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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.

“I do fear thy nature”: Kim Wexler and echoes of 'Macbeth' in 'Better Call Saul'
A man and woman sitting on a bed apart from each other in Better Call Saul
Shakespeare & Beyond

“I do fear thy nature”: Kim Wexler and echoes of 'Macbeth' in 'Better Call Saul'

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Author
Austin Tichenor
Austin Tichenor draws comparisons between Kim Wexler and Lady Macbeth, unpacking Shakespearean themes in the "Better Call Saul" series.
Sometimes the old tropes are the best tropes: Shakespeare and Our Flag Means Death
Two pirates on board a ship in Our Flag Means Death
Shakespeare & Beyond

Sometimes the old tropes are the best tropes: Shakespeare and Our Flag Means Death

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Author
Melissa Rohrer
Melissa Rohrer explores how "Our Flag Means Death," a show inspired by the true story of the early 18th-century "Gentleman Pirate" Stede Bonnet, draws on character types and narratives that Shakespeare used frequently across many of his plays, while breathing new life into Shakespeare's favorite tropes.
Birds of Shakespeare: The kingfisher
kingfisher painting
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The kingfisher

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Author
Missy Dunaway
Artist Missy Dunaway explores references to the kingfisher in two Shakespeare plays, King Lear and 1 Henry VI.
Tips for taking your kids to their first Shakespeare play
A woman with her young daughter in the Folger theater
Shakespeare & Beyond

Tips for taking your kids to their first Shakespeare play

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Author
Ben Lauer
Read great tips for helping your kids have a blast watching their very first Shakespeare play.
The soliloquy and Hamlet - Excerpt: 'The Elizabethan Mind' by Helen Hackett
The Elizabethan Mind
Shakespeare & Beyond

The soliloquy and Hamlet - Excerpt: 'The Elizabethan Mind' by Helen Hackett

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Shakespeare & Beyond
Helen Hackett explores Shakespeare's use of the soliloquy in "Hamlet," including the famous "To be or not to be" speech, in this excerpt from her new book, "The Elizabethan Mind: Searching for the Self in an Age of Uncertainty," published by Yale University Press.
Quiz: Plan the perfect summer and reveal who you are in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare & Beyond

Quiz: Plan the perfect summer and reveal who you are in A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Author
Ben Lauer
Plan your perfect summer and we'll tell you which character you are in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Active reading in the 16th century: Commonplace books and sammelbands
Sammelband
Shakespeare & Beyond

Active reading in the 16th century: Commonplace books and sammelbands

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Shakespeare & Beyond
Collecting extracts of text in commonplace books and binding multiple books together to create a sammelband were two notable practices of readers in the 16th and 17th centuries, as Jason Scott-Warren (University of Cambridge) explains in this excerpt from a Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episode about books and reading in Shakespeare's England.
Shakespeare quotes about friendship
friendship of Celia and Rosalind
Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare quotes about friendship

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Author
Esther French
These Shakespeare quotes about friendship point to the complexities of relationships between characters in the plays.
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Insights from Folger Theatre dramaturg Michele Osherow
actors performing a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare & Beyond

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Insights from Folger Theatre dramaturg Michele Osherow

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Shakespeare & Beyond
"Nowhere does Shakespeare attend more to theatrical enterprise and potential than in A Midsummer Night's Dream," writes Michele Osherow, Folger Theatre's resident dramaturg. "It makes the play irresistible to those who practice theatre and to those who crave its incomparable pleasures." Read more in this playbill excerpt from Folger Theatre's new production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," onstage through August 28 as part of "The Playhouse" at the National Building Museum.
'We few, we happy few': Small-cast Shakespeare
A small-cast Shakespeare performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare & Beyond

'We few, we happy few': Small-cast Shakespeare

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Author
Austin Tichenor
Austin Tichenor explores small-cast Shakespeare and the artistic possibilities of a few performers playing multiple roles.
A game of chess
chess board with pieces
Shakespeare & Beyond

A game of chess

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Shakespeare & Beyond
Take a closer look at some unusual chess sets in the Folger collection, spanning continents and centuries.
Birds of Shakespeare: The golden eagle
eagle objects
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The golden eagle

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Author
Missy Dunaway
With the golden eagle, we continue following artist Missy Dunaway on a bird-watching expedition through Shakespeare’s works. The eagle soars throughout Shakespeare's world, Renaissance literature, and beyond - symbolizing strength, power, and the divine.
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