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Hamlet

Something is rotten in the state of Gotham: Shakespeare and The Batman
Shakespeare and Beyond

Something is rotten in the state of Gotham: Shakespeare and The Batman

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Author
Austin Tichenor

Austin Tichenor draws connections between Hamlet and Batman, noting the range of interpretations.

Pamela Hutchinson on Asta Nielsen's Hamlet
Shakespeare Unlimited

Pamela Hutchinson on Asta Nielsen's Hamlet

Posted

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…

Folger Finds: Photographs of Hamlet in Japan
Claudius and Gertrude in Hamlet
Shakespeare and Beyond

Folger Finds: Photographs of Hamlet in Japan

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

In a recent post on the Folger’s Collation blog, assistant curator Elizabeth DeBold shared a small set of photographs, newly added to the Folger collection, that document a 1933 Japanese production of Hamlet: These five photos provide a glimpse of…

New Acquisition: Photographs of an early 20th-century production of Hamlet in Japan
Collation

New Acquisition: Photographs of an early 20th-century production of Hamlet in Japan

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Author
Elizabeth DeBold

Welcome to a new regular series here on The Collation! Curatorial staff will be writing short pieces focusing on new acquisitions, hopefully giving our readers a glimpse into how we’re building our collections. Today, I’m excited to share a small…

Not of an age: The history behind Ian McKellen’s Hamlet
Ian McKellen and other Hamlets
Shakespeare and Beyond

Not of an age: The history behind Ian McKellen’s Hamlet

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Author
Daniel Blank

In June, Ian McKellen will take the stage as the title character in Hamlet at the Theatre Royal Windsor. McKellen is no stranger to the role: he played Hamlet in Prospect Theatre Company’s touring production a half century ago. It…

Play it again, Ham
Collation

Play it again, Ham

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Author
Rachel B. Dankert

As a Folger staff member, I am used to seeing Shakespeare’s face everywhere, but the image from this month’s Crocodile Mystery made even me do a double take. This month’s mystery was a stumper! The Hamlet behind Shakespeare/Yorick was Edwin…

Excerpt: 'Shakespeare and Lost Plays' by David McInnis
Lost Plays book cover
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: 'Shakespeare and Lost Plays' by David McInnis

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

When it comes to the theatrical landscape of Shakespeare’s London, there are the plays whose names we are familiar with — plays like Hamlet and Henry V — and then there are the plays that were being performed around the…

Meme García on house of sueños
Shakespeare Unlimited

Meme García on house of sueños

Posted

Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 162 For generations, artists have been shaping and changing Shakespeare to fit their times. The best adaptations add specific textures of place and culture, or a fluidity of language that can take centuries-old work and make it…

And so they play their parts: Double-casting Shakespeare’s plays
Shakespeare and Beyond

And so they play their parts: Double-casting Shakespeare’s plays

Posted
Author
Austin Tichenor

Double-casting is a theater technique (as opposed to a literary one) that creates a meta-narrative, transforming a large-cast play into a present-tense adventure. Actors swapping costumes and changing roles (and sometimes genders) becomes part of the thrilling ride, and theater’s…

Order It: Hamlet's "to be or not to be" soliloquy
a man thinking
Shakespeare and Beyond

Order It: Hamlet's "to be or not to be" soliloquy

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

“To be or not to be” – do you know what comes after? This quiz challenges you to drag and drop the lines of Hamlet’s famous speech into the correct order.

Losing the name of action: Hamlet reconsidered
Shakespeare and Beyond

Losing the name of action: Hamlet reconsidered

Posted
Author
Austin Tichenor

Photograph by Lizzie Caswall Smith of Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson as Hamlet. Folger Shakespeare Library. During this global pandemic, when the whole world is quarantined to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Hamlet seems like a character perfectly suited to…

The madness of Hamlet and King Lear: When psychiatrists used Shakespeare to argue legal definitions of insanity in the courtroom
Shakespeare and Beyond

The madness of Hamlet and King Lear: When psychiatrists used Shakespeare to argue legal definitions of insanity in the courtroom

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

Well-known Shakespeare characters such as King Lear and Hamlet suffer (or appear to suffer) from madness—and early American psychiatrists took note. Observations drawn from literature began to bleed into courtroom testimony regarding insanity pleas.

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