Tag Archives: Macbeth

What can doctors learn from Shakespeare?

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

It’s long been acknowledged that Shakespeare took a great interest in medicine and psychology, and this week the BBC picked up a new article written by Dr Kenneth Heaton indicating that doctors might do well to study Shakespeare to improve … Continue reading →

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Gunpowder, treason and plot: Guy Fawkes and the Shakespeare connection

Posted on November 5, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

As I write this Guy Fawkes is trending on Twitter and “Occupy Wall Street” protestors are wearing Guy Fawkes masks inspired by the film Vendetta. Perhaps Guy Fawkes Day is set to become a politically meaningful date in the calendar … Continue reading →

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Shakespeare and Doctor Who

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

    Doctor Who is a quintessentially English, science fiction TV programme which was first screened in 1963. To date eleven actors have played the part of the eccentric time-traveller.  A few weeks ago there was a jokey suggestion in … Continue reading →

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Shakespeare’s plays in his lifetime: the Cambridge Conference

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

One of the sessions in the recent Cambridge Shakespeare Conference was on Shakespeare’s Plays in his Lifetime. Frustratingly little is known about the performance of Shakespeare’s plays and how they were originally received so I looked forward to hearing from people … Continue reading →

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Simon Forman, Shakespeare and the stage

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

12 September 2011 is the 400th anniversary of the death of the colourful astrologer-cum-physician Simon Forman – or perhaps it was 11 September, or even 5 September, accounts vary.  Whichever is correct, Forman was a well-known, even notorious figure in Shakespeare’s … Continue reading →

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The curse of Macbeth strikes again

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

Poor Jonathan Slinger, the RSC’s current Macbeth, seems to be the latest casualty of the so-called “curse of Macbeth”. He didn’t acquire his broken arm during any of his dangerous onstage moves but, rather prosaically, by being knocked off his … Continue reading →

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Seeking out Shakespeare’s villains

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

The series of blogs about Shakespeare’s villains posted by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust at Blogging Shakespeare and Finding Shakespeare, has raised interesting questions about what that word “villain”means. The dictionary definition is a “person guilty or capable of great wickedness, … Continue reading →

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Shakespeare, portraits, and finding the mind’s construction in the face

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

Last week I spent some time admiring a group of portraits now in the National Gallery, London, by the North Italian painter Moroni who lived from around 1520 to 1579. One is very well known. In The tailor the subject … Continue reading →

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Blackadder and Shakespeare

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

My all-time favourite TV comedies are the 1980s Blackadder series, best of all the second in which the unpleasant and incompetent Edmund morphed into the clever but surrounded-by-idiots Edmund, dazzlingly glamorous in ruff and thigh-length boots, set in the Elizabethan … Continue reading →

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Kevin Spacey as Richard III, the “cunning, conniving, charismatic king”

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

One of this summer’s hottest theatre tickets will be Kevin Spacey’s performance as Shakespeare’s most famous villain Richard III, currently previewing at the Old Vic in London.  In a Radio interview with Spacey and his director, Sam Mendes it’s clear … Continue reading →

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