Shakespeare & Beyond

“The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World” by Margaret Cavendish has been called the first science-fiction novel written by a woman. Learn more about this book, which is part of the Folger collection.

Every month, we share a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance around America. What plays are onstage this month? We check in with our theater partners.

We asked our followers on social media to share their favorite stagings of the “statue scene” from “The Winter’s Tale” with the hashtag #ImaginingShakespeare. 

Spoiler alert: something magical happens in the last scene of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale.” We dug into the Folger collection to explore.

What makes “The Winter’s Tale” so compelling? Folger Director Michael Witmore shares spoiler-free insights about this Shakespeare play in three short videos.

Lue Morgan Douthit shares the backstory of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Play on! project and how the idea of translating Shakespeare’s plays first took shape.

Laurence Olivier’s film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” during World War II was only the third Shakespeare film ever to receive Oscar recognition.

Black actor J.A. Arneaux starred as the title character in the Astor Place Company’s production of Richard III and published his own 19th-century edition.

Austin Tichenor writes about Abraham Lincoln, whose wit combined reflection with self-deprecation, and the role of a Fool in Shakespeare plays.

Every month, we share a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance around America. What plays are onstage this month? We check in with our theater partners Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Atlanta Shakespeare Company at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse, Brave Spirits Theatre,…

Celebrate Black History Month with five books and one essay about race in early modern Europe and in Shakespeare’s plays.

What does Shakespeare tell us of love? The plays provide us with a wealth of wooing and wedding, and many examples of what not to do.