Blogging Shakespeare

This week I turn my attention to Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. This  comedy is based on a real king written about by Holinshed and also by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his  “The history of the kings of Britain”.  By all accounts Cymbeline was a fair and just king, although he does not appear to have and any […]

I chaired the British Shakespeare Association’s Annual General Meeting last week. Once again, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust kindly hosted the event, which was followed by an excellent evening of discussion led by Paul Edmondson with Eric Rasmussen, Peter Kirwan, and John Jowett. AGMs are rarely thrilling occasions, but this AGM was notable for two presentations: […]

I was recently in China where I attended the International Shakespeare Forum in Shanghai. It was an extraordinary experience in many ways, full of lively exchanges and dialogue. Throughout my visit I was struck time and again by the level of enthusiasm and commitment shown to Shakespeare Studies and performance by those I spent time […]

Next in my series on Shakespeare’s sources is Henry V early in the tale of king Henry Shakespeare gives his audience a chance to see the king deal out his justice as he deals with three potential assassins; the Earl of Cambridge, Lord Scrope and sir Thomas Grey. As with many of Shakespeare’s history plays […]

I thought you might like to see this guest-post by Edward Pettit, who has been leading his own authorship campaign and speaking up for Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon…. I had always been aware of the Shakespeare authorship conspiracy, but always felt it was such a weird little fringe movement that I needn’t pay it any mind. […]

Paul Edmondson and I gave a talk at Shakespeare’s Globe recently on Shakespeare’s sonnets and the senses. We shall probably blog about it all before long, but in the meantime here are a few thoughts about Shakespeare and sight which didn’t go into our talk. Shakespeare’s writings are packed with references to the value of […]

Continuing my series on Shakespeare’s sources I turn my attention to King John and the mystery of the death of Prince Arthur. In Shakespeare’s play Arthur’s death is not mysterious at all. In what can be staged as a very dramatic moment the boy throws himself from the battlements with the final cry of ”Heaven […]

For one day Anonymous Venetian was neither the heart-rending film with Tony Musante and Florinda Bolkan nor one of Donna Leon’s great mysteries, but the premiere of Roland Emmerich’s anti-Shakespearian would-be blockbuster. Ca’Foscari University of Venice was given the privilege of the first Italian showing, and the house Shakespearians volunteered a round-table on the authorship […]

As readers of this blog know, we’ve been busily working on a new on-line course called Getting to Know Shakespeare. It’s been produced and built by my friends and colleagues at The LaC and is sponsored by The Arden Shakespeare. The course is all up and running – it’s FREE! – and you can sign […]

Earlier in the week, Professor Graham Holderness came to The Shakespeare Centre to talk about his new book, Nine Lives of William Shakespeare. It’s a fascinating approach to the challenges of Shakespearian biography. Each section includes a short story in response to the historical evidence and the kinds of story that have been made from […]