Blogging Shakespeare

“England. Be it known that William Shakspere, Francis Langley, Dorothy Soer wife of John Soer, and Anne Lee, for fear of death…”. King’s Bench, Controlment Roll, Michaelmas Term 1596, K.B. 29/234: In the England of 1596 those fearful of “death or mutilations” could appeal to the judicial process to head off a potential attack. In [...]

On the evening of the 17th of November this year, the RSC will perform Redcrosse in Coventry Cathedral. Partly an original arts event, partly a groundbreaking religious service, Redcrosse evolves out of a project I led to evolve a new questing liturgy for England and St George. It was inspired by one of the great [...]

With the array of weird and wonderful performances currently on display at the World Shakespeare Festival, you could be forgiven for thinking that a new, truly unique, and truly unusual adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s plays represents something of an impossibility. Enter Fifth Column Film’s feature-length film, Tempest.     Four years in the making, [...]

When I first read a play by Shakespeare, I was 13 years old. A perfect time to read Romeo and Juliet, being exactly the same age as the heroine. This is just crazy how much different I was back then. I was willing to ‘fight’ not to read Shakespeare, I’d never read him before, but [...]

‘The late afternoon air was unusually soft for Kabul, especially in the garden where we stood. It was a few days after Naw Ruz, the Zoroastrian New year that falls on the first day of spring. Almond trees were in bloom, and their delicate scent was complemented by an angled light sifting over a small [...]

In the run-up to The Ninth World Shakespeare Congress in Prague I posted a selection of blogs from grant winners looking forward to that event. Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting a selection of blogs from some  more of those grant winners.  This week’s contribution comes from Necla Çikigil  who is [...]

In the run-up to The Ninth World Shakespeare Congress in Prague I posted a selection of blogs from grant winners looking forward to that event. Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting a selection of blogs from some  more of those grant winners.  This week’s contribution comes from Christian Smith, who is a [...]

  My friend Bill Barclay has set himself an interesting challenge – that is to read all 118,406 lines of Shakespeare’s complete works ……in public ……. in different locations …… around the world.  He is also writing a blog diary in which he will reflect upon his engagement with Shakespeare’s works over the coming year [...]

In the run-up to The Ninth World Shakespeare Congress in Prague I posted a selection of blogs from grant winners looking forward to that event. Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting a selection of blogs from some  more of those grant winners.  This week’s contribution comes from Tina Krontiris, who is [...]