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Shakespeare & Beyond

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.

Where to find Shakespeare in March
Shakespeare and Beyond

Where to find Shakespeare in March

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Author
Ben Lauer

There are lots of places to watch and listen to Shakespeare online this March, especially for fans of “Julius Caesar” and “Hamlet.”

Translating Shakespeare’s plays into Persian
Shakespeare and Beyond

Translating Shakespeare’s plays into Persian

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Iranian professor and Shakespeare scholar Ali Salami has used the Folger Shakespeare’s freely available digital texts to translate almost all of the works of Shakespeare into Persian. Read a Q&A with Salami about his translation work.

“Racist Humor and Shakespearean Comedy” – An excerpt from The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race
Shakespeare and Beyond

“Racist Humor and Shakespearean Comedy” – An excerpt from The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Patricia Akhimie writes about racist humor in Shakespeare’s comedies in this excerpt from her essay in The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race.

“Eventful history:” The Shakespearean success of The Crown
Shakespeare and Beyond

“Eventful history:” The Shakespearean success of The Crown

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Author
Austin Tichenor

“It’s no wonder that The Crown — nominated for a record six Golden Globes in this Sunday’s annual awards ceremony — is so successful and popular,” writes Austin Tichenor. “Its depiction of an English monarch struggling to rule Britain while…

Historical connections: The Black page in Henry Irving’s Victorian production of ‘The Merchant of Venice’
Shakespeare and Beyond

Historical connections: The Black page in Henry Irving’s Victorian production of ‘The Merchant of Venice’

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Hassana Moosa

Victorian director Henry Irving’s use of a Black page in his production of ‘The Merchant of Venice’ shows how forms of race-thinking had been sustained and intensified in the English theatrical imagination.

The disappearance of Elizabeth Boyd in the history of Shakespeare’s Westminster Abbey monument
Shakespeare and Beyond

The disappearance of Elizabeth Boyd in the history of Shakespeare’s Westminster Abbey monument

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Kristina Straub

Elizabeth Boyd, a forgotten 18th-century playwright, probably played an important role in the idea for the monument of Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey.

Up Close: The voodoo Macbeth that generated jobs for Black Americans during the Great Depression
Shakespeare and Beyond

Up Close: The voodoo Macbeth that generated jobs for Black Americans during the Great Depression

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Shakespeare & Beyond

A spectacular 1936 Federal Theatre Project production of “Macbeth” in New York City employed hundreds of black actors and theater technicians. It was financed by the Federal Theatre Project, a controversial part of the federal government’s New Deal programs to…

Where to Find Shakespeare in February
Shakespeare and Beyond

Where to Find Shakespeare in February

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Author
Ben Lauer

Check out innovative online plays and programs in February from the members of the Folger’s Shakespeare Theater Partnership Program.

Excerpt — ‘Of Human Kindness: What Shakespeare Teaches Us About Empathy’ by Paula Marantz Cohen
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt — ‘Of Human Kindness: What Shakespeare Teaches Us About Empathy’ by Paula Marantz Cohen

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Shakespeare & Beyond

“Its sense of empathy for the gendered position—and the pains and difficulties that accompany it on both sides—is at the heart of its comic warmth,” writes Paula Marantz Cohen about Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” in this excerpt from her…

Order It: Sonnet 116
Wedding in As You Like It
Shakespeare and Beyond

Order It: Sonnet 116

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Sonnet 116 is one of Shakespeare’s most famous love sonnets. Take our quiz to see if you can put the lines of the sonnet in the correct order.

20 Shakespeare quotes about love
Shakespeare and Beyond

20 Shakespeare quotes about love

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Author
Ben Lauer

The word “love” appears 2,146 times in Shakespeare’s collected works (including a handful of “loves” and “loved”). Add to that 59 instances of “beloved” and 133 uses of “loving” and you’ve got yourself a “whole lotta love.” So, what does…

To be or not to be your valentine: Shakespearean expressions of love
Shakespeare and Beyond

To be or not to be your valentine: Shakespearean expressions of love

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Author
Austin Tichenor

Shakespeare quotes can seem like good choices for Valentine’s Day cards, but his tales of love are nuanced and complicated.

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