Skip to main content
Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare & Beyond

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.

5 things to look for when you watch "As You Like It"
Shakespeare and Beyond

5 things to look for when you watch "As You Like It"

Posted
Author
Ben Lauer

What should you watch for in a production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It?” We asked some friends what they look for in this classic play.

Masters of borrowing: Links between Shakespeare and Game of Thrones
Titus Andronicus
Shakespeare and Beyond

Masters of borrowing: Links between Shakespeare and Game of Thrones

Posted
Author
Kate Long

If you’re a fan of “Game of Thrones” or “A Song of Ice and Fire,” you may have noticed some echoes from Shakespeare’s plays.

Influences for Love's Labor's Lost: Contemporary texts and historical figures
Hunting scene with Elizabeth
Shakespeare and Beyond

Influences for Love's Labor's Lost: Contemporary texts and historical figures

Posted
Author
emma poltrack

Love’s Labor’s Lost is one of three Shakespeare plays without a primary source (the others being A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest), but that doesn’t mean it was created in a vacuum. Using four items from the Folger collection,…

Elizabeth I and the Qing Empress Xiaozhuang
Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I and Empress Xiaozhuang
Shakespeare and Beyond

Elizabeth I and the Qing Empress Xiaozhuang

Posted
Author
Georgianna Ziegler

Like Elizabeth, Xiaozhuang was a woman with intellectual and political interests, attaining the powerful position of Empress Dowager in Qing China.

Quiz: Shakespeare's Mothers
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: Shakespeare's Mothers

Posted
Author
Ben Lauer

There are more moms in Shakespeare’s plays than you might think. Take our quiz and see how well you know the mothers of Shakespeare.

Excerpt - The Assassin of Verona by Benet Brandreth
The Assassin of Verona
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt - The Assassin of Verona by Benet Brandreth

Posted
Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

In Benet Brandreth’s historical thriller “The Assassin of Verona,” William Shakespeare is disguised as a steward to the English ambassador in 1586 Venice.

Excerpt - Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett
Miranda in Milan book cover
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt - Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett

Posted
Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

What happens after “The Tempest” ends? “Miranda in Milan,” Katharine Duckett’s debut novel, picks up where Shakespeare’s play leaves off.

Play on! Octavio Solis on translating ‘Edward III’
Shakespeare and Beyond

Play on! Octavio Solis on translating ‘Edward III’

Posted
Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

“The whole construction of the story is supported by a single theme: the value of a man’s word,” Octavio Solis writes about “Edward III,” which he translated for the Play on! project.

John Barrymore: A bridge to Shakespearean actors past
Photograph of John Barrymore as Hamlet
Shakespeare and Beyond

John Barrymore: A bridge to Shakespearean actors past

Posted
Author
Austin Tichenor

John Barrymore is sometimes passed over in the lists of great Shakespeare actors, but he was an important transitional figure in our understanding of the evolution of Shakespearean performance styles, writes Austin Tichenor.

Drawing Shakespeare: Hamlet
drawing of Hamlet bas relief on Folger Shakespeare Library building exterior
Shakespeare and Beyond

Drawing Shakespeare: Hamlet

Posted
Author
Paul Glenshaw

In this Folger bas-relief, sculptor John Gregory shows Hamlet facing the sources of his torment: his father’s murder and his mother’s betrayal.

Tastes of the Mediterranean: Italian food before Italy
Woodblock print illustrating the proper set up of a kitchen
Shakespeare and Beyond

Tastes of the Mediterranean: Italian food before Italy

Posted
Author
Elisa Tersigni

Italian regions share a culinary history that is rooted in the ingredients, tastes, and techniques that came out of early-modern innovations, explorations, and cultural movements.

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in April
Shakespeare and Beyond

What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in April

Posted
Author
Ben Lauer

Shakespeare was born on April 23, which makes April the perfect month to catch one of his plays at a theater near you. We checked in with some of our theater partners to find out what they have onstage.

1 41 42 43 44 45 74