Shakespeare & Beyond
![Duke Ellington Duke Ellington conducting during the recording session for Such Sweet Thunder. © Don Hunstein.](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/05/Duke-Ellington-Such-Sweet-Thunder.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder: Shakespeare and jazz
It’s been 60 years since Duke Ellington recorded Such Sweet Thunder, a jazz suite based on Shakespeare’s plays. Eleven songs are linked to Shakespearean characters like Othello and Lady Macbeth, and the final number is a tribute to Shakespeare himself.
![Hamlet Globe to Globe Dominic Dromgoole book cover](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/04/Hamlet-Globe-to-Globe-Dominic-Dromgoole-book-cover.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
Taking Hamlet around the globe
To commemorate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth in 2014, Shakespeare’s Globe in London sent a group of actors on a two-year tour to perform Hamlet all around the world. Dominic Dromgoole, the Globe’s artistic director who directed this traveling…
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What’s onstage in April at Shakespeare theaters across America
Every month, we share a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance around America. See what’s on this April.
![Duke Orsino: “So full of shapes is fancy... Illustration of Orsino, bewitched by spirits of love](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/04/Duke-Orsino-FB.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
W. Heath Robinson: Shakespeare Illustrated by "Britain's Rube Goldberg"
Known for his complex imaginary contraptions, W. Heath Robinson also produced exquisite illustrations for editions of Shakespeare’s works.
![Roses](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/04/rose-cakes-Francine-Segan.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
A recipe for 1610 rose cakes
Francine Segan, a food historian with a taste for the Renaissance, adapts a 1610 handwritten recipe for rose cakes from a recipe book that’s part of the Folger collection.
![Miniature copy of The Children's Shakespeare Miniature copy of The Children's Shakespeare](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/04/Small-Shakespeare-Folger-Magazine-2012-Altemus.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
The smallest Shakespeares in the Folger collection
Henry Altemus’ magnificently miniature copy of “The Children’s Shakespeare” by Edith Nesbit is the Folger’s smallest Shakespeare edition. The title page’s portrait of Shakespeare is only six millimeters long. Like the book’s text, it is not discernible to the naked…
![Love's Labor's Lost](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/03/28064-LLL.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
Quiz: Buckets of ducats in Shakespeare's plays
Shakespeare characters love talking about their ducats, which were commonly used coins in Shakespeare’s day. Can you match the money quote to the play it comes from?
![West Side Story West Side Story](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/03/WestSideStory_LibraryofCongress.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
What makes Shakespeare musicals 'American'
While Shakespeare musicals borrowed plots, characters, and situations from England’s best-known poet, they remained essentially “American.”
![Ada Rehan Ada Rehan](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/03/Ada-Rehan-059082.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
The many Shakespearean roles of Irish immigrant Ada Rehan
Born Ada Crehan in Limerick, Ireland, Ada Rehan arrived in Brooklyn with her family at age five. Her big break came in the late 1870s, when theater manager Augustin Daly hired her for his New York company.
![Something Rotten Something Rotten](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/03/Something-Rotten-Broadway-Musical-1.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
Something Rotten: An interview with the Broadway musical creators Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick
Two brothers living in England in 1595 have had their playwriting careers upended by the arrival of a new guy from Stratford upon Avon, William Shakespeare. That’s the plot of Something Rotten, a new musical that opened on Broadway in…
![Public domain image of Lady Mary Wroth Public domain image of Lady Mary Wroth](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/03/Lady_Mary_Wroth.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
Lady Mary Wroth and 'The Countess of Montgomery's Urania'
Lady Mary Wroth watched Shakespeare act in his own plays, heard her relative Sir Walter Raleigh talk about founding Virginia, and almost certainly met Pocahantas and ambassadors from Morocco. Wroth’s later prose fiction echoes elements of her own life, including…
![Alice-Morgan-Wright-Lady-Macbeth](https://images.folger.edu/uploads/2017/02/Alice-Morgan-Wright-Lady-Macbeth.jpg?fit=10%2C10)
Five women artists: Interpreting Shakespeare through sculpture and book art
This blog post spotlights five female artists whose interpretations of Shakespeare’s works are part of the Folger collection. We decided to highlight three sculptors and two book artists.