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All 125 posts by

Esther French

Esther French is the Digital Managing Editor at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Love letters in Shakespeare: As You Like It, Hamlet, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona
As You Like It love letters
Shakespeare and Beyond

Love letters in Shakespeare: As You Like It, Hamlet, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona

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Author
Esther French

We look at three instances of love letters in Shakespeare’s plays: Orlando’s love poems to Rosalind in As You Like It, Hamlet’s passionate missive to Ophelia in Hamlet, and Proteus’s romantic letter to Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Quiz: Shakespeare's lovers
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: Shakespeare's lovers

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Author
Esther French

Can you match up these Shakespearean lovers? Take the quiz and challenge your friends.

What's onstage in January at Shakespeare theaters across America: The Henry VI trilogy and more
Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare and Beyond

What's onstage in January at Shakespeare theaters across America: The Henry VI trilogy and more

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Author
Esther French

Cincy Shakes and Seattle Shakespeare adapt the Henry VI plays, Nashville presents a ’90s Romeo and Juliet, and Nebraska teams up with the Omaha Symphony.

The First Folio tour comes to an end
The final First Folio to return home to the Folger after the 2016 First Folio tour
Shakespeare and Beyond

The First Folio tour comes to an end

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Esther French

A champagne toast welcomed the return of the last First Folio to the Folger, completing a national tour in which 18 of the Folger’s 82 First Folios traveled to all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC, in 2016. This traveling…

Quiz: How well do you know the endings of Shakespeare's plays?
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: How well do you know the endings of Shakespeare's plays?

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Author
Esther French

Louis Butelli (Feste) sings the final lines in Twelfth Night, directed by Robert Richmond, Folger Theatre, 2013. Photo by Scott Suchman. Challenge thyself! Test your Shakespeare knowledge and take this quiz. You may have gotten a perfect score on our…

The 5 most popular Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episodes of 2016: Othello, food, magic, religion, and the First Folio
Shakespeare and Beyond

The 5 most popular Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episodes of 2016: Othello, food, magic, religion, and the First Folio

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Author
Esther French

1. Othello and Blackface This podcast episode, which deals with race, Othello, and how the Elizabethans portrayed blackness onstage, offers a startling, new interpretation of Desdemona’s handkerchief that is changing the way scholars understand the play. Our guests are Ayanna Thompson,…

The biggest Shakespeare stories of 2016
Will and Jane exhibition
Shakespeare and Beyond

The biggest Shakespeare stories of 2016

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Author
Esther French

Let’s take a moment to revisit some of the biggest Shakespeare stories in the news this year, from the discoveries that grabbed headlines to the spectacular celebrations of the 400th anniversary to the celebrity performances that generated the most buzz.…

A year of Shakespeare #FolgerFinds on Instagram
Shakespeare and Beyond

A year of Shakespeare #FolgerFinds on Instagram

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Author
Esther French

The Folger is the world’s largest Shakespeare collection. We love mining this rich archive for gems, and on social media we often share collection items using #FolgerFinds. This blog post takes us through a year of Shakespeare #FolgerFinds on Instagram. January We start…

Renaissance cooking: Food historian Francine Segan and a recipe for 'pears' in broth (they're not really pears)
Shakespeare and Beyond

Renaissance cooking: Food historian Francine Segan and a recipe for 'pears' in broth (they're not really pears)

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Author
Esther French

Francine Segan is a food historian with a taste for the Renaissance. She’s the author of six cookbooks, including Shakespeare’s Kitchen (2003) and the Opera Lover’s Cookbook, which was nominated for a James Beard award. This year she’s been spending…

Five things to look for when you watch 'The Winter's Tale'
Shakespeare and Beyond

Five things to look for when you watch 'The Winter's Tale'

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Esther French

If you’re going to see a performance of The Winter’s Tale, perhaps you’ve read the play (or maybe just the plot summary)—or maybe you’re going in cold. So, what should you look for in this Shakespeare play?

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to Hollywood
Hamlet costumes
Shakespeare and Beyond

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to Hollywood

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Author
Esther French

“The Bard Goes West” showcases two ways that Hollywood adapts Shakespeare: staying fairly true to the play, and using the plots but not his language.

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to California’s Gold Rush mining camps
Hamlet Wagon
Shakespeare and Beyond

America's Shakespeare: The Bard goes west to California’s Gold Rush mining camps

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Author
Esther French

Theater was very popular in California’s Gold Rush era, and miners couldn’t get enough of Shakespeare. Even gold-mining towns had stages or performance spaces.

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