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.
Shakespeare & Beyond also explores the topics that shape our experience of Shakespeare today: trends in performance, the latest discoveries and scholarship, news stories, pop culture, interesting books, new movies, the rich context of theater and literary history, and more. As the word “beyond” suggests, from time to time Shakespeare & Beyond also covers topics that are not directly linked to Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s role in America in the next 250 years
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For the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary, we asked Shakespeare scholars what part Shakespeare may play in America’s next three centuries. Folger Director Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper writes that Shakespeare and what we do with him is more essential than ever if democracy is to thrive.
60 years after the premiere of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, a new stage comedy is using Stoppard’s absurdist template to explore the fears and struggles of the two main clowns from Much Ado About Nothing.
Scholar Jean E. Feerick looks at how Hamnet takes us back to a premodern world when people knew how deeply nature pervades us. Inspired by Shakespeare’s own eco-sensibility, Zhao’s film invites us to consider anew our place in the world.
Shakespeare is part of American history and the Folger collection offers unique insights into his impact on American culture. Meet some of the political and cultural figures from America’s first 250 years and learn about their ties to Shakespeare.
In 2004, Barbie released two Shakespeare-inspired dolls for their Classic Ballet series: the fairy queen Titania from the 1962 ballet adaptation of Mendelssohn’s score for Midsummer and Juliet from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet 1940 ballet.
In an excerpt from her new book about when literature spoke truth to power during the Red Scare, critic Marjorie Garber looks at how Shakespeare inspired journalist Edward R. Murrow and the role it continued to play in his reporting.
Shakespeare was familiar to George Washington and many other advocates for independence from Great Britain. They thought that he embodied the American spirit and adapted him to their uniquely American needs, in letters, speeches, and more.
Austin Tichenor writes about why the behind-the-scenes workings of a Shakespeare theater festival make for such great television in Slings and Arrows and the connections with its sequel-in-spirit American Classic starring Kevin Kline.
One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, both in his lifetime and ours, Romeo and Juliet juxtaposes the joy of first love against a violent world divided by a blood feud. Explore some of the tragedy’s most well-known quotes.
