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.
What were readers of Shakespeare thinking about as the United States was forming? Scholar Brandi K. Adams looks at a critical edition of Antony and Cleopatra published in 1776 and how our understanding of the plays builds off past readings.
On August 22, 1485, Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field. 500 years later, Richard is one of Shakespeare’s most famous and popular villains. But how much of Shakespeare’s depiction is truth and how much is theatrical invention?
Arts administrator, writer, and advocate Howard Sherman recently saw The Winter’s Tale for the first time. He shares his approach to seeing Shakespeare after decades of theatergoing and the rewards of letting the production speak first.
Americans have conscripted Shakespeare in causes all the way back to Jamestown’s founding. Looking ahead, in a fractured world might Shakespeare’s talent for giving “us pause” or “time to pause. And attend” unite us in a new consensus?
Curator Heather Wolfe shares heavily annotated books in the Folger collection from early modern readers who knew the power of underlining words, adding notes in the margins, and even an occasional doodle in anything they were reading.
Shakespeare’s plays—and plays and musicals inspired by him—are always a feature of the Edinburgh Fringe, the world’s largest performing arts festival. Austin Tichenor shares some of the 40 productions playing in Scotland this August.
Jefferson, Shakespeare, and the pursuit of happiness
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The word happiness had multiple meanings at the time that Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence, and those different definitions also appear in Shakespeare, a writer whom Jefferson admired.
Traveling the world to see as many Shakespeare First Folios as possible, Greg Doran views an unusual copy at the Craven Museum, one in which all the comedies have been removed and which Charlotte Bronte may have read.
One of Shakespeare’s most-performed plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream brings together young lovers, mischievous fairies, and amateur actors for a magical evening in the Athenian woods. Explore some of the comedy’s most well-known quotes.
Scholar James Shapiro looks at how Shakespeare has always “served as a canary in a coal mine, alerting us to threats to our fragile democracy.” He offers as a recent example the 2017 production of Julius Caesar in Central Park.
