The myth of the solitary genius of Dylan and Shakespeare
Are Bob Dylan and William Shakespeare truly solitary geniuses given what collaborative art forms music and theater are? A look at how A Complete Unknown and Shakespeare in Love depict young genius on the rise.
How popular was Shakespeare in his day?
In an excerpt from a classic Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episode, Emma Smith explores a fascinating question: how popular was Shakespeare in his lifetime?
Excerpt: "Shakespeare's House"
“When it came to Elizabethan furniture, you could never be completely certain that it wasn’t bewitched,” writes Richard Schoch.
Shakespeare's birthplace: Embellishing an ordinary home
Richard Schoch examines the first published image of William Shakespeare’s birthplace from 1769, reflecting on the transformation of a humble home into a significant tourist site in Stratford-upon-Avon.
"Painter’s art": Biofictional perspectives on Shakespeare
Austin Tichenor as William Shakespeare in William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), Folger Theatre, 2016. Photo by Teresa Wood. Depictions of William Shakespeare in fictional works are animated by the same impulse behind fanfiction — to fill in the…
Shakespeare and marriage, in his plays and in his own life
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?