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Unfreezing the statue: rescuing the arts

It is always said that “The show must go on”. But since 16 March 2020 when theatres and other cultural venues closed, shows have not gone on. And while shops and pubs are now able to open again, live performances … Continue reading

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Celebrating Shakespeare’s Birthday, 2020

So how are you going to be celebrating Shakespeare’s birthday in 2020? With everybody in lockdown and all actual events cancelled, it’s tempting to forget the whole thing. But here in Stratford-upon-Avon people are determined to mark the day virtually. … Continue reading

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Live streaming Shakespeare during lockdown

It’s spring 2020 and many of us are confined to home in social isolation during the Coronavirus pandemic. With theatres, museums, galleries and cinemas closed, cultural organisations have been quick to announce initiatives to keep people entertained and educated. I’m … Continue reading

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Hung be the heavens with black! Terry Hands remembered

Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! The opening line of Henry VI Part One seems appropriate as a memorial for the great theatre director Terry Hands, who died on 4 February 2020. The success of the … Continue reading

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Shakespeare annotated: John Milton’s First Folio

Over the last few weeks the hottest story in Shakespeare studies has been the identification of a First Folio in the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Rare Book Department as John Milton’s own copy, annotated in his own hand. The book … Continue reading

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Sir Simon Russell Beale

I was delighted to hear, a few weeks ago, that actor Simon Russell Beale has been awarded a knighthood. I’ve always enjoyed seeing him on stage and television, in particular watching him taking on many of Shakespeare’s most challenging roles. … Continue reading

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John Hutton’s Shakespeare characters in glass

  One of the first objects on the Antiques Roadshow on Sunday 17 March was a Shakespeare item that I found very familiar, a framed and mirrored glass panel by the artist John Hutton featuring the character of Hamlet. Hutton’s … Continue reading

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Giving Emilia Lanier her own voice

In 1973, historian A L Rowse declared in Shakespeare the Man that he had solved the greatest mystery in Shakespeare’s life, the identity of the Dark Lady of the Sonnets. She was, he said, Emilia Lanier (Aemilia Lanyer). Rowse’s starting … Continue reading

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Ben Elton’s Shakespeares

Shakespeare seems to have haunted writer Ben Elton. He was always hovering in the background during Blackadder 2, the superb Elizabethan TV series. His current sitcom Upstart Crow, based around Shakespeare’s plays and life,  has had three series and he’s … Continue reading

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Donmar’s all-female Shakespeare Trilogy comes to TV

I’ve written a number of blog posts, over several years, about Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female Shakespeare trilogy that began at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London. One’s here, and here’s another. It wasn’t an obvious trilogy, starting with Julius Caesar, then … Continue reading

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