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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare & Beyond

The Shakespeare & Beyond blog features a wide range of Shakespeare-related topics: the early modern period in which he lived, the ways his plays have been interpreted and staged over the past four centuries, the enduring power of his characters and language, and more.

Shakespeare and the American Revolution
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare and the American Revolution

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Shakespeare & Beyond

By the time the first battles of the American Revolution took place in 1775, Shakespeare had been imported from England on stage and page to the New World.

A Falstaff feast
Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespeare and Beyond

A Falstaff feast

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Author
Esther French

Find Falstaff at Nebraska Shakespeare, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Shakespeare Dallas.

The Book of Will: An imagined backstory for the Shakespeare First Folio
The Book of Will
Shakespeare and Beyond

The Book of Will: An imagined backstory for the Shakespeare First Folio

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Author
Esther French

The Book of Will, a new play by Lauren Gunderson, explores the back-story of how Shakespeare’s friends assembled his plays into the book we know today as the First Folio, without which we might have forever lost plays such as…

What's my line? Exploring promptbooks for Othello
Shakespeare and Beyond

What's my line? Exploring promptbooks for Othello

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Author
Ben Lauer

Promptbooks let us peer into the minds of some of history’s greatest theater-makers and see how they imagined Shakespeare’s plays.

Dig into the Folger's vault for #MuseumWeek
Shakespeare and Beyond

Dig into the Folger's vault for #MuseumWeek

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Shakespeare & Beyond

It’s #MuseumWeek, and the Folger is sharing recipes from Shakespeare’s time, stories of swords and duels, and a little bit of tennis.

A tale of three playbills: The Lighthouse, The Frozen Deep, and The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespeare and Beyond

A tale of three playbills: The Lighthouse, The Frozen Deep, and The Merry Wives of Windsor

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Author
Sarah Hovde

See playbills from the Folger collection of amateur (and fundraising) performances by Charles Dickens, from Wilkie Collins to Shakespeare.

Robert Sean Leonard as Richard II: What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in June
Robert Sean Leonard as King Richard II
Shakespeare and Beyond

Robert Sean Leonard as Richard II: What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in June

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Author
Esther French

Experience a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance around America, from a female Hamlet in Colorado to Robert Sean Leonard as Richard II in San Diego.

Quiz: Match the painting to the Shakespeare play
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: Match the painting to the Shakespeare play

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Author
Esther French

Which Shakespeare play is depicted in each of these paintings from the Folger collection? Take the quiz.

A Shakespeare tale for winter, told in summer
The Winter's Tale at Shakespeare Festival St. Louis
Shakespeare and Beyond

A Shakespeare tale for winter, told in summer

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Author
Esther French

The Winter’s Tale is onstage this summer at Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, African-American Shakespeare Company, and Nashville Shakespeare Festival.

Shakespeare in Love: From the screen to the stage in Chicago, Oregon, Utah, and New Jersey
Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Shakespeare in Love
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare in Love: From the screen to the stage in Chicago, Oregon, Utah, and New Jersey

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Author
Esther French

“Shakespeare in Love,” the Oscar-winning 1998 movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, has become a popular stage play, adapted by Lee Hall. Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey are all…

Comparing Timon of Athens with Iago
Shakespeare and Beyond

Comparing Timon of Athens with Iago

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Author
Esther French

Timon of Athens vs. Iago! Actors Ian Merrill Peakes and Louis Butelli discuss these Shakespeare characters, their degree of self-awareness, and their villain status.

An Iranian Hamlet
Shakespeare and Beyond

An Iranian Hamlet

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Author
Esther French

Arian Moayed is an Iranian Hamlet who straddles the line between East and West in a new dual-language production from Waterwell in New York.

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