South African forensics may provide clues to the 400-year-old mystery of what was smoked in pipes found in Shakespeare’s garden.
Actor Joseph Marcell plays the lead role in The Globe’s production of Shakespeare’s King Lear in Malta, Valletta. Shakespeare divides opinions and his texts often terrify learners.
Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters
Sport for Jove’s The Merchant of Venice is a production of ourstanding clarity, making it ideal for students or perhaps even those who simply don’t often see Shakespeare in the theatre.
You’d be forgiven for thinking Double Falsehood was recently “found” and confirmed as being by Shakespeare. But that’s not what the researchers behind the computational tests actually said. So what’s up?
It’s not that Shakespeare needs to burn out – but it’s time for him to fade away.
Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters
Do English texts stay the same over the decades because there are no good modern books? Or because the process of selecting new books is just too hard?
The Merchant of Venice is a play that most thoroughly reveals the prevalent anti-Semitism of Shakespeare’s time. So should it be cut when performed today?
The recent discovery of a First Folio in St. Omer, France brings the total number of known copies to 233.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, National Art Library
The Shakespeare First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of his plays and the sole source for half of them (including Macbeth, Antony & Cleopatra, All’s Well, As You Like It, and The Tempest…
A recent adaptation of Hamlet caused outrage in India, flagging up just how deep the rift between artistic culture and so called “Indian values” runs. When the trailer for Haider, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kashmir-set…
Jade Anouka as Hotspur and company rehearsing for Henry IV.
Helen Maybanks
Shakespeare’s King Henry IV recently opened at the Donmar. And it has a twist. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd and starring Harriet Walter as the king, the production follows Lloyd’s acclaimed Julius Caesar…
‘To be, or not to be’ male or female? Maxine Peak plays Hamlet.
Jonathan Keenan/Royal Exchange Theatre
The ghost, in this autumn’s Royal Exchange Theatre production of Hamlet, is in the light bulbs. Hung over the stage, they flicker and hum as they mark Old Hamlet’s movements. They also set the scene for…
All the world’s a stage to play on.
David Jones/PA Archive
Somewhere, in the depths of your memory, you can probably still recall a quote or two from Shakespeare. Everybody in the UK studies the Bard at school – whether they go on to love him or hate him. As leading…
Hugo Weaving’s Macbeth dwells on the isolation and introspection of one of Shakespeare’s great tragic leads. Photo: Brett Boardman.
Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company’s new production of Macbeth may draw attention for its star, Hugo Weaving, but the most powerful agent of this production is the theatrical space. Director Kip Williams has inverted…
Given the extent of the brouhaha that has surrounded Shakespeare’s big 450, it’s worth remembering that we’re marking the anniversary of the birth of an enigma. Records do show that he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon…