Shakespeare & Beyond

This excerpt from Ayanna Thompson’s book explores Peter Sellars’s “uniquely American take on William Shakespeare” and his 1980 production of King Lear.

The Folger collection contains a number of prompt books from Shakespeare Under the Stars productions, which were gifts from Arthur Lithgow.

What kind of father was Shakespeare? The fathers he portrays in his plays don’t always come off looking so good, but he also explores parental regret.

Restoration Shakespeare was a complex theatrical experience that integrated song, music, dance, and acting; indeed, music and dance, alongside stage machines and movable scenes, were central to the success of Restoration theatre more generally.

We revisit an essay about Shakespeare and Shaw from the 1994 Folger exhibition “Roasting the Swan of Avon: Shakespeare’s Redoubtable Enemies and Dubious Friends.”

Explore a set of early 19th-century watercolor portraits of Shakespearean heroines in the Folger collection.

Playwright Caridad Svich writes how ‘Henry VIII’ oscillates between characters’ desire for power, on the one hand, and forgiveness, on the other.

Austin Tichenor explores the character complexities of Hero in Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and how to address her reconciliation with Claudio.

Each month, we bring you a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance across America. What’s onstage this May? Find out.

Stephen Greenblatt discusses and reads short excerpts from his new book, “Tyrant,” which looks at how Shakespeare portrayed political leaders in his plays.

See illustrations and costume designs by surrealist Salvador Dalí in the Folger Shakespeare Library collection for plays like “The Taming of the Shrew.”

What did William Shakespeare think of marriage, based on how he wrote about it in his plays and what we know about his union with Anne Hathaway?