Alleyn?  This is the title of a one-day conference being held at the University of Reading this Saturday coming, 24 November. Because Shakespeare is now the most famous playwright … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s Welsh

The Welsh are rightly proud of their national history and heritage, but they haven’t always been represented seriously in literature and the media. Even in Shakespeare’s day efforts were made to set the record straight by drawing attention to the … Continue reading

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Celebrating the Swan Theatre’s birthday

On 13 November 1986 The Queen visited Stratford-upon-Avon to open the Swan Theatre. The official opening ceremony was held during the day and in the evening The Fair Maid of the West was staged in front of an invited audience, … Continue reading

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Learning about education in Shakespeare’s town and the universities

Duncan Salkeld’s new book Shakespeare among the Courtesans is based on close study of documentary evidence, a technique which he notes sometimes takes a battering. Facts, he notes, are “subject to interpretation, and so refracted through a variety of political, … Continue reading

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Valuing performance: violins, Vaughan Williams and Henry V

This morning violinist Tasmin Little was interviewed on Radio 4’s flagship news programme Today, talking about rare violins and their value. In Vienna the verdict in the trial of Dietmar Machold, accused of fraud and embezzlement in the trade of … Continue reading

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Funeral monuments: remembering Shakespeare’s Henry V and Richard III

Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! Comets, importing change of times and states, Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky, And with them scourge the bad revolting stars That have consented unto Henry’s death! King Henry … Continue reading

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