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 »
We explore the history behind the Shakespearean Final Jeopardy clue that unseated “Jeopardy” champion James Holzhauer.
This is the tenth post in a series by artist Paul Glenshaw about drawing the bas-reliefs by sculptor John Gregory on the front of the Folger Shakespeare Library building. The series examines the bas-reliefs one by one; each sculpture depicts a scene from a different Shakespeare play. Today’s post is about the bas-relief of a… Continue Reading »
“What’s especially delightful about Love’s Labor’s Lost is that it’s a comedy about melancholy, a satire on youthful arrogance, intellectual pretension, and romantic naiveté,” writes Austin Tichenor.
What should you watch for in a production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It?” We asked some friends what they look for in this classic play.
