Four centuries of staging Shakespeare
In order to make Shakespeare’s plays accessible and appealing to audiences, theater practitioners around the world have shaped both the text and the style of production to mirror and speak into their own time and place.
People have used Shakespeare’s plays as a medium for political commentary, incorporated them into other theatrical traditions, and adapted them as films, operas, musicals and other art forms.
Explore the variety of Shakespeare in performance.
Shakespeare's theater
Collection highlights
Edwin Booth as Richard III
This costume was worn by 19th-century actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, for his role as Richard III.
Paul Robeson as Othello
Paul Robeson’s 1943 appearance as Othello had the longest run to that time of any Shakespearean production on Broadway.
Fanny Kemble costume design
This costume design was for popular early 19th-century British actress Fanny Kemble’s role as Desdemona in Othello.
Souvenirs of David Garrick
These images document Shakespearean star David Garrick’s 1753 performance of Romeo and Juliet, from the Folger’s extensive Garrick collection.
Theater history
From the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast
Fiona Ritchie on Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble
We talk to scholar Fiona Ritchie, whose new book, Shakespeare in the Theatre: Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble, details their rise to fame.
Pamela Hutchinson on Asta Nielsen's Hamlet
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 188 In 1921, Asta Nielsen, one of the world’s biggest movie stars, had just formed her own production company, and decided to open it up by playing Hamlet. Plenty of women had done that on the stage…
Black Women Shakespeareans, 1821 – 1960, with Joyce Green MacDonald
Joyce Green MacDonald shares the history of four Black women Shakespeareans who took to the American stage from 1821 – 1960: The African Grove Theatre’s “Miss Welsh,” Henrietta Vinton Davis, Adrienne McNeil Herndon, and Jane White.
The Restoration Reinvention of Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 171 The next time someone complains about a director changing or tampering with Shakespeare… we’ve got an answer for them. The first generation of theater artists after Shakespeare weren’t particularly concerned about performing Shakespeare’s plays the way…
Shakespeare in the Harlem Renaissance, with Freda Scott Giles
Freda Scott Giles tells us how the artists and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance regarded the Bard.
Staging Shakespeare today:
Our interviews with actors
From the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast
Adrian Lester on Playing Rosalind, Henry V, Othello, and Hamlet
Actor Adrian Lester walks us through big moments in his illustrious career, including Cheek by Jowl’s all-male “As You Like It” and Peter Brook’s “Hamlet.”
Patrick Page on King Lear and Shakespeare's Villains
Patrick Page tells us how he gets inside the mind of Lear in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2023 production.
Ian McKellen on Playing Hamlet
Sir Ian McKellen played Hamlet in his thirties, and again in his eighties. He gives us his take on the Melancholy Dane.
Our Shakespeare theater partnership program:
What’s onstage across America
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in April
We take a look at what’s onstage at Shakespeare theaters across the United States.
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in March
Find out what’s happening at Shakespeare theaters across the US this month, including Caesar, Merchant, Macbeth, and more.
What's Onstage at Shakespeare Theaters in February
See what’s onstage at Shakespeare theaters across the United States this month.
Folger Theatre
The award-winning Folger Theatre is a national leader in performance related to Shakespeare’s works.
What's onstage now
About Folger Theatre
Video: Macbeth
Film, opera, musicals, and other adaptations
Bringing Shakespeare’s Macbeth to Operatic Heights
Washington National Opera’s Artistic Director Francesca Zambello interviews director, Brenna Corner, about Verdi’s opera inspired by Macbeth.
Worthy scaffold: The epic intimacy of William Shakespeare
Austin Tichenor writes about movies that feel like plays and theater that feels cinematic.
David West Read on & Juliet
Hit musical & Juliet combines Romeo and Juliet with the songs of pop hitmaker Max Martin. Its writer, Schitt’s Creek writer and executive producer David West Read, tells us about how the idea came to him while he was concussed.
Ian McKellen on Richard III, Macbeth, and Gandalf
Sir Ian McKellen tells us about some of his most famous roles: playing Macbeth opposite Dame Judi Dench, King Richard III with a screenplay he co-wrote, and Gandalf the Grey in The Lord of the Rings films.
Adapting Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra' for opera
Get an insider’s look at adapting a Shakespeare play for opera with this blog post by the dramaturg and libretto consultant for the new John Adams opera of “Antony and Cleopatra.”
John Adams Gives Antony and Cleopatra the Operatic Treatment
Adams talks with host Barbara Bogaev about how he turned a five-act play into a two-act opera—which scenes got the hook, new lines written in the style of the Bard, and what Shakespeare may have thought of the play’s characters.
Q&A: Allan Clayton on playing Hamlet in Brett Dean's opera
Hamlet sings! A new opera version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is onstage now at the Metropolitan Opera, with tenor Allan Clayton resuming the title role that he played for the opera’s world premiere at the Glyndebourne Festival.
Read a play aloud with friends
Character breakouts
Gather some friends to read aloud a Shakespeare play together. Does the character list look too long? To assign roles, use these scene-by-scene breakdowns of 13 popular plays that show which actors should play which characters.