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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.

Kim Hall: Bringing African American experiences to Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

Kim Hall: Bringing African American experiences to Shakespeare

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Paul Robeson was the first modern African American to perform Shakespeare—to perform Othello, and he talks in his letters and in his essays about bringing his experiences as a student in a white arena, his experiences with racism, to the…

Quiz: Shakespeare's lovers
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: Shakespeare's lovers

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Esther French

Can you match up these Shakespearean lovers? Take the quiz and challenge your friends.

Shakespeare treasures, up for adoption
Acquisitions Night
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare treasures, up for adoption

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Shakespeare & Beyond

A 1957 Taming of the Shrew with beautiful lithographs. Song lyrics from 1769 extolling the goblet carved from a mulberry tree supposedly planted by Shakespeare. These and other recent additions to the Folger Shakespeare Library collection will be up for…

A new set of Shakespeare valentines for Valentine's Day
Shakespeare valentines
Shakespeare and Beyond

A new set of Shakespeare valentines for Valentine's Day

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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.

Black History Month: A Shakespeare Unlimited podcast playlist
Shakespeare and Beyond

Black History Month: A Shakespeare Unlimited podcast playlist

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Robert Edmond Jones. Costume design for Paul Robeson as “Othello”. Ink and gouache drawing with fabric swatches attached, 1943. Folger Shakespeare Library. To commemorate Black History Month in February, we’re sharing a playlist of Shakespeare Unlimited episodes about the African…

Coat of arms discovery yields new insights into Shakespeare
Shakespeare coat of arms
Shakespeare and Beyond

Coat of arms discovery yields new insights into Shakespeare

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Dig deeper into one of the biggest Shakespeare stories of 2016: the discovery of previously unknown depictions of Shakespeare’s coat of arms. Folger Curator of Manuscripts Heather Wolfe and Folger Director Michael Witmore elaborate on the significance of those discoveries…

Play scripts as you like them
Shakespeare and Beyond

Play scripts as you like them

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Sarah Hovde

Promptbooks help stage managers and actors keep their, er, act straight. Explore these ‘As You Like It’ promptbooks from the Folger collection.

Theater making real history
Richard II deposition scene
Shakespeare and Beyond

Theater making real history

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Shakespeare & Beyond

In this excerpt from the Shakespeare Anniversary Lecture Series at the Folger, Yale professor Joseph Roach argues that “the theater occasionally makes real history itself, materializing it for audiences by its own expressive means, especially so during an age of…

A Renaissance recipe for citrus tarts
Shakespeare and Beyond

A Renaissance recipe for citrus tarts

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Food historian Francine Segan has a taste for the Renaissance and a love of Shakespeare. Here she adapts a recipe for “Citron pye” from a 1587 cookbook. You’ll find an intense combination of vinegar and pepper in these citrus tarts.

What's onstage in January at Shakespeare theaters across America: The Henry VI trilogy and more
Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare and Beyond

What's onstage in January at Shakespeare theaters across America: The Henry VI trilogy and more

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Esther French

Cincy Shakes and Seattle Shakespeare adapt the Henry VI plays, Nashville presents a ’90s Romeo and Juliet, and Nebraska teams up with the Omaha Symphony.

The First Folio tour comes to an end
The final First Folio to return home to the Folger after the 2016 First Folio tour
Shakespeare and Beyond

The First Folio tour comes to an end

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Esther French

A champagne toast welcomed the return of the last First Folio to the Folger, completing a national tour in which 18 of the Folger’s 82 First Folios traveled to all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC, in 2016. This traveling…

Quiz: How well do you know the endings of Shakespeare's plays?
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: How well do you know the endings of Shakespeare's plays?

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Esther French

Louis Butelli (Feste) sings the final lines in Twelfth Night, directed by Robert Richmond, Folger Theatre, 2013. Photo by Scott Suchman. Challenge thyself! Test your Shakespeare knowledge and take this quiz. You may have gotten a perfect score on our…

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