Blogging Shakespeare

Yesterday I attended the Current Archaeology Live! Conference at The British Museum. Kevin Colls and Will Mitchell of Birmingham Archaeology who are leading our Dig for Shakespeare were doing a presentation about the project. I was on hand in my capacity as Chair of the Academic Advisory Panel for Dig for Shakespeare, and in case […]

Normally the staff in the bookshop are civil with one another, but workplace etiquette degenerated into insult-slinging today when Roxanne and Matt got into a bit of a tiff over which was the best Shakespearean put-down. To bolster their argument, they quickly had recourse to The Bard’s Guide to Abuses and Affronts, with the following […]

In the theatre, and perhaps in the collective imagination – Romeos tend to be tall, dark, and handsome – smouldering Veronese poster-boys no less.  Of course, some Romeos are a little less tall, and a little less handsome, but on the whole there is a certain ‘look’ that goes with the role of the “star-crossed”  […]

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust owns many works of art of various kinds – paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, engraved glass, and so on. I’ve just returned from the opening of a Shakespeare portrait exhibition at the Morgan Library in New York, for which we loaned two items. I thought it might be of interest to tell […]

One of the things which I find most interesting about Shakespeare is the way in which he adapted historical and literary sources to inform his own works. Because the idea of intellectual ownership was so different in Shakespeare’s day he makes no effort to conceal the borrowings he makes. Most of Shakespeare’s plays have some […]

Human emotion and political intrigue crackle through Richard II. History, politics, and feeling are all made vibrant by its rich poetic dynamic.   It is not surprising that Sir John Gielgud felt strongly that actors should be cast in this play on account of their different vocal qualities. Long stretches of Richard II require sustained […]

The 2011 Lunchtime Lecture series at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust got underway last Wednesday, 16 February, with a talk by John Astington about his new book Actors and Acting in Shakespeare’s Time. Giving a general overview of his book, with a brief summary of each chapter, his lecture style was in keeping with that of […]

A Tribute to PROFESSOR CHEE SENG LIM (Sultan Idris University, Malaysia) (by Professor Sukanta Chaudhuri – International Shakespeare Association, Executive Committee) The death of Chee Seng Lim is a great blow to Shakespeare studies in Malaysia and the world. It is also a deep personal loss to very many academics in many countries. For three […]

In New York last week I had the unusual and fascinating experience of sitting for my portrait bust. The artist is Greg Wyatt, a distinguished sculptor whose many remarkable works include the Shakespeare-inspired sculptures commissioned for the Great Garden of Shakespeare’s home, New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon. Other works by him adorn many public buildings in America […]

Hamlet, the Danish Prince we all seem to know a little about. The enigmatic figure we love to try and understand, whether you think he is a sullen teenager who should get  over himself or a lost soul who needs love and comfort, Hamlet is a character who endures in our imaginations. It has been […]