Austin Tichenor
What's your favorite Shakespeare play?
(left-right) Joshua David Robinson, Matt Dallal, Zachary Fine, and Jack Schmitt in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Folger Theatre, 2019. Photo by Brittany Diliberto. You’d think I’d have a better answer to the question, “What’s your favorite Shakespeare play?” — but it’s…
“Good Peter Quince:” Shakespeare’s most autobiographical character
Richard Ruiz (Peter Quince) and Holly Twyford (Bottom) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Folger Theatre, 2016. Teresa Wood. A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream is one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays, and for good reason. Frequently a young person’s introduction to…
"Painter’s art": Biofictional perspectives on Shakespeare
Austin Tichenor as William Shakespeare in William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), Folger Theatre, 2016. Photo by Teresa Wood. Depictions of William Shakespeare in fictional works are animated by the same impulse behind fanfiction — to fill in the…
“Therefore we marvel”: WandaVision’s Shakespearean echoes
Austin Tichenor reflects on the tension the WandaVision series creates between character and genre, reminding him of Shakespeare’s plays.
“Eventful history:” The Shakespearean success of The Crown
“It’s no wonder that The Crown — nominated for a record six Golden Globes in this Sunday’s annual awards ceremony — is so successful and popular,” writes Austin Tichenor. “Its depiction of an English monarch struggling to rule Britain while…
To be or not to be your valentine: Shakespearean expressions of love
Shakespeare quotes can seem like good choices for Valentine’s Day cards, but his tales of love are nuanced and complicated.
Razing the Theatre, raising the Globe
The story of the Globe Theatre’s beginnings is one of intrigue, legal hairsplitting, holiday opportunity, and the disassembly of another playhouse.
William Shakespeare: International man of mystery
Austin Tichenor writes about how the lack of biographical details about Shakespeare’s life leaves his audience always wanting more.
“Comic sport”: Shakespeare’s depictions of governments in chaos
Chaotic and ineffective government may be a problem in our current life, but it makes for excellent drama in the theater — and in William Shakespeare’s hands, excellent comedy as well.
“In the brave squares”: The Show Must Go Online
One of the lasting achievements of the extended COVID quarantine will surely be an extraordinary archive of the complete works of William Shakespeare performed on Zoom by casts from around the world, under the umbrella title The Show Must Go…
And so they play their parts: Double-casting Shakespeare’s plays
Double-casting is a theater technique (as opposed to a literary one) that creates a meta-narrative, transforming a large-cast play into a present-tense adventure. Actors swapping costumes and changing roles (and sometimes genders) becomes part of the thrilling ride, and theater’s…
Mangled glory: Fact and (mostly) fiction in Shakespeare’s history plays
Austin Tichenor writes about theater’s limitations as a historical record, given its dramatic needs and narrative imperatives.