Category Archives: Shakespeare’s World

The Shakespeare graves in Holy Trinity Church

Dr Robert Bearman by the grave of Shakespeare The fourth in the Friends of Shakespeare’s Church lecture series A Taste of History took the subject of The Shakespeare Family Gravestones and What They Tell Us. It is the only one … Continue reading

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The Tempest in our time and its own

A great authority on Shakespeare, the academic Anne Barton, died a few days ago. She always wrote with an awareness of the play as a piece of theatre and her thoughts were often reflected in her husband, John Barton’s productions.  … Continue reading

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Restoring the medieval decorations in Stratford’s Guild Chapel

Although I’ve written about a number of the Guild’s surviving buildings, a recent enquiry reminded me that I’ve not really written about the Guild Chapel itself. It has its Shakespeare connections: William’s father John supervised the whitewashing over of the … Continue reading

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Revisiting Shakespeare’s restless world: an era in objects

Most books on the subject of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods include chapters on seafaring and exploration, religious change, war, medicine and government, supported by illustrations of maps, religious paintings, contemporary buildings, portraits and printed works. The head of the … Continue reading

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Visualising Shakespeare’s London

Most of the London that Shakespeare knew disappeared in the Great Fire of London in 1666. As the city was rebuilt the original street pattern was re-established, and today we still find places with medieval names: Cheapside, Newgate, Bishopsgate and … Continue reading

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“Far more fair than black”: Cleopatra, Othello and blacks in Renaissance England

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s new production of Antony and Cleopatra will, for the first time in its history, feature a black actress, Joaquina Kalukango, as Cleopatra. It’s a co-production between the RSC, the Public Theatre, New York and Gablestage, Miami, … Continue reading

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Elizabeth 1 and her people in portrait and performance

The new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, Elizabeth I and her people, puts on display a glorious collection of portraits of Elizabethans, supported by objects, manuscripts and books that provide some background to the world in which these people … Continue reading

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Elizabeth 1 and her people

Our fascination with the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods shows no sign of abating.  Lives of the monarch and courtiers have always been recorded but in recent years it’s apparent that there is much evidence for the lives of ordinary citizens … Continue reading

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An obscure grave: did Shakespeare write the memorial verses at Tong?

A couple of years ago I wrote a piece about the two epitaphs inscribed at the ends of  a tomb in the church in the village of Tong, Shropshire. I was intrigued by them, and by the tradition that the … Continue reading

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Shakespeare on the golf course

Golf may be one of the oldest of games, but it doesn’t seem to have been Shakespeare’s favourite as he never mentions it directly. He just might have played a few shots though: Mary, Queen of Scots, for one, is thought … Continue reading

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