Online resources

Here are some resources for anyone looking for free, reliable resources for teaching Shakespeare. Whatever you need, you should find something here to help you.

 Internet Shakespeare Editions  The site offers fully-edited modern online texts, and facsimiles of folios and of a selection of quartos. You’ll also find information on Shakespeare’s life and times, a Shakespeare in Performance gallery including modern production photographs, and links to sites on Shakespeare and the Renaissance. Full texts can be found online here  

Royal Shakespeare Company  There’s blogs, interviews and photos of current RSC productions in the What’s On section, while material on past productions and a section for teachers is in the Explore area.  Education resources    has ideas for classroom participation, resource packs aimed at different key stages and information about Shakespeare’s social context.

 Shakespeare’s Globe Education’s always been high on The Globe’s list of priorities, and the Discovery Space contains podcasts by actors, directors and academics relating to their productions.   Playing Shakespeare is “an educational flagship for London Schools”, but anyone can access its impressive resources including production photographs and interviews with actors in four Globe productions.  

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust   Here’s a range of free material including an online course, Getting to Know Shakespeare , and in the Explore Shakespeare area  there’s information on Shakespeare’s life through FAQs and video posts, as well as several lively blogs and forums. Keep an eye on the recently-announced partnership with Digital Theatre Plus which promises “The best of British theatre in your classroom”.  

Folger Shakespeare Library  The world’s largest collection of Shakespeare material has a website to match, with lots of ideas in the Teach and Learn section, including cool facts for kids, a primary source archive and audio and video resources. Under Discover Shakespeare you’ll find stacks of information and a digital image bank, Luna, consisting of tens of thousands of objects, prints, books and manuscripts.    

Victoria and Albert Museum Another great site if you’re looking for visual material to inspire your students. Just enter some search terms into the box.

 Lastly, if the recent film Anonymous has sparked off questions about the Authorship controversy, the Shakespeare Authorship page has got all the answers including a full account of the film’s inaccuracies.