Category Archives: Legacy

Putting a girdle round about the globe: Shakespeare clubs and societies

What makes a group of like-minded Shakespeare-lovers turn themselves into a formal club or society? According to Nick Walton, it’s when the provision of refreshments, particularly biscuits, becomes an issue. Is the occupation of discussing or reading Shakespeare so exhausting that … Continue reading

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Stratford-upon-Avon’s celebration of Shakespeare on Film

Most people get their first introduction to Shakespeare in performance by watching not a live theatre production but a film. And the viewing figures for a Shakespeare film far outnumber even the most successful stage production. So the Shakespeare Film … Continue reading

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Stratford’s Band of Brothers: the Bensonian Company

One of the most significant events in the early years of the theatre in Stratford was the appointment of Frank Benson to run the festivals. From 1879 to 1885 the Memorial Theatre had been a receiving house for companies bringing … Continue reading

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Mapping Shakespeare’s imagined world

I recently visited the British Museum’s exhibition, Shakespeare: staging the World. It’s an amazing display of objects relating to the world Shakespeare knew, seen alongside video extracts of actors performing speeches from the plays, all arranged around a number of … Continue reading

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Thomas Platter’s visit to Shakespeare’s theatre

On 21 September 1599 a Swiss tourist, Thomas Platter, visiting London, went to the newly-opened Globe Theatre to see a play. As it happened, he saw Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The occasion made quite an impression on him, so much so … Continue reading

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What you will: a Shakespearean treat

Regular readers might remember my interest in one-man Shakespeare shows, which I wrote a post about just a year ago. One of the one-man shows I mentioned, Roger Rees’s What you Will is coming to the Apollo Theatre in London for … Continue reading

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Our revels now are ended: The Tempest, Olympics and Paralympics

2012 has been the year of The Tempest. During this year of the World Shakespeare Festival at least three productions have been seen in the UK, and the play featured in the opening ceremonies for both the Olympics and Paralympics. … Continue reading

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Shakespeare for women: from Henry V to Julius Caesar

The announcement that an all-female Julius Caesar production is to be staged at the Donmar Warehouse in London from November to February has been greeted with excitement. Here’s Lyn Gardner’s Guardian piece. The production will be directed by Phyllida Lloyd … Continue reading

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Stratford-upon-Avon’s Shakespeare Club

Shakespeare has been celebrated in his home town of Stratford-upon-Avon for centuries. David Garrick’s Jubilee in 1769 was the first major festival, but although it put Stratford on the map it had no lasting legacy. It was another fifty-five years … Continue reading

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Heritage Open Days: history for free

Heritage Open Days have become a regular part of the UK’s cultural calendar. For one weekend doors normally closed are thrown open in some of the most historic buildings in the country. This year, between Thursday 6 and Sunday 9 … Continue reading

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