William Shakespeare

Olivier's Blackface Othello

Ben Arogundade | Posted 05.30.2012

Read More: Sir Laurence Olivier, Laurence Olivier, Othello Adaptations, Black Voices Life, William Shakespeare, Blackface-Minstrelsy, Michael Gambon, The Moor of Venice, Shakespeare Plays, Makeup, Othello, Shakespeare, Black Culture, Blackface, Black History, Books News

In the 1965 movie Olivier remained meticulous about the aesthetic preparation that would transform him into the Moor. Despite his studious approach, American critics balked at his blackface portrayal.

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The Glories of Caesar -- Patriotism, Ambition, Corruption

David Behling | Posted 05.25.2012

Read More: Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Contemporary Julius Caesar, Shakespeare Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, College News

Shakespeare's play, however, is more about politics than it is about ancient heroes, about the politics of Rome as the elected government gave way to dictatorship. It's a story about patriotism and corruption, about conspiracies and alliances.

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PHOTOS: Why I Reenacted 2,000 Years Of History

Charlie Schroeder | Posted 05.25.2012

Read More: Historical Reenacting, Renaissance Faire, William Shakespeare, Elizabethan England, Reenactment, Reenactors, Man of War, Acting, Vikings, Romans, Nazis, Slideexpand, Historical Reenactments, Books News

When I was a junior in college I fell in love with Shakespeare. I was determined to become the next Kenneth Branagh--in large part because I wanted to bed his then wife, Emma Thompson. Love of literature can be based on worse things.

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Hot Ice And Wondrous Strange Snow

Tamsin Smith | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Poetry Analysis, Pity the Beautiful, Pity the Beautiful Review, Dana Gioia, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Poetry, William Shakespeare, Arts News

As in life, some packages disappoint. But the ones that deliver on deep delight do so hugely. They are worth waiting for. They are worth savoring. They breathe. They stir. They sing. They linger. Pity the Beautiful is a shining example.

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Globe to Globe: Shakespeare and Going Beyond Understanding

Beth Burns | Posted 05.17.2012

Read More: London Theater, Shakespeare Plays, Globe Theater, Shakespeare, London, William Shakespeare, Culture News

My concerns about missing the most perfect turns of the English language were largely unfounded. The plays are so good, that in the hands of passionate performers they go beyond the need to comprehend the words to get their meaning.

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Theater: Bebe Neuwirth Still Looks Dreamy in "Midsummer"

Michael Giltz | Posted 05.14.2012

Read More: Theater, Classic Stage Company, William Shakespeare, Bebe Neuwirth, Video, NY Around Town, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Culture News

The Classic Stage Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream has an eye-catching set and an eye-catching cast in various stages of undress. But the visage you're most likely to remember is that of the self-assured Neuwirth.

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How Did William Shakespeare Die?

Ben Arogundade | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: William Shakespeare Birthday, Shakespeare Drugs, Books News, Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, Ebooks, Syphilis, William Shakespeare Exhumation, Alcoholism, Typhoid, Shakespeare Alcoholism, Shakespeare Death, Books News

The exact nature of Shakespeare's illness, and subsequent death, remains unknown, and is still the subject of much speculation. Here are the hypotheses currently debated by scholars.

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To Be or not to Be... Hopeful

Graham Milne | Posted 04.30.2012

Read More: Francois Truffaut, Hope, Writing, Optimism, Margaret Thatcher, Albert Camus, Joseph Kony, Zombie Apocalypse, Cliffs Notes, Criticism, Facebook, William Shakespeare, Books News

"If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim." - Margaret Thatcher (great line regardless of whether yo...

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The Week In Art: Cardboard Boxes, Thai Temples And The Bard's Birthday

Posted 04.28.2012

Read More: Video, Week in Art, Paul Cadden, Arts News, William Shakespeare, Panoramic Photo, Thai Buddhist Temple, Shakespeare, Evol, Arts News

This week we saw some crazy art endeavors, whether they involved 24 hours converted into a single photo or drawings that look exactly like photographs...

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New Evidence For Shakespeare's Co-Author

Posted 04.26.2012

Read More: Shakespeare Middleton, Shakespeare Coauthor, Video, Who Wrote Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, Laurie Maguire, Emma Smith, Thomas Middleton, Professor Laurie Maguire, Books News

Two academics from Oxford University claim to have uncovered fairly compelling evidence that Shakespeare didn't work alone. According to a press r...

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Academics Cast New Doubts Over Shakespeare Authorship

The Huffington Post UK | Sam Parker | Posted 04.26.2012

Read More: Video, Shakespeare Conspiracy Theories, Books, William Shakespeare, Theatre, Shakespeare Authorship, Poll, Slidewide, Thomas Middleton, Christopher Marlowe, Books News

Academics at Oxford University believe that William Shakespeare worked with a co-author when writing All's Well That Ends Well. Just days after th...

