Inspired by Shakespeare

60 years after the premiere of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, a new stage comedy is using Stoppard’s absurdist template to explore the fears and struggles of the two main clowns from Much Ado About Nothing.

In 2004, Barbie released two Shakespeare-inspired dolls for their Classic Ballet series: the fairy queen Titania from the 1962 ballet adaptation of Mendelssohn’s score for Midsummer and Juliet from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet 1940 ballet.

Austin Tichenor writes about why the behind-the-scenes workings of a Shakespeare theater festival make for such great television in Slings and Arrows and the connections with its sequel-in-spirit American Classic starring Kevin Kline.

From Ellen Terry to Sir Ian McKellen, Shakespearean actors performing solo shows is a time-honored tradition. Austin Tichenor shares a wide-ranging sampling of one-person Shakespeare shows from the past century.

He’s quoted Shakespeare in numerous speeches, from his first as king to his most recent at the White House during his state visit at the end of April. But Charles III’s interest in Shakespeare goes all the way back to his school days.

Victorians enjoyed viewing sets of engravings put out as “Galleries” of Shakespeare’s heroines as imagined by leading painters. Over the 19th century, they represented changing British ideas of feminine beauty and behavior.

Shakespeare as the creator of heroes is explored in Wonder Man, the newest entry in the vast Marvel Cinematic Universe. Austin Tichenor explores the series’ interest in the power of theater and storytelling over super-powered beings fighting evil.

Shakespeare’s poetry, plots, and characters have inspired dozens of musicals, as well as numerous comic songs and even special cameos. Austin Tichenor explores the musical theater that keeps us humming and brushing up our Shakespeare.

Take a time machine back to 18th-century London and John Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery, visited by everyone who was anyone, from Jane Austen to the Prince of Wales. But why make a gallery devoted to Shakespeare? And who was Boydell?

Shakespeare stories in the news this fall, from the Hamnet film to a new discovery in Shakespeare Quarterly about Shakespeare’s father. Plus a surprising connection between the middle school phrase “6-7” and Richard II.

Folger Artist Fellow Missy Dunaway shares what she’s learning while working on The Birds of Shakespeare, her project to paint the 65 birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s works.

Two new productions, Al Letson’s Julius X and the Q Brothers Collective’s Rome Sweet Rome, explore contemporary themes of political upheaval and personal betrayal while illuminating aspects of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar we might have missed.