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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.

'Our humble author will continue the story': Shakespearean prequels and sequels
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Shakespeare and Beyond

'Our humble author will continue the story': Shakespearean prequels and sequels

Posted
Author
Austin Tichenor

Claudius (Craig Wallace, center), Rosencrantz (Romell Witherspoon, right), and Guildenstern (Adam Wesley Brown). Gertrude (Kimberly Schraf) pictured in background. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Folger Theatre, 2015. Photo by Jeff Malet. Maybe ’twas ever thus, but the current crop of…

The Queen of the Night: The infinite variety of Cleopatra
Shakespeare and Beyond

The Queen of the Night: The infinite variety of Cleopatra

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Author
Georgianna Ziegler

In the image above, Constance Collier, magnificent as the dying Cleopatra, sits on her throne in a dimly-lit room, light sparkling off her crown, belt and spangled train. This 1906-07 London production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is considered a…

Venus and Adonis: The classical myth that inspired Shakespeare's epic poem and John Blow's 17th-century opera
Venus and Adonis
Shakespeare and Beyond

Venus and Adonis: The classical myth that inspired Shakespeare's epic poem and John Blow's 17th-century opera

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Author
Esther French Ryan Brown

What many consider to be the earliest known English opera shares its mythological subject with Shakespeare’s most popular published work during his lifetime: the epic poem Venus and Adonis. Here we see great artists from different centuries using different art…

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in November
Shakespeare and Beyond

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in November

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Author
Ben Lauer

Every month, we check in with our theater partners across the United States to see what’s onstage. Here’s a look at Shakespeare in November.

Much Ado About Stuffing: Recreating an early modern stuffing recipe
cutting open to the turkey and stuffing
Shakespeare and Beyond

Much Ado About Stuffing: Recreating an early modern stuffing recipe

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Author
Elisa Tersigni Jack Bouchard Julia Fine Michael Walkden

Photo credit: Brittany Diliberto, Bee Two Sweet Today, turkey and stuffing are central fare on the holiday table. But turkeys weren’t even known in England until the 1520s, when they were introduced by explorers returning from the Americas. Turkey was…

Excerpt - Shakespeare’s Church and the Pilgrim Fathers: Commemorating Plymouth Rock in Stratford
Stratford
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt - Shakespeare’s Church and the Pilgrim Fathers: Commemorating Plymouth Rock in Stratford

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

Did you know that the Pilgrims have a presence in the church where William Shakespeare was baptized and buried? A stained glass window that bears the inscription, “The Gift of America to Shakespeare’s Church,” shows the Pilgrims landing on Plymouth…

Shakespeare and opera: Jealousy and tragedy in Verdi's Otello
Desdemona and Otello
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare and opera: Jealousy and tragedy in Verdi's Otello

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Author
Francesca Zambello

Leah Crocetto (Desdemona) and Russell Thomas (Otello) in WNO’s Otello. Photo by Scott Suchman. I find it fascinating that Verdi’s last two operas were both inspired by Shakespeare: Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), yet they are very different in story,…

Food culture and First Chefs: Appreciating the layers of meaning behind food in Shakespeare’s world and our own
marmite food memory
Shakespeare and Beyond

Food culture and First Chefs: Appreciating the layers of meaning behind food in Shakespeare’s world and our own

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Author
Julia Fine

In Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio grabs a leg of roast mutton and throws it to the ground. Doing so, he exclaims, “it engenders choler, planteth anger,/ And better ‘twere that both of us did fast.” As food…

The King, Prince Hal, and Falstaff: Shakespeare’s father-son triangle onstage and onscreen
Shakespeare and Beyond

The King, Prince Hal, and Falstaff: Shakespeare’s father-son triangle onstage and onscreen

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Author
Austin Tichenor

Timothée Chalamet (Hal) in The King, 2019. IMDB One of Shakespeare’s most moving love triangles isn’t romantic, it’s filial. The tension between Prince Hal and his two father figures — King Henry IV and Sir John Falstaff — fuels both…

Shakespeare's Top 5 Spookiest Ghosts
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare's Top 5 Spookiest Ghosts

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Author
Ben Lauer

Just in time for Halloween, we rank the five spookiest ghosts in Shakespeare’s plays.

Excerpt: Shakespeare and the Folktale
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: Shakespeare and the Folktale

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

What are the connections between traditional folktales and Shakespeare’s plays? Charlotte Artese, an English professor at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, sets out to explore these folktale sources in a new anthology of stories, Shakespeare and the Folktale, published October…

Not Shakespeare’s cup of tea: Consuming caffeine in early modern England
Pamphlet against coffee
Shakespeare and Beyond

Not Shakespeare’s cup of tea: Consuming caffeine in early modern England

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Author
Elisa Tersigni

In Shakespeare’s plays, we find scenes that take place in taverns and alehouses – but no coffee shops – and characters who drink ale and wine – but not what we now think of as the quintessential English beverage: tea.…

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