Category Archives: Sources

Shakespeare and the Book of Common Prayer

On Radio 4 on 26 August 2015 Quentin Letts asked “What’s the point of the Book of Common Prayer?” This little book, written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, was originally published in 1549 during the brief but emphatically protestant reign of King Edward … Continue reading

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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

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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

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Still looking for the truth about Richard III: who did kill the princes in the tower?

Like many thousands of others I visited Leicester on Monday 23 March 2015 to file past the coffined remains of Richard III before they are reinterred in the Cathedral on Thursday. People waited up to four hours, and many in … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and the Greeks

Every few years the tragedies of ancient Greece seem to come back into fashion, and just now, in 2015, several theatres are staging revivals or adaptations of these powerful ancient plays. On 24 March the Almeida’s new season goes on … Continue reading

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Richard III’s final journey

It’s almost two years since it was announced live on national TV that the skeleton discovered under a car park in Leicester was indeed that of King Richard III, killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. I watched the … Continue reading

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Witchcraft on page and stage

The Royal Shakespeare Company is currently staging the multi-authored play The Witch of Edmonton, first performed in 1621. It’s easy to see how attractive the play is since its subject relates so closely to Macbeth. In Shakespeare’s play the weird … Continue reading

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Printing and publishing in Shakespeare’s world

A couple of weeks go I heard an interview with an author who had tracked down the people who had pre-owned some of his books. It sparked a discussion about writing in books, from a simple signature of ownership, to … Continue reading

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Hugh Quarshie: Othello at last

In 2015 Hugh Quarshie will at last be taking on the role of Othello. It’s been a long wait: having played a whole series of Shakespeare’s characters in the 1980s and 1990s, from the predictable Aaron in Titus Andronicus, through … Continue reading

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The Secret Life of Shakespeare’s First Folio

Shakespeare’s First Folio is back in the news again, with a documentary presented by actor Simon Russell Beale having been broadcast on 9 September. It’s part of the series The Secret Life of Books, a fascinating look at the process of creative … Continue reading

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