Yearly Archives: 2011

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: lost in the forest

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

It’s the longest day of the year, a time when our ancestors believed the supernatural came particularly close to the human. So where does Shakespeare set his play where, on Midsummer night, the world as we know it gets turned … Continue reading →

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Shakespeare’s fathers: nature or nurture?

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

It’s Father’s Day in the UK today, and the prime minister, David Cameron, is taking the opportunity to have a go at fathers who fail to take financial or emotional responsibility for their families. There are children growing up …who … Continue reading →

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Shakespeare’s Avon, Act 4: river of life

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

The River Avon has always been of central importance to the town of Stratford and the area surrounding it. In Shakespeare’s day, it was an important artery for trade and a source of power (the mill is mentioned in the … Continue reading →

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Reading in Shakespeare’s England

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

While on holiday in the English Lake District earlier this year I visited Townend, an old farmhouse in the village of Troutbeck, now in the care of the National Trust.  It’s a rare survivor, a house lived in by the … Continue reading →

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Shakespeare’s Avon, Act 3: David Garrick’s Jubilee

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

The story of Stratford’s rise from being a typical market town into an international tourist destination is often said to start in 1769 when the greatest actor of the day, David Garrick, put on a three-day celebration of Shakespeare. The fact … Continue reading →

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More Ophelia contenders: Jane Shaxspere v. Katherine Hamlet and Margaret Clopton

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

Over the last couple of days Shakespeare’s inspiration for the death of Ophelia in Hamlet has provoked a surprising amount of media coverage. University of Oxford lecturer Dr Steven Gunn has been researching records of inquests at the National Archives, … Continue reading →

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Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man in glass

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

Glass is the most mysterious of substances, translucent yet intensely colourful, hard but fragile and easily broken. A friend has just celebrated the first firing of her new glass kiln, and over the weekend a group of us crowded into … Continue reading →

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Shakespearian stars 2: Paul Scofield as King Lear

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

In 2004 The Daily Telegraph published a survey in which RSC actors voted for the greatest Shakespeare performance in history. It wasn’t exactly a scientific poll, but the result was clear, and not unexpected. The winner was Paul Scofield in … Continue reading →

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Thomas Hardy and Shakespeare

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

A few days ago, on June 2nd  it was the birthday of the novelist Thomas Hardy, a giant of literature whose long career spanned the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In a discussion on this morning’s Radio 4 Broadcasting House (about 37 … Continue reading →

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Much Ado About Tate, Tennant, Best and Edwards

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Sylvia Morris

It looks like being a vintage summer for Shakespeare-lovers with lots on offer around the country. In London two productions of Much Ado About Nothing have opened within a week so it’s already possible to see two sets of the … Continue reading →

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