Ben Elton is no stranger to Shakespeare. The British author and actor played Verges alongside Michael Keaton’s Dogberry in Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 film Much Ado About Nothing. He incorporated Shakespeare — both the man himself and his words — into several episodes of his Blackadder TV series, which he co-wrote with Richard Curtis starting with… Continue Reading »
In choosing which Shakespeare play to translate for the Play on! project, playwright Aditi Brennan Kapil let herself be influenced by dramaturg Liz Engelman, who was attracted to the themes of Measure for Measure and their resonance in today’s world. Continuing our series of Q&As with Play on! playwrights, Kapil shares about her process for… Continue Reading »
Each month, we bring you a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance across America. Find our what the Folger’s theater partners have onstage in June.
What is Shakespeare’s shortest play? Which female character has the most lines? Test your Shakespeare knowledge with this trivia quiz.
Shakespeare scholar Emma Smith takes 20 chapters to discuss 20 different Shakespeare plays in her new book This Is Shakespeare, offering insights on key characters, plot twists, and performance challenges. The excerpt below, which focuses on the character of Falstaff and his physical description, comes from the chapter on 1 Henry IV, the play where… Continue Reading »
Food is intimately connected to climate and season. It was for Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and it is for us today. Beautiful, local produce is once again available in the northeast now that spring is turning into early summer. In Shakespeare’s Love’s Labor’s Lost, Berowne insists that all things have their season: “At Christmas I… Continue Reading »
