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Shakespeare & Beyond

The Shakespeare & Beyond blog features a wide range of Shakespeare-related topics: the early modern period in which he lived, the ways his plays have been interpreted and staged over the past four centuries, the enduring power of his characters and language, and more.

Performing with Chicago's Back Room Shakespeare Project
Shakespeare and Beyond

Performing with Chicago's Back Room Shakespeare Project

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Austin Tichenor

“Serious actors. No director. One rehearsal. In a bar.” That’s Back Room Shakespeare Project’s motto and it makes for a unique relationship between actor and audience that Austin Tichenor writes enhances the power of Shakespeare’s work.

Shakespeare quotes about summer
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare quotes about summer

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Shakespeare & Beyond

We’re celebrating the solstice with Shakespeare quotes about summer, which is mentioned 86 times in the plays and poems, more than any other season.

Artists and scholars on queer Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

Artists and scholars on queer Shakespeare

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Shakespeare & Beyond

We’re celebrating Pride Month by sharing some of our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast interviews and blog posts with acclaimed artists, actors, directors, scholars, and writers about queer Shakespeare over the centuries.

Order it: Viola's speech "I left no ring with her"
Shakespeare and Beyond

Order it: Viola's speech "I left no ring with her"

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Viola aka Cesario is stunned to realize that she is in the middle of a love triangle, after Olivia sends a ring. Order the lines of her Twelfth Night speech as she puts it all together in our quiz.

Playing the Fool in Lear and Peking Opera
Shakespeare and Beyond

Playing the Fool in Lear and Peking Opera

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Shakespeare & Beyond

In an excerpt from The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear, author Nan Z. Da looks at the role of the Fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear and the Chou in Peking Opera.

Shakespeare's queer inspiration
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare's queer inspiration

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Shakespeare & Beyond

In an excerpt from Straight Acting, Will Tosh tells the story of Richard Barnfield’s meteoric rise in literary London in the 1590s and how his groundbreaking poetry influenced Shakespeare’s sonnets.

New discoveries about the Shakespeare marriage
Shakespeare and Beyond

New discoveries about the Shakespeare marriage

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Matthew Steggle’s findings about a letter addressed to “Good Mrs Shakspaire” show the couple might have lived together in London at the time that Shakespeare was writing Hamlet and Othello, dispelling certain myths about their marriage.

Shakespeare and Science Fiction
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare and Science Fiction

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Shakespeare & Beyond

What is Shakespeare’s role in a genre of literature—science fiction—that flourished centuries after his plays first took the stage? Scholar Sarah Annes Brown explores the influence of Shakespeare the man and his writing.

Famous quotes from Twelfth Night
Shakespeare and Beyond

Famous quotes from Twelfth Night

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare’s comedy is filled with memorable lines, including its very first one. Explore some of the most well-known quotes, in order of their appearance in the play.

2025 summer reading guide
Shakespeare and Beyond

2025 summer reading guide

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Summer’s a great time for reading, whether it’s at the beach or in your backyard. Explore our list of fiction and non-fiction titles about Shakespeare and his world featured on Folger blogs, podcast interviews, and our book club.

The tragedy of Chimes at Midnight
Shakespeare and Beyond

The tragedy of Chimes at Midnight

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Author
Austin Tichenor

Orson Welles’s film about Shakespeare’s Falstaff is turning 60. Austin Tichenor rewatches the legendary movie and finds some new things worth celebrating in Welles’s take on the beloved knight.

Charlotte Cushman and Twelfth Night
Shakespeare and Beyond

Charlotte Cushman and Twelfth Night

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Author
Johnna Champion

19th-century audiences adored Charlotte Cushman in Shakespeare, including Hamlet and Romeo but also Viola (and Cesario). Check out these Twelfth Night finds in our collection.

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