Monthly Archives: July 2014

Shakespeare’s mulberry and New Place

My current research on the development of celebrations for Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon has really focused my attention on the importance of the historic mulberry tree and the site of New Place in the story of the preservation of Shakespeare’s town. … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon in World War 1

In Stratford, as in towns all over the UK, events are being held marking the beginning of the First World War. At Hall’s Croft, close to the peaceful garden containing the town’s War Memorial, a small exhibition has just opened … Continue reading

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Shakespeare in Love – the play

This evening, 23 July, is the official opening of the new London West End play Shakespeare in Love, Lee Hall’s new version of the much-loved 1998 film of the same name. Rumours have been circulating about this play ever since … Continue reading

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HyperHamlet

Hamlet has got to be the most frequently quoted or alluded to work of literature ever written. People may not even realise they are quoting from the play when they say “Neither a borrower or a lender be”, “more in … Continue reading

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W B Yeats and Stratford-upon-Avon

For the Spring Festival in April 1901 in Stratford-upon-Avon F R Benson put on a cycle of Shakespeare’s history plays that quickly became known as the Week of Kings. England’s turbulent history must have been a subject of great interest … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and the Digital World

And now, a plug. Last month saw the publication by Cambridge University Press of Shakespeare and the Digital World, Redefining Scholarship and Practice, edited by Christie Carson and Peter Kirwan, to which I have contributed one of the seventeen individual … Continue reading

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From Warwick Pageant to theatre of war: the boy Shakespeare

In my post on 30 June I wrote about the Warwick Pageant, an extravaganza that took over the town of Warwick for a week in July 1906. It had taken months of planning, costume-making, and rehearsing, and around 1500 people … Continue reading

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Stirling Castle’s links to Shakespeare

On my recent trip to Stirling for the British Shakespeare Association conference I made a point of visiting the city’s historic castle. Although I knew of its importance at a strategic spot overlooking the crossing of the River Forth, I … Continue reading

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Remembering Sir Laurence Olivier

Friday 11 July 2014 is the 25th anniversary of Laurence Olivier’s death in 1989. By chance I was in the RST that evening and before the performance artistic director Terry Hands delivered an onstage tribute to Olivier. At the end … Continue reading

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Outdoor Shakespeare

This weekend just gone has been a great one for outside events: Wimbledon, the Tour de France in Yorkshire, and in Stratford the now-annual River Festival. Amazingly, the sun shone on them all. The Guardian recently published an article about … Continue reading

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