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
Category Archives: Plays and Poems
The mysterious Passionate Pilgrim and Shakespeare
I’ve been spending some time just recently re-reading James Shapiro’s great book 1599, which I strongly recommend if you haven’t already read it. It focuses on a single year, decisive in Shakespeare’s creative life as well being as the year … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare's World
Tagged 1599, Adam G Hooks, James Shapiro, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, Sonnets, The Passionate Pilgrim
Comments Off on The mysterious Passionate Pilgrim and Shakespeare
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
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
Very like a whale: Adventures in the far North, Part 2
In Part 1 I looked at some of Shakespeare’s references to whales, and the history of whaling in Spitsbergen. This time I’m looking at the stories of adventurers who headed north. The very first English trading company was established by … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare's World
Tagged hunting, Love's Labour's Lost, Measure for Measure, Shakespeare, Spitsbergen, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Troilus and Cressida, whaling, William Barents
Comments Off on Very like a whale: Adventures in the far North, Part 2
Paul Robeson, Othello and Mixed Britannia
The BBC has just begun a mixed race season, examining how over the past 100 years Britain has come to be a country in which inter-racial partnerships are commonplace. The first documentary in the series Mixed Britannia looked at the … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage, Stratford-upon-Avon
Tagged Ira Aldridge, Mixed Britannia, Othello, Paul Robeson, Peggy Ashcroft
Comments Off on Paul Robeson, Othello and Mixed Britannia
Shakespeare and National Poetry Day
Thursday 6 October is National Poetry Day in the UK. With so much economic gloom in the news, and to mark the day, here are a couple of pieces of Shakespeare’s most beautiful poetry. The first one comes from near … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems
Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, National Poetry Day, poetry, Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
2 Comments
Seeing the spider
Autumn’s coming round, and that means we are all seeing more spiders in homes, gardens and in the countryside. Spiders have always got a bad press. In folklore they’re associated with evil, malevolence, and rumoured to be venomous. Spiders don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare's World
Tagged folklore, insect, Richard III, Shakespeare, spider, superstition, The Winter's Tale
2 Comments
Shakespearian stars 3: John Gielgud as Hamlet
If asked to name the greatest Hamlet of the mid-twentieth century most people would suggest Laurence Olivier. It was, though John Gielgud who received more critical acclaim and who, for people alive at the time, was most closely associated with … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Hamlet, John Gielgud, London, New York, Shakespeare
1 Comment
Ralph Fiennes and Coriolanus on film
In the UK we’re in party conference season, where the political parties have their annual meetings: there’s much jostling for position while leaders try to reaffirm their dominance. And in the USA, although there’s over a year to go until … Continue reading