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Category Archives: Plays and Poems
Macbeth from stage to film
Macbeth is one of the most-filmed of Shakespeare’s plays, and no wonder. According to Daniel Rosenthal in his book Shakespeare on Screen, “From its supernatural opening to its gruesome climax, Macbeth is the Shakespeare play that reads most like a … Continue reading
Shakespeare’s rhyming couplets
We all know that in order to get to grips with Shakespeare’s writing, you have to understand blank verse, most crucially the unrhymed iambic pentameter. Students often struggle with the theory, though in practice it’s not so tough: one of … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Stratford-upon-Avon
Tagged Patrick Spottiswoode, poetry, rhyme, Shakespeare Club, Shakespeare's Globe
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Fairs, pedlars, and Shakespeare’s Stratford
October is fair-time in Stratford-upon-Avon and the surrounding towns as the travelling rides, the prize stalls and the hot dog stands fill the town’s streets. The traditional pig roast is still part of the Mop fair as is the fortune-teller’s … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare's World, Stratford-upon-Avon
Tagged Autolycus, British Museum, Mop Fair, Shakespeare: staging the world, The Winter's Tale
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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
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems, Stratford-upon-Avon
Tagged film, Kenneth Branagh, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
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All the world’s a cinema
Summer’s drawing to a close, but there are still lots of Shakespeare treats to enjoy, though not perhaps out of doors. No matter where you live, your local cinema may be able to provide you with a fix of stage performance. … Continue reading
Shakespeare’s Dark Lady of the sonnets: fact or fiction?
People have been trying to identify Shakespeare’s Dark Lady, the mysterious woman who is the subject of some of Shakespeare’s sonnets, since the Victorian period. A few years ago Emilia Lanier was the favoured candidate, and before that Mary Fitton. … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems
Tagged Aubrey Burl, Dark Lady, Duncan Salkeld, Grace Ioppolo, Henslowe's Diary, Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project, Jonathan Bate
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Becoming a courtier: Castiglione, Shakespeare and Richard III
Earlier this week Amanda Vickery, in her radio programme On… Men, looked at the concept of the ideal man, defined in Italy in the sixteenth century, which remained a standard for centuries. You can listen again here for a few … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare's World
Tagged Amanda Vickery, Castiglione, Richard III, The book of the Courtier, Thomas Peacham, Urbino
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Updating Timon: Simon Russell Beale at the National
Theatre programmes don’t often include an article written by the leading man in the production. Most actors and directors let their work speak for them, and drawing attention to their past successes might be courting disaster. Actors can be a … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged London, modern dress, National Theatre, Shakespeare, Simon Russell Beale, Timon of Athens
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Round the globe with Much Ado About Nothing
What are we learning from the World Shakespeare Festival? A few weeks ago Sonia Massai headed a panel entitled Global Shakespeares. In her subsequent post on the RSC’s MyShakespeare site she says “‘Global Shakespeares’ can only be understood in relation … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Donald Sinden, Global Shakespeares, Indian, Iqbal Khan, John Barton, Judi Dench, Meera Syal, Michael Billington, Much Ado About Nothing, Paul Bhattarcharjee, Royal Shakespeare Company, Sonia Massai, World Shakespeare Festival
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Shakespearean voices
I’ve written several times about how much I love hearing Shakespeare spoken well, but what exactly does that mean? There are many aspects to speaking Shakespeare, and theatre companies now employ specialist voice coaches to help actors deal with the challenges. … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Ben Crystal, British Library, Cicely Berry, David Crystal, Hearing Shakespeare, Lyn Darnley, original pronunciation, Shakespearean Language, speaking, speech, Valerie Pye, voice
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