Tag Archives: The Merchant of Venice

Farewell to Jim Morris

This morning, 21 August 2021, my brother-in-law, James (Jim) Morris died in hospital in Australia, where he had lived for over sixty years. Although he had left Stratford as a teenager and his subsequent life was full of adventure he … Continue reading

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Shakespeare in Padua

Just recently we’ve been experiencing cold, grey, depressing weather in the UK and we must all be thinking longingly of long, warm days spent somewhere exotic. It’s just the time, of course, for planning a summer holiday and for the … Continue reading

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Shakespeare memories from the Bush

A couple of weeks ago I visited my brother-in-law James (Jim) Morris, who has lived on a beautiful plot of forest in New South Wales, Australia, near the small town Eden, for over thirty years. He left Stratford-upon-Avon, where he had been … Continue reading

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Christopher Marlowe’s Jew of Malta

At the beginning of the RSC’s current production of Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta a young man, unacknowledged in the programme, bounds on stage and reveals beneath his jacket a T-shirt bearing the logo Royal Marlowe Company in the … Continue reading

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Presenting Shakespeare’s Venice on stage

The RSC recently announced its Summer 2015 season, beginning in March. They’ll be focusing on the Italian city Venice, with three plays that are fully or partly set there: The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and Ben Jonson’s Volpone. It’s sure … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and his world: MOOC in progress

I’m very much enjoying the Shakespeare and his World MOOC created by the University of Warwick in collaboration with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, devised and presented by Professor Jonathan Bate. Last week the play being examined was The Merchant of … Continue reading

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Safeguarding the “first rough draft of history”

Newspapers are a relatively new invention: no character in a Shakespeare play ever reads one, news being conveyed by messenger or letter. In The Merchant of Venice Tubal brings a personal account to Shylock of the misfortunes of Antonio’s ship “I … Continue reading

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Sadness and the four humours in Shakespeare

The February 2014 meeting of the Stratford Shakespeare Club featured Dr Erin Sullivan, Lecturer and Fellow of the Shakespeare Institute, speaking on Beyond Melancholy – Sadness and Selfhood in Renaissance England. Even her title was a reminder of how much … Continue reading

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Staging the caskets: The Merchant of Venice

  As a man of the theatre, Shakespeare must always have written his scenes with an idea of how they would be performed, though given the limited technical scope of theatres at the time he does sometimes seem to have made it … Continue reading

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From crumhorns to waterphone: Music for Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s use of music is always a popular subject, but just now it seems to be everywhere. Shakespeare’s Globe is hosting a conference on Shakespeare, music and performance from 3-5 May, which will include input from major academics as well … Continue reading

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