Category Archives: Legacy

Celebrating Shakespeare and the Birthday Play

I recently wrote about the launch of Shakespeare’s Celebrations, a new organisation that is breathing new life into the celebration of Shakespeare’s Birthday in Stratford-upon-Avon. The story can be traced back to David Garrick’s Shakespeare Jubilee even though, taking place … Continue reading

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#LoveTheatre day: celebrating creativity with Twitter

On Wednesday 19 November there’s going to be a real celebration of theatre as the first #LoveTheatre day takes off. Over 300 venues and organisations are taking part from places as far apart as Europe, Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, Chile … Continue reading

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Remembering Richard Pasco, Shakespearian actor

  On Wednesday 12 November Richard Pasco became the third eminent Shakespeare actor with close associations to Stratford-upon-Avon to die in 2014. Sadly there has been little immediate media interest, unlike that which met the death of Donald Sinden, and, … Continue reading

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Printing and publishing in Shakespeare’s world

A couple of weeks go I heard an interview with an author who had tracked down the people who had pre-owned some of his books. It sparked a discussion about writing in books, from a simple signature of ownership, to … Continue reading

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Being Human: Shakespeare and the humanities

It was in 1998 that Harold Bloom’s book Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human was published.  In the book “Bloom presents one of the boldest theses of Shakespearean scholarships: that Shakespeare not only invented the English language, but also created … Continue reading

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Shakespearean dark ladies, George Bernard Shaw and the National Theatre

Everybody loves a mystery, and one of the most persistent is the identity of Shakespeare’s so-called Dark Lady. (It’s by no means certain that there ever was such a person).I wrote a couple of years ago about this story, particularly as … Continue reading

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Shakespeare projects round-up

Projects involving Shakespeare have, as ever, been coming thick and fast over the last couple of months. There are a tremendous variety of books, websites, and films (some still requiring help to get made). First up is a book I’ve … Continue reading

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A new chapter in the history of Shakespeare’s Celebrations

I’ve spent much of the past year or so researching the history of the celebrations of Shakespeare’s birth in Stratford-upon-Avon.  It’s a long and complicated story with its origins in the 1769 Garrick Jubilee, and I’m happy to report that after a few … Continue reading

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Remembering the days of Empire: The Shakespeare Memorial National Theatre Ball, 1911

The years leading up to the First World War saw interest in Shakespeare reaching a high. In Stratford there were events relating to the rise in folk traditions of singing and dancing, but in London the movement to found a … Continue reading

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Shakespeare, politics and the history of Stratford-upon-Avon

The Shakespeare Club’s October meeting consisted of a lecture by historian Nicholas Fogg on  Shakespeare and politics. It was perhaps no surprise that he had decided to look at the subject through a historical perspective, suggesting that to understand Shakespeare’s views … Continue reading

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