Shakespeare in the world
Adapting Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra' for opera
Get an insider’s look at adapting a Shakespeare play for opera with this blog post by the dramaturg and libretto consultant for the new John Adams opera of “Antony and Cleopatra.”
“I do fear thy nature”: Kim Wexler and echoes of 'Macbeth' in 'Better Call Saul'
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
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, all while breathing new life into Shakespeare’s favorite tropes.
Bothered by madness: 'Hamlet' and 'The Northman'
Robert Eggers’s “The Northman” is not an adaptation of “Hamlet,” but a film in conversation with Shakespeare’s play, Austin Tichenor writes.
Something is rotten in the state of Gotham: Shakespeare and The Batman
Austin Tichenor draws connections between Hamlet and Batman, noting the range of interpretations.
John, Paul, Pyramus, and Thisbe: The Beatles performing Shakespeare
Did you know that the Beatles once performed the “Pyramus and Thisbe” scene from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”? Although they mainly stick to Shakespeare’s script, the moments when they play with the text stand out.
Nathan the Wise: An 18th-century German counterpoint to Shakespeare’s Shylock
“Nathan the Wise” and “The Merchant of Venice” are very different works, though religious tension is a subject in each, as is the potential for love and loss, wealth and poverty, bloodshed and peace. But it is the character of…
Actors taking on tyrants: Ernst Lubitsch’s 'To Be or Not to Be'
A Polish acting troupe outwits the Nazis using Shakespeare codes and theatrical smarts in Ernst Lubitsch’s 1942 film “To Be or Not to Be,” an audacious comedy filmed as Hitler was devastating Europe. Almost the definition of a joke told…
Is Shakespeare for everyone?
Austin Tichenor makes the case for why we should say “Shakespeare is for anyone who wants him” instead of “Shakespeare is for everyone.”
The evolution of American Moor: The Untitled Othello Project
Keith Hamilton Cobb reflects on his play American Moor and how the questions he received in response to it led to the development of the Untitled Othello Project, a deeply scrutinizing exploration of Shakespeare’s text.
West Side Story: A new take on Romeo and Juliet, 60 years later
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story is a layering of theatrical devices, a Hollywood riff on both a famous musical and a Shakespearean story for 21st-century audiences.
“The world unwinding”: Station Eleven, Shakespeare, and an artist’s-eye view of apocalypse
During the covid-19 pandemic, two methods of escape for me have been Shakespeare and depictions of fictional catastrophes, so you can imagine my excitement when I learned that a novel that combines both — Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven…