Can you imagine Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra transposed to rural India, where Antony becomes a cock fighter and Cleopatra a medicine woman? Or what about a Hamlet in the Himalayas, with the title character seeking forgiveness and reconciliation instead of revenge? Mark Thornton Burnett, a professor of English at Queen’s University Belfast, has done an extensive survey… Continue Reading »
[Editor’s Note: A version of this text first appeared in Infinite Variety: Exploring the Folger Shakespeare Library, edited by Esther Ferington, ©2002 Folger Shakespeare Library.] The leading actor-manager of the 1700s, David Garrick revolutionized English theatre with a lively, naturalistic acting style that held audiences spellbound. In three decades at the Drury Lane Theatre, Garrick… Continue Reading »
From a Hot Pepper Shakespeare contest to a Romeo and Juliet masquerade ball, the party doesn’t stop. These First Folio host sites are living it up, celebrating 400 years of Shakespeare across the United States.
Growing up on the frontier, Abraham Lincoln had few books to read in his early days—but among them were the works of Shakespeare, which Lincoln cherished throughout his life. The actor Joseph Jefferson later told the story of how Lincoln, as a young lawyer, successfully defended his father’s Illinois theater when a religious revival threatened… Continue Reading »
Whether you’re giving a valentine to a sweetheart or a friend, why not say it with Shakespeare? We have a new set of beautifully illustrated Shakespeare valentines for you, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
This year we remember the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. But 1616 also saw the passing of another great writer: Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra, who we know best as the author of Don Quijote. As Shakespeare left an indelible mark on the English language, Spanish has been referred to as “la… Continue Reading »
