Working for the first time without his brother Ethan, Coen’s film adaptation, featuring Denzel Washington as Macbeth, embraces the text with unusual faithfulness.
Shakespeare
Posted inOpinion
Shakespeare in the Park with an All-Black Cast is Still Played Out
Is it possible to revere the long illustrious history of Shakespeare in the Park, which includes fine Black actors such as James Earl Jones, while also suggesting it may no longer serve a changing city?
Posted inPerformance
Everyone Falls for Everyone in This Operatic Romp Based on Shakespeare
Rather than sticking to a literalistic depiction of the woods of Fairyland, Robert Carsen sets his adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a more symbolic land of beds.
Posted inBooks
A Compendium of Shakespeare’s Plants, from Juliet’s Rose to Ophelia’s Bouquet
The book Botanical Shakespeare, by historian Gerit Quealy with illustrations by Sumié Hasegawa-Collins, compiles the roughly 175 mentions of plants in Shakespeare’s plays.
Posted inArt
A Somber Sculpture of the First Black Actor to Play Othello
When Ira Aldridge took the London stage in 1825, he became the first black actor to portray Shakespeare’s Othello.
Posted inNews
Saved by Shakespeare’s Father, a Series of Medieval Murals Is Finally Restored
A group of wall paintings in Stratford-upon-Avon’s Guild Chapel should have been destroyed in 1563, but John Shakespeare had them covered in limewash instead, preserving them for centuries.
Posted inArt
Actors Have Been Dying to Play the Skeletal Role of Yorick in ‘Hamlet’
Reports last month suggested that the skull of playwright William Shakespeare was no longer in his grave.
Posted inArt
The Poisons, Potions, and Charms of Shakespeare’s Plays
Potions, poisons, and symbolic herbs are frequent plot devices in the plays of William Shakespeare, and reflect the medical knowledge of his time.
Posted inArt
A Theater’s 18th-Century Thunder Run Rumbles Once More
The thunderstorm in the third act of Shakespeare’s King Lear will rumble ominously in the Bristol Old Vic’s production of the play this summer thanks to 18th-century sound effects.
Posted inBooks
How Graphic Designers Around the World Interpret Shakespeare
When the Globe Theatre along London’s River Thames opened in 1599, a flag depicting Hercules hoisting a globe announced the opening of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
Posted inIn Brief
A Digital Re-creation of a Lost 18th-Century Shakespeare Museum
One of the first museums created for the enjoyment of the middle class was the Shakespeare Gallery, opened in 1789 by John Boydell.
Posted inNews
Historian Cracks a Code and Discovers a Possible Portrait of Shakespeare
“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,” William Shakespeare wrote in a stanza from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.