Inspired by Shakespeare

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.