Inspired by Shakespeare

She appears in four of Shakespeare’s plays and speaks the most lines of any of his female characters. Authors Charles O’Malley and Scott W. Stern shine the spotlight on Margaret of Anjou, Shakespeare’s most deliciously complex anti-heroine.

Shakespeare never attended university, but his plays have inspired generations of scholars. They’re also filled with learned characters. Sean Keilen shares what Shakespeare’s fictional intellectuals can teach us about the purpose of scholarship.

As writer and performer Jacob Ming-Trent prepares for the world premiere of How Shakespeare Saved My Life at Folger Theatre, he delves deeper into his story—and reframes Shakespeare as an urban poet in the vein of Tupac and Biggie.

A century after Shakespeare’s death, his words were in danger of being forgotten. Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth reveal how the Shakespeare Ladies Club rescued Shakespeare’s plays and made him the cultural icon he is today.

Is Shakespeare still Shakespeare even if every word is changed? Author and translator Daniel Hahn dives into the challenges and rewards of translating Shakespeare—exploring not only what is lost in translation, but also what is gained.

What happens when a Shakespeare play is made up in real time? The ISC creates fully unscripted performances from a single audience prompt—blending poetry, comedy, and spontaneity into a play that’s never the same twice.

Womersley shares how tragedies like Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear place audiences inside difficult moral dilemmas, inviting us to wrestle with enduring questions about identity, power, and what it means to do the right thing.

In 1789, John Boydell opened a London gallery of paintings of Shakespeare scenes. It became a sensation, transforming Shakespeare into a national icon and elevating public art. Rosie Dias and Michael Dobson discuss its rise and fall.

Theater powerhouse Whitney White shares the music she hears when she reads Shakespeare— punk rock, the blues, gospel—and how the sounds and rhythms of Lady Macbeth, Emilia, Juliet, and Richard III inspired All Is But Fantasy.

Many Shakespeare fans don’t think of themselves as “math people.” But in Shakespeare’s world, math and literature were deeply intertwined. Mathematician Rob Eastaway explores how numbers, patterns, and mathematical ideas shaped Shakespeare’s plays.

Journalist, playwright, and poet Al Letson talks about Julius X, his play that borrows lines, characters, and plot from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to tell the story of Malcolm X. He shares the play’s origins and his approach to creating art.

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.