“L’opera senza amore!” That was the Italians’ reaction to Verdi’s Macbeth when it premiered in Florence in 1847. Despite its immediate success and subsequent popularity, an opera that involved no great love affair struck audiences as an oddity. It was not as if Verdi was known for any blatantly amorous scenes in his operas—quite the… Continue Reading »
Posts Tagged: Macbeth
Artist Paul Glenshaw describes drawing John Gregory’s bas-relief of Macbeth, the three witches, and their cauldron, with a focus on the vast cloud of smoke made from stone. “I realized as I drew it that the smoke was as much a character in this setting as the witches and Macbeth himself,” he writes.
Shakespeare’s witches, like nearly all witches of Shakespeare’s time, have their roots in the kitchen more than in the study.
Take this quiz to see if you can identify lines from Shakespeare’s Macbeth or the Restoration-era version as adapted and amended by Sir William Davenant.
Adapted by William Davenant and first performed in 1664, the version of the Scottish play taking to the Folger stage in September was the most popular one well into the 18th century despite—or perhaps because of—the numerous departures from Shakespeare’s original text.
From her work translating ‘Macbeth’ for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Play on! project, Migdalia Cruz shares reflections about ambitions, loyalty, the witches, and the porter scene.
Restoration Shakespeare was a complex theatrical experience that integrated song, music, dance, and acting; indeed, music and dance, alongside stage machines and movable scenes, were central to the success of Restoration theatre more generally.
Read an excerpt from ‘Macbeth’, Norwegian detective crime novelist Jo Nesbø’s retelling of Shakespeare’s play, from the Hogarth Shakespeare series.
In the whole history of Shakespeare in American life, perhaps the most shocking single fact is that 22 or more people once died as a result of a riot in New York over the correct theatrical interpretation of Macbeth.
Shakespeare has provided rich material for Hollywood’s film industry over the decades, from The Taming of the Shrew (1967) with Elizabeth Taylor to 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) with Julia Stiles. Given this, an exhibition about Shakespeare in America (and especially in California), such as the one on display at the Los Angeles… Continue Reading »
