Subscribe to the blog
Search the site
-
Latest posts
Categories
- Legacy (699)
- Plays and Poems (174)
- Shakespeare on Stage (302)
- Shakespeare's World (328)
- Sources (43)
- Stratford-upon-Avon (331)
- Uncategorized (2)
Recent comments
- Richard Morris on King Charles III, Shakespeare, and coronations
- Roger Gregory on A sad farewell to Peter Brook
- mary beth shipley on Shakespeare’s Come Home!
Tags
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- As You Like it
- BBC
- Ben Jonson
- British Library
- British Museum
- Christmas
- David Garrick
- education
- Edwards' Boys
- First Folio
- Folger Shakespeare Library
- Gregory Doran
- Hamlet
- Henry V
- Holy Trinity Church
- Jonathan Bate
- Julius Caesar
- Kenneth Branagh
- King Edward VI School
- King Lear
- London
- Love's Labour's Lost
- Macbeth
- music
- National Theatre
- Othello
- Peter Brook
- Richard II
- Richard III
- Romeo and Juliet
- Royal Shakespeare Company
- Shakespeare
- Shakespeare's Globe
- Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
- Shakespeare Club
- Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon
- Shakespeare Institute
- Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
- Simon Russell Beale
- spring
- Stratford-upon-Avon
- The Merchant of Venice
- The Tempest
- The Winter's Tale
More blog posts
- May 2023
- February 2023
- September 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- August 2021
- April 2021
- February 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- August 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
Author Archives: Sylvia Morris
Shakespeare and the first actresses
The National Portrait Gallery in London’s new exhibition celebrates the careers of the earliest English professional actresses. Entitled The First Actresses: Nell Gwynn to Sarah Siddons it neatly documents womens’ increasing respectability in the world of the theatre. In Shakespeare’s … Continue reading
Posted in Shakespeare on Stage, Shakespeare's World
Tagged actresses, Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like it, Cleopatra, exhibition, Juliet, National Portrait Gallery, Rosalind, Shakespeare, women
Comments Off on Shakespeare and the first actresses
Facts, fiction and Shakespeare’s view of history
It’s always claimed that Shakespeare must have been fascinated by British history because he wrote so many plays about it. I make the play count thirteen. But was this fascination with the history itself, or did he see it as … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems, Shakespeare's World
Tagged Alison Weir, Boris Johnson, fact, Falstaff, Fiction, Henry IV, Henry V, history, Holinshed, King John, Shakespeare, story
5 Comments
A Monty Python view of the authorship question, by Eric Idle
Over the past months I’ve read dozens of pieces about the authorship question and although many of them have been very much worth reading, this article from the New Yorker is the only one that has made me laugh. The … Continue reading
Robin Hood and Shakespeare
A new play by David Farr, called The Heart of Robin Hood, is just about to open at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The legend of Robin Hood is a great subject for the RSC as it was obviously a story … Continue reading
The Shakespeare blog hits 100!
Yes this is my 100th post since I started The Shakespeare Blog just over six months ago. It’s a good time to reassess the site, and over the past week I’ve been planning a few changes which will go live … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems
Tagged Henry VI Part 1, Remembrance Day, Shakespeare, Talbot, The Shakespeare Blog
9 Comments
Shakespeare’s King Lear and possession
A few weeks ago I attended one of the Shakespeare Club in Stratford-upon-Avon’s lectures given by Professor Ewan Fernie, on King Lear. It was a thought-provoking look at some of the darkest scenes in this already dark and gruelling play. … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare's World
Comments Off on Shakespeare’s King Lear and possession
Gunpowder, treason and plot: Guy Fawkes and the Shakespeare connection
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
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare's World, Stratford-upon-Avon
Tagged Ambrose Fullwood, Clopton House, Dugdale Society, Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes, Macbeth, Robert Bearman, Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon
Comments Off on Gunpowder, treason and plot: Guy Fawkes and the Shakespeare connection
The mysteries of emblems, mottoes, and Shakespeare’s own chair
In my last post I looked at how Shakespeare acquired his family’s coat of arms. It is set down in two drafts made on 20 October 1596, described as follows: The arms are blazoned. “Gold, on a bend sable, a spear of … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Stratford-upon-Avon
Tagged Ann Donnelly, coat of arms, Courting chair, heraldry, Pericles, Shakespeare, Victor Chinnery, William Collins
2 Comments
The facts about Shakespeare’s coat of arms
At some time in the late 1560s or early 1570s William’s father John Shakespeare enquired about acquiring a coat of arms for his family. John had ambition: as a young man he left the little village of Snitterfield for the … Continue reading
Posted in Shakespeare's World
Tagged coat of arms, College of Arms, Gentleman, Henry V, herald, Shakespeare
1 Comment
Walking for Shakespeare: Nine Day’s Wonder
Walking for fun’s not a concept that would have been understood in Shakespeare’s day, and the sponsored walk would have been an even more alien idea. Walking was a necessity, and when Shakespeare left Stratford for London as a young … Continue reading