Four centuries of staging Shakespeare
In order to make Shakespeare’s plays accessible and appealing to audiences, theater practitioners around the world have shaped both the text and the style of production to mirror and speak into their own time and place.
People have used Shakespeare’s plays as a medium for political commentary, incorporated them into other theatrical traditions, and adapted them as films, operas, musicals and other art forms.
Explore the variety of Shakespeare in performance.
Shakespeare's theater
Collection highlights
Edwin Booth as Richard III
This costume was worn by 19th-century actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, for his role as Richard III.
Paul Robeson as Othello
Paul Robeson’s 1943 appearance as Othello had the longest run to that time of any Shakespearean production on Broadway.
Fanny Kemble costume design
This costume design was for popular early 19th-century British actress Fanny Kemble’s role as Desdemona in Othello.
Souvenirs of David Garrick
These images document Shakespearean star David Garrick’s 1753 performance of Romeo and Juliet, from the Folger’s extensive Garrick collection.
Theater history
From the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast
Fiona Ritchie on Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble
We talk to scholar Fiona Ritchie, whose new book, Shakespeare in the Theatre: Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble, details their rise to fame.
Pamela Hutchinson on Asta Nielsen's Hamlet
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 188 In 1921, Asta Nielsen, one of the world’s biggest movie stars, had just formed her own production company, and decided to open it up by playing Hamlet. Plenty of women had done that on the stage…
Black Women Shakespeareans, 1821 – 1960, with Joyce Green MacDonald
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 183 Between 1821 and 1960, it would have been vanishingly rare to see a Black woman onstage performing Shakespeare. In Dr. Joyce Green MacDonald’s chapter in the new Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race, “Actresses of Color…
The Restoration Reinvention of Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 171 The next time someone complains about a director changing or tampering with Shakespeare… we’ve got an answer for them. The first generation of theater artists after Shakespeare weren’t particularly concerned about performing Shakespeare’s plays the way…
Shakespeare in the Harlem Renaissance
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 161 When you think about the Harlem Renaissance, theater might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But, says Dr. Freda Scott Giles, theater played a significant role in the blossoming of Black American arts and…
Staging Shakespeare today:
Our interviews with actors
From the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast
Adrian Lester on Playing Rosalind, Henry V, Othello, and Hamlet
Actor Adrian Lester walks us through big moments in his illustrious career, including Cheek by Jowl’s all-male “As You Like It” and Peter Brook’s “Hamlet.”
Patrick Page on King Lear and Shakespeare's Villains
Patrick Page tells us how he gets inside the mind of Lear in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2023 production.
Ian McKellen on Playing Hamlet
Sir Ian McKellen played Hamlet in his thirties, and again in his eighties. He gives us his take on the Melancholy Dane.
Our Shakespeare theater partnership program:
What’s onstage across America
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters this fall
We take a trip across the country to see what’s onstage at Shakespeare theaters this fall.
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters this summer
Plan a visit to a theater near you with our guide to summer Shakespeare across the United States.
"Something is desperate": Theatrical mishaps and embarrassing moments with Shakespeare
We gathered tales of onstage mistakes, errors, and whoopsies from Shakespeare theaters across the US.
Folger Theatre
The award-winning Folger Theatre is a national leader in performance related to Shakespeare’s works.
What's onstage now
About Folger Theatre
Video: Macbeth
Film, opera, musicals, and other adaptations
David West Read on & Juliet
Hit musical & Juliet combines Romeo and Juliet with the songs of pop hitmaker Max Martin. Its writer, Schitt’s Creek writer and executive producer David West Read, tells us about how the idea came to him while he was concussed.
Ian McKellen on Richard III, Macbeth, and Gandalf
Sir Ian McKellen tells us about some of his most famous roles: playing Macbeth opposite Dame Judi Dench, King Richard III with a screenplay he co-wrote, and Gandalf the Grey in The Lord of the Rings films.
Adapting Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra' for opera
John Adams Gives Antony and Cleopatra the Operatic Treatment
Adams talks with host Barbara Bogaev about how he turned a five-act play into a two-act opera—which scenes got the hook, new lines written in the style of the Bard, and what Shakespeare may have thought of the play’s characters.
Q&A: Allan Clayton on playing Hamlet in Brett Dean's opera
Brett Dean and Matthew Jocelyn on Their Hamlet Opera
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 191 A new opera version of Hamlet is onstage at New York’s Metropolitan Opera through June 9. Composer Brett Dean and librettist Matthew Jocelyn talk with host Barbara Bogaev about adapting the texts of the earliest editions…
Pamela Hutchinson on Asta Nielsen's Hamlet
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 188 In 1921, Asta Nielsen, one of the world’s biggest movie stars, had just formed her own production company, and decided to open it up by playing Hamlet. Plenty of women had done that on the stage…
Read a play aloud with friends
Character breakouts
Gather some friends to read aloud a Shakespeare play together. Does the character list look too long? To assign roles, use these scene-by-scene breakdowns of 13 popular plays that show which actors should play which characters.