Blogging Shakespeare

In an anniversary spring which marks 450 years of Shakespeare’s birth, there’s always the possibility of Paris… The following is from Yan Brailowsky who teaches at the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (Paris X): ‘The Société Française Shakespeare is preparing to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth with an international conference, “Shakespeare […]

In June 2013, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust re-launched its app, Eye Shakespeare, with a unique new feature: the ability to take a picture of Shakespeare anywhere in the world. The Trust is encouraging lovers of Shakespeare to demonstrate his global appeal by photographing the poet in some of the world’s most iconic locations. Eye Shakespeare […]

The Tempest Lit Moon Theatre Company, Santa Barbara, USA Director: John Blondell Review by Randall Martin The gritty basement storage area of the Bitola National Theatre looked like a good space for some rough magic. Floor-to-ceiling v-shaped support-beams, with hanging knotted ropes and swinging poles, suggested the deck of a ship or a New World […]

ROMEO AND JULIET Vera Komissarzhevskaya Theatre, St Petersburg, Russia National Theatre Bitola, Macedonia Director Dejan Projkovski Review by Randall Martin This was a bilingual Macedonian and Russian production of Romeo and Juliet performed by the Vera Komissarzhevskaya Theatre, St Petersburg and the National Theatre Bitola. The 850-seat theatre – the largest of the National Theatre’s […]

Henry VI Part Three National Theatre Bitola, Macedonia Director: John Blondell Review by Randall Martin What does it feel like to watch Shakespeare’s darkest story of civil war in a region whose past and recent history has been written by endemic conflict? Bitola’s Henry VI Part Three gave an affective answer. When I saw this […]

National Theatre of China, Beijing Director: Wang Xiaoying     The expectant audience for the Bitola Festival’s Richard III had been brought up to speed by Henry VI Parts One and Three earlier in the week (the scheduled production of Part Two from Tirana was unable to come at the last moment). But even if […]

Hello everyone! After my last posting about judicial combat in Shakespeare’s comedies, a user commented that: “Imagining how Shakespeare learnt swordplay is as difficult as imagining how he became knowledgeable in the law, science, medicine, etc.” This user did raise a good point,. so  I’ve devoted this entry to explaining how Shakespeare could have learned […]

Wendy Cope O.B.E. took up her post as The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s Writer in Residence about a month ago. She’s been living nearby in a beautiful cottage that belongs to The Hosking Houses Trust for women writers. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust commissioned her to write three poems as part of its 60th Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival. […]