Monthly Archives: May 2015

Rosalinds in Arden

Michelle Terry is blasting her way through Shakespeare’s forthright heroines. Having spent the winter playing Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, both for the RSC in Stratford, she is now taking on Shakespeare’s most … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare on Stage | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

More matter for a May morning: Gerarde’s Herball and Shakespeare

After a few days away out of reach of the internet I returned home to find a new Shakespeare controversy had erupted. Country Life, not normally known for its Shakespeare content, had published a “Special Historic Edition” on 20 May … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare's World | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on More matter for a May morning: Gerarde’s Herball and Shakespeare

Posting Edwardian Stratford to the world: W W Quatremain

In any collection of old postcards of Stratford you are likely to come across the work of the artist William Wells Quatremain (usually referred to as W W Quatremain). Although he was not the only artist painting scenes of the … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Stratford-upon-Avon | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Reading Shakespeare: new editions

“Why another Shakespeare volume?” ask the editors of the recently-published Bedford Shakespeare, Russ McDonald and Lena Cowen Orlin. Their answer is that most editions don’t answer the requirements of current students, particularly in the USA. ” We asked hundreds of … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Legacy | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Music and musicians at the RSC

According to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s website, Shakespeare made over 2,000 references to music, included over 400 separate musical terms, and wrote around 100 songs to be performed in his plays. Music has been an essential component of performances at … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Legacy, Stratford-upon-Avon | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Henry Wallis: a pre-Raphaelite’s views of Shakespeare’s Stratford

Henry Wallis isn’t one of the best-known of the Pre-Raphaelite painters, barely getting a mention in books about Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Millais, Holman Hunt et al, but one of his paintings is universally-known and classed as a masterpiece. The Death … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Legacy, Stratford-upon-Avon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Henry Wallis: a pre-Raphaelite’s views of Shakespeare’s Stratford

Keeping up with Shakespeare events in London and Stratford

It’s the middle of May, and debates and discussions with Shakespeare-related themes are happening everywhere. I’ve only just realised that several of these are happening now, so if you want to catch up with ideas about Shakespeare’s relationship to cultural … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Legacy, Sources | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Keeping up with Shakespeare events in London and Stratford

Antony Sher playing Shakespeare’s fat knight

The Radio 4 Book of the Week beginning on 4 May 2015 was Antony Sher’s  Year of the Fat Knight: the Falstaff Diaries, his account of  the process of preparing for and performing Falstaff in Henry IV parts 1 and … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare on Stage | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sir Walter Ralegh and the vagaries of politics

I’m writing this post on the day of the General Election, 7 May 2015, and by the time you read it most of the results will be in. All the indications are that there will be no clear winner, leading … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Shakespeare's World, Sources | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Sir Walter Ralegh and the vagaries of politics

Peter Brook at the V&A

On Saturday I was lucky to be able to attend a symposium at the Victoria and Albert Museum entitled Peter Brook: Place, Process, Performance, Politics. It was part of the Museum’s Performance Festival and this investigation of Brook’s impact on … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Shakespeare on Stage | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Peter Brook at the V&A