Shakespeare, Money, and Meaning-Making
Can reading King Lear help us rethink economic policy? Can Measure for Measure shape how we talk about justice? Professors Laurette Dubé and Paul Yachnin explore how Shakespeare can help us imagine more humane systems for our world.
Staging Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto
When theaters shut down during COVID, actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen performed Hamlet inside Grand Theft Auto Online. Filmmaker Pinny Grylls captured it all in a documentary, Grand Theft Hamlet.
Simon Russell Beale on Shakespeare, from Hamlet to Titus
Called “the finest actor of his generation,” Beale has played just about everyone in Shakespeare’s canon. He reflects on the roles that have shaped his career and how his approach has evolved over time.
Shakespeare’s Boy Player Alexander Cooke
In Shakespeare’s time, women onstage were played by boys, and for those boy players, fame could be fleeting. Nicole Galland’s novel Boy follows Alexander “Sander” Cooke, a real-life actor in Shakespeare’s company.
King Lear and Mao’s China, with Nan Z. Da
What can King Lear teach us about power today? Nan Z. Da shares how Shakespeare’s play echoes her family’s experience in Maoist China, how Shakespeare anticipates authoritarianism, and why Lear may be Shakespeare’s most “Chinese” play.