Monthly Archives: October 2017

The importance of image: Martin Luther and the 95 Theses

It’s one of the most famous of images: a simply dressed monk takes a hammer and nails, the symbols of the crucifixion of Christ, and fixes a large document to the wooden door of a church. The date was 31 … Continue reading

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Shakespeare in Soviet Russia

On 25 October 1917 (following the Julian calendar, 7 November on the Gregorian Calendar), the Bolsheviks took over Petrograd. The following day they took the Winter Palace and with it control of Russia. Thus began the Russian Revolution, one of … Continue reading

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Theatregoing with Luke McKernan

Following on from my post about the MOOC that began 23 October 2017, I’ve only just discovered a relatively new site that reproduces lots of material relating to going to the theatre, put together by the British Library’s prolific Lead … Continue reading

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Aphra Behn, the first professional woman writer

In England, after Shakespeare’s death there followed a period of tremendous change, with the Civil War and execution of the reigning king, Charles 1, followed by the Commonwealth under Cromwell. When the monarchy was restored in 1660 and Charles II … Continue reading

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Shakespeare: Print and Performance

For many years, even centuries, there was a huge divide between Shakespeare’s plays as they were performed and how they appeared in print. Scholars wrestled with the numerous different editions of the plays issued in the early modern period, trying … Continue reading

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A German Hamlet: Fratricide Punished

There are many unanswered questions regarding Shakespeare’s plays, many of which relate to Hamlet, Shakespeare’s best-known play. The German Der Bestrafte Brudemord, known in English as Fratricide Punished, is one of the earliest known versions of Hamlet in a foreign … Continue reading

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Influences on Shakespeare

The source books from which Shakespeare took the main stories of his plays are well-known, sometimes so important that he quoted almost word for word, as in Enobarbus’s description of Cleopatra from Plutarch’s Lives. Other sources seem to have been … Continue reading

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