Inspired by Shakespeare

Austin Tichenor travels back to Elizabethan England with Nicole Galland’s novel Boy about Shakespeare’s acting company member Alexander Cooke in a surprisingly contemporary exploration of gender roles onstage and off.

Author Anthony Del Col shares how the newest Kill Shakespeare adventure found its inspiration in Westerns like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

One of 18th-century Britain’s most prolific narrative painters, Henry Fuseli found inspiration in Shakespeare, with his painting of Macbeth and the witches one of his “best poetical conceptions.”

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is having a moment—actually two, with A Room in the Castle and The Comedy of Hamlet! (a prequel) exploring Shakespeare’s characters before, during, and after the events of his greatest tragedy.

Are Bob Dylan and William Shakespeare truly solitary geniuses given what collaborative art forms music and theater are? A look at how A Complete Unknown and Shakespeare in Love depict young genius on the rise.

In an excerpt from Grace Tiffany’s imaginative novel, The Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter, we meet Judith Shakespeare at age 61, a midwife-apothecary in war-torn 17th-century England on the run to avoid arrest for witchcraft.

To commemorate Black History Month, we’re sharing interviews with acclaimed Black theater artists—actors, directors, playwrights—and scholars about performing and adapting Shakespeare, then and now.

Austin Tichenor discovers the TV series Shakespeare & Hathaway, which features former police detective Frank Hathaway teaming up with amateur sleuth Luella Shakespeare to solve crimes in—where else?—Stratford-upon-Avon.

Enjoy our top five Shakespeare & Beyond blog posts from 2024. Happy reading!

Scenes of winter in the Folger collection, from snowy outdoor scenes to fashionable illustrations to mentions of winter in Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

The end of the year brings feasts, celebrations, and family. Our reading list of Folger Book Club picks offers a wide range of ways to reflect on the ties that bind us.

Washington National Opera’s Artistic Director Francesca Zambello interviews director, Brenna Corner, about Verdi’s opera inspired by Macbeth.