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

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.
Questions or comments? You can reach us at shakespeareandbeyond@folger.edu.

Glimpses of women athletes in 18th-century England

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in February

Quiz: Match the lovers to their Shakespeare play
A scene from The Tempest. Watercolor drawing by Richard Westall. Folger ART Box W522 no.5 (size L) Shakespeare’s comedies and romances are full of lovers. See if you can match each pair of lovers with the Shakespeare play in which…

Excerpt: 'A Fine Madness: A Christopher Marlowe Murder Mystery' by Alan Judd
Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe may not be as famous as his contemporary William Shakespeare, but his death at age 29 was far more dramatic — an argument over a bill that led to a stabbing, with the killer successfully pleading…
A 16th-century love charm of frog bones
In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, much of the comedic conflict derives from the application of the nectar of a magic flower. Under its influence, the queen of the fairies (Titania) becomes enamored of a donkey, and, through a bit…

The world of Italy in Shakespeare's comedies - Excerpt: Shakespeare and the Comedy of Enchantment
Charles Cattermole. A scene from The Merchant of Venice. 19th century. Folger ART Box C368.5 no.1 (size S) Italy is the setting most associated with Shakespeare’s comedies, providing layers of dramatic potential that Kent Cartwright explores in an excerpt from…

Artemis, a fierce and fickle goddess
Emily Serdahl (Diana) with Wayne T. Carr (Pericles) in Pericles, Folger Theatre, 2015. Photo by Teresa Wood. The last major goddess we will explore in this “Shakespeare and Greek Myths” series may have been Shakespeare’s favorite, based on the frequency…

Quiz: Siblings in Shakespeare's plays
Folger ART File R667.3 no.7 copy 1 PHOTO (size S) Shakespeare’s plays are full of brothers and sisters. Test your knowledge by seeing if you can correctly identify these characters’ siblings. Siblings in Shakespeare’s Plays Shakespeare’s plays are full of…

The power of restriction: Joel Coen's 'The Tragedy of Macbeth'
Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of Macbeth, now streaming on Apple TV+ A movie that honors a play’s theatricality: That’s what director Joel Coen said he wanted for The Tragedy of Macbeth, his new adaptation of the Scottish play. The…
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in January

Making BEDLAM: Creating a Shakespeare mash-up series
Production crew of BEDLAM: The Series. Photo by Ashley Garrett. Eric Tucker is an off-Broadway director and Artistic Director of Bedlam Theatre. Musa Gurnis is an early modern theater scholar and actor. When we pitched our Shakespeare mash-up series BEDLAM…

West Side Story: A new take on Romeo and Juliet, 60 years later
Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler), with the Jets (left) and the Sharks (right). West Side Story, 2021. ©Disney Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story isn’t a mere remake of the 1961 film or a filmic version of the 1957…