Shakespeare & Beyond

“L’opera senza amore!” That was the Italians’ reaction to Verdi’s Macbeth when it premiered in Florence in 1847. Despite its immediate success and subsequent popularity, an opera that involved no great love affair struck audiences as an oddity.

Shakspere / . 1832. Folger ART Box R167 no.1 (size L)It’s a tantalizing mystery: What was Shakespeare’s inspiration? What was the source of his talent? How on earth did he do what he did? Were his abilities and success the…

In Henry IV, Part 1, Shakespeare created Lady Percy and Lady Mortimer out of the fragments of history, giving them voices that appeal freshly to us today.

Every month, we check in with our theater partners to find out what’s onstage. Here’s what’s happening at Shakespeare theaters in September.

Early versions of Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 1 show its immense popularity and point to Falstaff’s origins as the real-life figure Sir John Oldcastle.

Chimes at Midnight, the 1966 film directed by and starring Orson Welles, constructs a rich, complex, and moving portrait of the larger-than-life Sir John Falstaff, who appears in three of Shakespeare’s plays and is among the best-known characters in all…

The Hostess seems to have been a favorite character from the beginning, ruling the tavern where Prince Hal hangs out with Falstaff. Evidently aware of her popularity with audiences, Shakespeare developed her character further in later plays, where she evolves…

Does this dollhouse copy of Shakespeare’s plays belong to Barbie?

See education in Shakespeare’s day through the eyes of Ben Jonson: learning ABCs and the Lord’s Prayer with hornbooks, and drilling Latin grammar endlessly.

Charles Gounod’s 19th-century opera “Roméo et Juliette” is a love story of heartbreaking tragedy, punctuated by four masterful duets. Matthew Shilvock of San Francisco Opera explains why the work is such a masterpiece.

Star Trek owes a striking thematic and linguistic debt to William Shakespeare, as in classic episodes like “The Conscience of the King” and “The Defector.”

There’s no other character from Shakespeare who has charmed the imaginations of opera composers and librettists more than Sir John Falstaff.