Monthly Archives: September 2013

Shakespeare on the golf course

Golf may be one of the oldest of games, but it doesn’t seem to have been Shakespeare’s favourite as he never mentions it directly. He just might have played a few shots though: Mary, Queen of Scots, for one, is thought … Continue reading

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Anticipating Richard II

There are now less than two weeks to go until the RSC’s most-hyped production of the last few years, Richard II, has its first performance. With David Tennant playing the leading role, all the Stratford performances were sold out months … Continue reading

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Dido, Queen of Carthage: Marlowe and Shakespeare’s visions of Troy

Dido, Queen of Carthage is one of Christopher Marlowe’s least-performed and least-read plays. It’s sometimes been suggested that this unpopularity has been caused by it being an early, perhaps undergraduate effort. Recently there has been a revival of interest in … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s scenes in terracotta

Stratford-upon-Avon is not exactly short of memorials to William Shakespeare, with statues, busts and portraits on view in many public and not so public places. But representations of his plays are less common. The earliest of these were incorporated into … Continue reading

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Colorblind casting in Shakespeare: are we nearly there yet?

I’ve just been enjoying Dr Jami Rogers’ new article The Shakespearean Glass Ceiling: the State of Colorblind Casting in Contemporary British Theatre, which appears in Shakespeare Bulletin Vol 31 no 3, pp 405-430. As well as providing a fascinating analysis … Continue reading

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Devine and Wanamaker: two giants of the theatre

Last Tuesday I heard the stories of two men who each played crucial roles in the twentieth-century theatre, born within a few years of each other, but while one is a household name, the other is often overlooked. These men … Continue reading

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Reaping the harvest: growing food in Shakespeare’s England and our own

With the weather on the turn and autumn just around the corner, there’s just time to celebrate the joys of gardening and farming edible plants. This blog post, A Field Guide to Renaissance Gardens, offers some glorious images of sumptuous … Continue reading

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Royal Shakespeare Company plans for 2014

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s plans for the summer 2014 season have just been released and mailings are being received by members. It’s Artistic Director Gregory Doran’s first full season, and he continues to carry out his promise to perform the … Continue reading

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To sell or not to sell: Shakespeare folios in the news

At the beginning of last week I started hearing rumours that a set of the four Shakespeare folios (complete works published in the seventeenth century) was to be sold. A spokesman from the Library attempted to justify the decision: “We … Continue reading

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Warwickshire witchcraft: Macbeth and the mystery of Meon Hill

“And over there, the hill with the flat top, that’s Meon Hill”. The guide at the top of the RSC’s tower didn’t need to say more, knowing we were locals. With our guest for the weekend we were admiring the … Continue reading

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