Category Archives: Legacy

Shakespeare and the Georgians

2014, it seems, is going to be the year of the Georgians, with several different exhibitions looking at different aspects of life in the period covering 1714 to 1837. At the British Library there is an exhibition Georgians Revealed: Life, … Continue reading

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Theatre, democracy and Shakespeare

Dr Michael Scott’s BBC4 series Ancient Greece: the Greatest Show on Earth, looking at theatre in the classical world, has reached the Roman period. This is only available to download until 27 February, though you will then have a few weeks … Continue reading

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Parodying Hamlet

The best-known play based on Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is Tom Stoppard’s brilliant 1966 play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. It follows the plot of Hamlet from the  point of view of the pair of hapless and confused courtiers, owing much … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s Italian context

At least a couple of events relating Shakespeare and Italy are due to happen this year, one imminently in the UK and one, over the summer, in Italy itself. I’ve already written about the summer school due to take place in … Continue reading

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Love’s Labour’s Won?

The Royal Shakespeare Company has just announced its plans for the season September 2014-March 2015. In the main Royal Shakespeare Theatre a beautifully put-together programme will contribute to the commemoration of the centenary of the First World War. There will be two Shakespeare … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s February face

At the end of the week we can officially start looking forward to spring, with St Valentine’s Day on the 14th February. One of our regular readers at the Shakespeare Centre Library some years ago was a retired gentleman who … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s Richard II and the Essex rebellion

On this weekend in early February 1601 Shakespeare’s play Richard II was famously performed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in advance of the treacherous Essex rebellion. Just a few days later Augustine Phillips, the spokesman for Shakespeare’s company the Lord … Continue reading

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Cabinets of curiosity: Shakespeare’s the Thing

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, has just opened a new exhibition to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Called Shakespeare’s the Thing, the library is sharing “some of our favourite things” from their famous collections. Curated by … Continue reading

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John Lyly onstage with Edward’s Boys

A new production of John Lyly’s play Galatea has just been announced. Performances of his plays are now a real rarity, but at his peak, in the 1580s, Lyly was the most fashionable dramatist in England. His plays were not aimed … Continue reading

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W S Gilbert, Alternative Shakespeare, and charity

WS Gilbert is universally known for his partnership with Sullivan, creating the operas staged at the Savoy Theatre in London by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. G&S’s light, mostly comic operas such as The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe … Continue reading

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