Shakespeare & Beyond
Excerpt - "Susanna Hall, Her Book" by Jennifer Falkner
The queen of England has just arrived at New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon. But Susanna, the eldest daughter of William Shakespeare, has reasons for not wanting to host Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I.
The soliloquy and Hamlet - Excerpt: 'The Elizabethan Mind' by Helen Hackett
Helen Hackett explores Shakespeare’s use of the soliloquy in “Hamlet,” including the famous “To be or not to be” speech, in this excerpt from her new book, “The Elizabethan Mind: Searching for the Self in an Age of Uncertainty,” published…
Active reading in the 16th century: Commonplace books and sammelbands
Collecting extracts of text in commonplace books and binding multiple books together to create a sammelband were two notable practices of readers in the 16th and 17th centuries, as Jason Scott-Warren (University of Cambridge) explains in this excerpt from a…
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Insights from Folger Theatre dramaturg Michele Osherow
“Nowhere does Shakespeare attend more to theatrical enterprise and potential than in A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” writes Michele Osherow, Folger Theatre’s resident dramaturg. “It makes the play irresistible to those who practice theatre and to those who crave its incomparable…
A game of chess
Take a closer look at some unusual chess sets in the Folger collection, spanning continents and centuries.
Quiz: Can you complete these famous quotes from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'?
For each of these famous quotes from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” can you fill in the blank with the missing word?
Q&A: Lolita Chakrabarti - The 'Red Velvet' playwright on 19th-century Black actor Ira Aldridge
Lolita Chakrabarti shares historical context about pioneering 19th-century Black actor Ira Aldridge, the subject of her play Red Velvet, including a notable detail about his funeral in Poland which she learned after she’d written the play.
Quiz: Which book should I read this summer?
Take our quiz to get matched with one of 20 books from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s virtual book club inspired by Shakespeare and the early modern era.
Q&A: Director Sam Gold on his 'Macbeth' with Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga
Director Sam Gold shares what he loves most about Macbeth, why it stands out from other Shakespeare tragedies he’s directed, and how his ideas about the play changed over time.
Q&A: Allan Clayton on playing Hamlet in Brett Dean's opera
Hamlet sings! A new opera version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is onstage now at the Metropolitan Opera, with tenor Allan Clayton resuming the title role that he played for the opera’s world premiere at the Glyndebourne Festival.
Q&A: Jacob Ming-Trent on Falstaff, Bottom, and Shakespeare’s comedy
Jacob Ming-Trent shares a favorite moment from his Shakespeare in the Park performance as Falstaff in “Merry Wives,” which premieres on PBS’s Great Performances May 20.
Blood moon: Lunar eclipses in Shakespeare's plays
With the total lunar eclipse happening this weekend, we take a look at three of the ways Shakespeare used eclipses in his plays and poems.