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The Folger is closing at 4:30pm on Sunday, February 23, for a staff training exercise. Normal hours will resume when the Folger opens on Tuesday, February 25, at 11:00am.

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Barbara Mowat on editing Shakespeare
Barbara Mowat on editing Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

Barbara Mowat on editing Shakespeare

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Editing Shakespeare’s works is a complex process, explains Barbara Mowat, who with Paul Werstine edited the Folger Shakespeare Library editions.

Five Christmas gift ideas for Shakespeare fans
Sonnet 18 t-shirt
Shakespeare and Beyond

Five Christmas gift ideas for Shakespeare fans

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Shakespeare & Beyond

We’ve got five Shakespeare-themed Christmas gift ideas for you, selected from the Folger shop and all under $20, from games to artwork and more.

Sharing a love of Shakespeare with your family
Photo by Tracy Russo
Shakespeare and Beyond

Sharing a love of Shakespeare with your family

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Families share Shakespeare together in so many ways, such as watching his plays, quoting familiar lines, or throwing a Shakespeare birthday party.

Shakespeare onstage in November and December
Celebrated Stratford Festival performer Dion Johnstone portrays trailblazing African-American actor Ira Aldridge, whose Othello shocked nineteenth-century London, in Chicago Shakespeare’s Red Velvet, directed by Gary Griffin, in the Courtyard Theater, December 1, 2017–January 21, 2018. Photo by Jeff Sciortino.
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare onstage in November and December

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Every month, we share a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance around America. Let’s check in with our theater partners with Shakespeare plays onstage in November and December.

How Shakespeare describes post-traumatic stress disorder
Lady Percy and Hotspur
Shakespeare and Beyond

How Shakespeare describes post-traumatic stress disorder

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare’s plays are full of battles dominated by men, but one of his most compelling speeches about the life of a soldier comes from a woman: Lady Percy in Henry IV, Part 1, speaking to her husband, Hotspur.

How Catholic and Protestant beliefs affect Hamlet's reaction to his father's ghost
Hamlet and ghost. J. Coghlan. [early 19th century?]. Folger Shakespeare Library.
Shakespeare and Beyond

How Catholic and Protestant beliefs affect Hamlet's reaction to his father's ghost

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Shakespeare & Beyond

When Hamlet first encounters his father’s ghost, the Danish prince’s reactions reflect Shakespeare’s understanding of the theological differences between early modern Catholics and Protestants regarding the spiritual realm, says David Scott Kastan.

Excerpt from Dunbar: Edward St. Aubyn retells King Lear
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt from Dunbar: Edward St. Aubyn retells King Lear

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Shakespeare & Beyond

In “Dunbar,” a new novel by Edward St. Aubyn that retells the Shakespeare play “King Lear,” Henry Dunbar makes the mistake of handing over control of his global corporation to his eldest daughters, who bribe a doctor to declare him…

Rome’s encounter with Egypt in Antony and Cleopatra
Rome and Egypt
Shakespeare and Beyond

Rome’s encounter with Egypt in Antony and Cleopatra

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Shakespeare & Beyond

In this excerpt from “Shakespeare’s Roman Trilogy,” Paul Cantor writes about the Romanization of Egypt and the Egyptization of Rome in “Antony and Cleopatra.”

Richard Burton, Shakespeare, and the search for the source of the Nile
Shakespeare in Swahililand
Shakespeare and Beyond

Richard Burton, Shakespeare, and the search for the source of the Nile

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Shakespeare & Beyond

When European explorers first began traveling into the interior of the African continent, they brought Shakespeare with them. This excerpt from Shakespeare in Swahililand, written by Edward Wilson-Lee, relates the expedition of Richard Francis Burton and his search for the…

An English Garden: Dancing tunes and lyric poetry in Elizabethan England
Shakespeare and Beyond

An English Garden: Dancing tunes and lyric poetry in Elizabethan England

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Shakespeare & Beyond

As the arts and culture flourished in Shakespeare’s England, musical life blossomed as well.

Salmon in pastry: A Renaissance recipe from Shakespeare's Kitchen by Francine Segan
Salmon pastry
Shakespeare and Beyond

Salmon in pastry: A Renaissance recipe from Shakespeare's Kitchen by Francine Segan

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Salmon, oysters, asparagus, and grapes are all ingredients in this unusual pie recipe from Francine Segan’s cookbook “Shakespeare’s Kitchen.”

Shakespeare, improvisation, and the art of rhetoric
Ellen Terry as Viola
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare, improvisation, and the art of rhetoric

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare characters like Viola and Iago are masters of improvisation, says Folger Director Michael Witmore in this excerpt from the 2017 Shakespeare’s Birthday Lecture.

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