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: Shakespeare’s World
Anthony Burgess’s Shakespeare
It’s been a good many years since I looked at Anthony Burgess’s 1970 biography Shakespeare. While working in the library at the Shakespeare Centre I always favoured Samuel Schoenbaum’s Documentary Life, so safely based on verifiable facts. Burgess was a … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare's World
Tagged Anthony Burgess, biography, Christopher Marlowe, Folio Society, Stanley Wells
2 Comments
Stratford and “the sere, the yellow leaf”
It’s that time of year when everything feels as if it’s shutting down. Days get shorter, nights colder, and once they’ve had their brief blaze of colour, leaves are gone from the bare branches. The sense of things coming to … Continue reading
Shakespeare and Black History Month 2015
With October comes Black History Month, and as ever a number of Shakespeare-related events are taking place. While it was once thought that Shakespeare might have seen Africans only very occasionally, in recent years close study of documentary evidence has … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare on Stage, Shakespeare's World
Tagged Black History Month, Call Mr Robeson, John Blanke, Metropolitan Opera, Miranda Kaufmann, Othello, Paul Robeson, Tayo Aluko, Verdi
Comments Off on Shakespeare and Black History Month 2015
Mapping Shakespeare’s world
Maps come in many shapes and sizes. It’s still a miracle to me that my smartphone can show me exactly where I am, but maps have always done more than just give us an image of the world around us. … Continue reading
Posted in Shakespeare's World
2 Comments
James Shapiro on Shakespeare in 1606
Back in 2005 James Shapiro published his book 1599, about a single year in Shakespeare’s life. According to Jonathan Bate, who reviewed it for the Telegraph, It was “one of the few genuinely original biographies of Shakespeare”, the year an … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare's World
Tagged 1599, 1606, Contested Will, Edmond Malone, James Shapiro
5 Comments
Reporting War
On Saturday October 3rd the RSC is holding the latest in its series of debates on subjects raised by plays in its repertoire, Reporting War: Whose Truth is Told? The debate specifically accompanies the RSC’s new production of Hecuba, Marina … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare on Stage, Shakespeare's World, Sources
Tagged chronicles, Edward Hall, Hecuba, Henry V, history, Marina Carr, Mathew Warchus, Polydore Vergil, Raphael Holinshed, RSC, sources
Comments Off on Reporting War
Arms and armour on the stage
It’s rare for those who work behind the scenes in any entertainment industry to receive any attention from the media, so it was a great pleasure to hear Kirsty Lang’s feature on Alan Smith, the RSC’s Head of Armoury, on … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare on Stage, Shakespeare's World
Tagged Alan Smith, Alex Hassell, armoury, Arundel Castle, Frank Benson, J C Trewin, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Royal Armouries, RSC
Comments Off on Arms and armour on the stage
Suiting the word to the action: Dr Johnson and unsuitable language
You don’t have to look very far into Shakespeare’s works to find archaic words, or words difficult for us to understand. As well as coining new words, he made use of many that were probably already old-fashioned. Many words have … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare's World
Tagged bawdy, Bowdler, Family Shakespeae, innuendo, knife, language, Macbeth, Monty Python, Samuel Johnson, Venus and Adonis
Comments Off on Suiting the word to the action: Dr Johnson and unsuitable language
Queen Elizabeth’s record-breaking reign
On 9 September 2015 Queen Elizabeth II becomes officially the longest-reigning British monarch in history, having survived for over 63 years, just longer than Queen Victoria. The Queen has refused to mark the day in any way, but the press … Continue reading
Shakespeare, Sir Thomas More, and the refugee migrants
The story of the week: in fact the story of the summer, has been the displacement of people from war-torn and impoverished parts of the Middle East and Africa to Europe. It’s been described as the biggest refugee crisis since … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare's World
Tagged Englands Medieval Immigrants, immigrants, refugees, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Thomas More
7 Comments