Shakespeare & Beyond
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Q&A: Tamilla Woodard on "The Winter's Tale"
“We are all Leontes.” Director Tamilla Woodard shares her favorite moments from The Winter’s Tale and what audiences should be watching for when they see the play.
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Excerpt: "Shakespeare in Bloomsbury" by Marjorie Garber
The young Virginia Woolf encounters Shakespeare’s Cymbeline and gives her opinions.
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Quiz: Family reunions in Shakespeare's plays
Shakespeare’s plays are full of family reunions, among them The Winter’s Tale. See if you can identify the correct characters for each one.
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Excerpt: "The Great White Bard"
Farah Karim-Cooper explores the way that race is represented by Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello, in this excerpt from her new book, The Great White Bard.
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Quiz: Hamlet or Polonius?
Who said it: Hamlet or Polonius? Test your knowledge of these well-known lines from Hamlet.
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Excerpt: "Anne-thology: Poems Re-Presenting Anne Shakespeare"
Read four poems from a newly published collection that marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife.
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Excerpt: "Shakespeare's tutor: The influence of Thomas Kyd"
Learn more about authorship and influence among the playwrights of Shakespeare’s day in this excerpt from a recent book by Darren Freebury-Jones.
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Quiz: Stage directions in Shakespeare plays
“He exits, pursued by a bear.” Take our quiz to match stage directions like this one with the Shakespeare plays in which they appear.
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Excerpt: "King Lear: Shakespeare's Dark Consolations"
“King Lear is about insiders who with terrible suddenness are shoved outside, and what they learn or don’t learn from finding themselves positioned there,” writes Arthur Frank.
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Excerpt: "Shakespeare and University Drama in Early Modern England" by Daniel Blank
Daniel Blank writes about Shakespeare’s presence within the early modern university sphere.
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Quiz: Deaths in Shakespeare plays
Lots of characters die in Shakespeare’s plays, sometimes in quite violent and graphic ways. Test your knowledge by taking our quiz.
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Excerpt: "Shakespeare without a Life" by Margreta de Grazia
Did Shakespeare give much thought to how his works would survive after his death? Margreta de Grazia argues that his sonnets show he did.