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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.

Presidential Fools: Abraham Lincoln, Shakespeare, and comedy
Abraham Lincoln
Shakespeare and Beyond

Presidential Fools: Abraham Lincoln, Shakespeare, and comedy

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Author
Austin Tichenor

Austin Tichenor writes about Abraham Lincoln, whose wit combined reflection with self-deprecation, and the role of a Fool in Shakespeare plays.

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in February
A Midsummer Night's Dream at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Shakespeare and Beyond

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in February

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Every month, we share a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance around America. What plays are onstage this month? We check in with our theater partners Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Atlanta Shakespeare Company at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse, Brave Spirits Theatre,…

Books on Shakespeare and race for Black History Month
Photo of books focusing on Shakespeare and race arranged on a table
Shakespeare and Beyond

Books on Shakespeare and race for Black History Month

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Celebrate Black History Month with five books and one essay about race in early modern Europe and in Shakespeare’s plays.

Much A-Don't About Dating
Hero's wedding in Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespeare and Beyond

Much A-Don't About Dating

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Author
emma poltrack

What does Shakespeare tell us of love? The plays provide us with a wealth of wooing and wedding, and many examples of what not to do.

Valentine's Day: Say it with Shakespeare
Valentine's Day
Shakespeare and Beyond

Valentine's Day: Say it with Shakespeare

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Whether you’re giving a valentine to a sweetheart or a friend, why not say it with Shakespeare? We have a new set of beautifully illustrated Shakespeare valentines for you, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

How Ophelia is represented in nineteenth-century English art
John William Waterhouse, Ophelia, 1910
Shakespeare and Beyond

How Ophelia is represented in nineteenth-century English art

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Author
Rachel Stewart

Victorian artists in England painted many portraits of Ophelia, including this one from 1889 by John William Waterhouse.

Shakespeare in a bar
Backroom Shakespeare Project
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare in a bar

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Author
Austin Tichenor

There’s a newish trend in Shakespeare performance, which is to situate the play in a bar and have least one of the actors be drinking.

Bernhardt/Hamlet: Inside a new play about Sarah Bernhardt
Bernhardt/Hamlet cast
Shakespeare and Beyond

Bernhardt/Hamlet: Inside a new play about Sarah Bernhardt

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Author
Esther French

A new play by Theresa Rebeck, “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” shows Sarah Bernhardt grappling with one of Shakespeare’s greatest roles: Hamlet.

UNESCO gives 'Shakespeare documents' cultural status on its Memory of the World register
The copy of bargain and sale signed by the vendor when Shakespeare purchased the Blackfriars Gatehouse in London in 1613
Shakespeare and Beyond

UNESCO gives 'Shakespeare documents' cultural status on its Memory of the World register

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Ninety documents relating to Shakespeare’s life, including six from the Folger collection, have been added to the UNESCO International Memory of the World register.

What's onstage in January
Hamlet at Nashville Shakespeare Festival
Shakespeare and Beyond

What's onstage in January

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Let’s check in with our theater partners with Shakespeare plays onstage in January, sharing a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance around America.

Pageants, banquets, and fireworks: How to celebrate a coronation
Francis Sandford. The history of the coronation of the most high, most mighty, and most excellent monarch, James II. 1687. S652
Shakespeare and Beyond

Pageants, banquets, and fireworks: How to celebrate a coronation

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Shakespeare & Beyond

These books and documents from the Folger collection show the many ways an English coronation would be celebrated in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Excerpt: Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell

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Shakespeare & Beyond

“Fools and Mortals,” a new novel from New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell, tells the story of the first production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Elizabethan England, from the perspective of William Shakespeare’s younger brother Richard.

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