The Shakespeare & Beyond blog features a wide range of Shakespeare-related topics: the early modern period in which he lived, the ways his plays have been interpreted and staged over the past four centuries, the enduring power of his characters and language, and more.
Shakespeare & Beyond also explores the topics that shape our experience of Shakespeare today: trends in performance, the latest discoveries and scholarship, news stories, pop culture, interesting books, new movies, the rich context of theater and literary history, and more. As the word “beyond” suggests, from time to time Shakespeare & Beyond also covers topics that are not directly linked to Shakespeare.
Buds, Bugs, and Birds in the Manuscripts of Esther Inglis
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Author
Georgianna Ziegler
Flowers, bugs, birds, frogs—all and more are found in the manuscripts of Esther Inglis (1570?–1624) now on display in Little Books, Big Gifts, a special Folger exhibition highlighting her artistry with pen and brush.
“God help the wicked”: Searching for redemption in Shakespeare
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Author
Austin Tichenor
Austin Tichenor explores how the shift of a narrative’s perspective can offer answers to questions about which characters deserve redemption and our forgiveness, from Lear to Iago to Richard III.
In an excerpt from The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV, historian Helen Castor travels back in time to the weeks just before Shakespeare’s play begins.
Erika T. Lin studies early modern holidays and her work has yielded some surprising revelations—not only about the festivities themselves, but about the relationship between holidays and what we now think of as “theater.”
Educator Jocelyn A. Chadwick looks at the opportunities for teaching Shakespeare in today’s classroom, encouraged by GenZ’s passion for connecting literature from the past with their own here and now, bringing in the music, movies, and even ads that shape their world, to create their own unique meaning.
The end of the year brings feasts, celebrations, and family. Our reading list of Folger Book Club picks offers a wide range of ways to reflect on the ties that bind us.
It may not surprise you to hear that Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare’s teenaged play but that might have surprised earlier readers who considered the play adolescent for other reasons.
