Tag Archives: Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s sisters

We’re used to the idea that in the early modern period women were seen as intellectually inferior to men. Denied the educational opportunities afforded to their brothers, girls learned only the rudiments of reading and writing. And with their lives … Continue reading

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Mozart, Shakespeare and genius

Maybe it’s because I’ve been away from the BBC for two weeks, but the Radio 4 documentary by Dr Robert Winston about Mozart, broadcast a couple of days ago, struck me as a fascinating mix of analysis and glorious music. … Continue reading

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Shakespeare: staging the world

This summer one of the most important events for anyone wanting to know more about why Shakespeare matters will be a visit to the British Museum’s exhibition Shakespeare: staging the world. Booking is already open for the exhibition, running from … Continue reading

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Shakespeare at Yale

  It isn’t just the UK that’s gone Shakespeare-mad to coincide with this year’s London Olympics and World Shakespeare Festival. At Yale University in the USA a fabulous exhibition is running that highlights the Beinecke Library’s outstanding collections, called Remembering … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s shipwrecks

Last week on Twitter, someone drily pointed out in response to the RSC’s new season, that Shakespeare never wrote a shipwreck trilogy. The What country friends is this? season is certainly unusual, and the cynical might say it’s a marketing … Continue reading

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Edward Alleyn’s legacy and Shakespeare’s theatre

Most of what we know about the elusive world of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre is found in one unique collection of manuscripts. These are known as the Henslowe-Alleyn archive, working theatrical documents created by impresario Philip Henslowe and his illustrious … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s minds diseased: mental illness and its treatment

Shakespeare was clearly fascinated by mental illness, many characters displaying a variety of symptoms from Lear’s madness, Jaques’ melancholy, Timon’s bitter cursing, Macbeth’s visions and Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking, to the obsessiveness of Leontes.  It’s usually accepted that Shakespeare was influenced in medical matters by … Continue reading

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Marie Corelli and Shakespeare on World Book Day

Today is World Book Day, so it’s a good opportunity to look at an author, almost forgotten now, but who 100 years ago outsold just about everybody. Stratford-upon-Avon 100 years ago attracted literary tourists who were interested, not in Shakespeare, but … Continue reading

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Picturing Shakespeare: Alan O’Cain’s The Tempest

  Responses to Shakespeare’s plays come in many forms, and his influence on other art forms such as music, painting and design was explored as part of the British Shakespeare Association’s Lancaster University conference last weekend.  Picturing Shakespeare was one … Continue reading

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Ira Aldridge, Shakespearean actor and gentleman of colour

The black actor Ira Aldridge is now recognised as one of the most remarkable interpreters of Shakespeare’s leading roles. He first appeared on the London stage as Othello in 1825, and remained associated with the role for the rest of his … Continue reading

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