Author Archives: Sylvia Morris

Shakespeare and the staff of life

Drought, crop failure, disease. The TV shows pictures of helpless people trying to dig in soil as dry as dust: unless international action is taken to help they will soon become heart-wrenching images of starving children. In Kenya alone there … Continue reading

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Edward Alleyn’s legacy and Shakespeare’s theatre

Most of what we know about the elusive world of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre is found in one unique collection of manuscripts. These are known as the Henslowe-Alleyn archive, working theatrical documents created by impresario Philip Henslowe and his illustrious … Continue reading

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Harley Granville Barker and Shakespeare

A new play about the great man of the theatre Harley Granville Barker is now playing at the Hampstead Theatre, London. As explained on the Radio 4 Today programme on 29 February Granville Barker virtually invented the idea of the director, … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s minds diseased: mental illness and its treatment

Shakespeare was clearly fascinated by mental illness, many characters displaying a variety of symptoms from Lear’s madness, Jaques’ melancholy, Timon’s bitter cursing, Macbeth’s visions and Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking, to the obsessiveness of Leontes.  It’s usually accepted that Shakespeare was influenced in medical matters by … Continue reading

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International Women’s day: remembering Mary Cowden Clarke

Every year on 8 March International Women’s Day celebrates the achievements of women. All round the world women still suffer serious inequality, and education is one area to which even in the Western world women were denied equal access until … Continue reading

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Sorrow, pitiful sorrow; the burning of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre

In the early afternoon of Saturday 6 March 1926 a man was cycling down Chapel Lane in Stratford when he spotted smoke coming from the roof of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in front of him. He immediately took action to … Continue reading

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Farewell to the majestic cedar

It’s sad to report that the Cedar of Lebanon tree which stands in the garden of Shakespeare’s Birthplace has to be taken down later this week. It’s a real focal point of the garden, forming the backdrop for countless photographs, … Continue reading

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Marie Corelli and Shakespeare on World Book Day

Today is World Book Day, so it’s a good opportunity to look at an author, almost forgotten now, but who 100 years ago outsold just about everybody. Stratford-upon-Avon 100 years ago attracted literary tourists who were interested, not in Shakespeare, but … Continue reading

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Picturing Shakespeare: Alan O’Cain’s The Tempest

  Responses to Shakespeare’s plays come in many forms, and his influence on other art forms such as music, painting and design was explored as part of the British Shakespeare Association’s Lancaster University conference last weekend.  Picturing Shakespeare was one … Continue reading

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Ira Aldridge, Shakespearean actor and gentleman of colour

The black actor Ira Aldridge is now recognised as one of the most remarkable interpreters of Shakespeare’s leading roles. He first appeared on the London stage as Othello in 1825, and remained associated with the role for the rest of his … Continue reading

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