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Is Othello Really Black?

Ben Arogundade | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: William Shakespeare Birthday, Othello Adaptations, Books News, Books, Shakespeare Adaptations, William Shakespeare, The Moor of Venice, Black History, Othello, Black Theatre, Black Actors, Ebooks, Shakespeare, Books News

William Shakespeare's character Othello is generally regarded as a black African. But is this true? Could he have been an Arab or a Spanish Moor?

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How Shakespeare Teaches Us To Steal

Nicole Galland | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: William Shakespeare Birthday, Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, Books News

We need Shakespeare to teach us how to steal. Nobody steals like William Shakespeare. Not even Steven Spielberg.

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How to Enjoy Reading Shakespeare

Joseph Smigelski | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, William Shakespeare, Al Pacino, Hamlet, Richard III, Shakespeare, Othello, Chaucer, Shakespeare Birthday, Culture News

When you finally meet William Shakespeare on his own turf, his language begins to open new doors in your consciousness.

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Man Performs Shakespeare With 25 Different Voices

Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: There Will Be Blood, History, Video, Clarence, Birthdays, Bard, William Shakespeare, Jim Meskimen, Theater, Community, Richard III, Shakespeare, Arts News

Today marks the approximate birth and death of our friend, William Shakespeare. We would like to mourn the passing of the Great Bard through a silly v...

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Quoting Shakespeare

Arianna Huffington | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Shakespeare Quotes, William Shakespeare Birthday, Shakespeare Plays, Shakespeare Birthday, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Quotations, William Shakespeare, Culture News

The following bit of Shakespearean amusement was concocted by my great friend Bernard Levin. I've decided to post it here so that and all of you can have it to download, print out, e-mail, link to... and enjoy.

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Qantas Returns A380 To Service

Christine Negroni | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Richard De Crespigny, Woody Allen, Trent-900-Engine, Rolls Royce, Qantas, William Shakespeare, Airbus, a380, Travel News

Both Woody Allen and William Shakespeare have words of wisdom regarding the momentous flight today of Qantas Airlines' newly resurrected Airbus A380. Don't believe me? Keep reading.

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Talk Like Shakespeare Day

Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Shakespeare 448th Birthday, Video, Talk Like Shakespeare Day, Shakespeare Death Day, Talk Like Shakespeare Day 2012, William Shakespeare, Talk Like Shakespeare, Slidewide, Shakespeare Birthday, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Day, Culture News

What would happen if we all spoke the way Shakespeare wrote? Would we fall in love more deeply and seek revenge more swiftly? Today just might be the ...

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Name That Play! Put Your Shakespeare Knowledge To The Test

Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Shakespeare Language, William Shakespeare Birthday, Video, Shakespeare Death Day, William Shakespeare, Slidewide, Shakespeare Plays, Shakespeare Birthday, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Quiz, Shakespeares Birthday, Culture News

On this day, April 23, the reported would-be 448th birthday (and death day) of the one and only William Shakespeare, we celebrate The Bard's legacy wi...

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Was Shakespeare A Stoner?

Posted 04.22.2012

Read More: Authors, Shakespeare Was as Stoner, Video, Shakespeare Pothead, William Shakespeare, Francis Thackery, Shakespeare's Pipe, Shakespeare Marijuana, Pot, Was Shakespeare a Stoner, Shakespeare, Weed, Books News

To celebrate Shakespeare's birthday, we're featuring some of our favorite archival pieces about his life and work. This one was first published in Jun...

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Sending the Bard a Birthday Card

George Heymont | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: Alex Rotaru, Richard Dreyfuss, Kevin Spacey, Film, Mare Winningham, Val Kilmer, Shakespeare High, William Shakespeare, William Shakespeare Birthday, Video, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Birthday, Arts News

Not only have Shakespeare's works survived directorial updating and near-villainous tampering with the text, they are still taught in high schools and colleges around the world. What has changed is the wealth of teaching tools now available in the classroom and on the Internet.

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The Most Overused Monologue Ever?

Annemarie Dooling | Posted 04.02.2012

Read More: Juliet Monologue, Video, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, Theatre, Youtube, Plays, Shakespeare Monologues, Culture News

The words of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" might be some of the most frequently quoted monologues ever, but that doesn't stop them from bei...

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Poems: Five Songs of Spring

John Lundberg | Posted 05.25.2012

Read More: Matsuo Basho, William Shakespeare, Poems, Spring, John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Springtime, Poetry, Books News

In his "Ode to Autumn," John Keats somewhat cheekily asks the question, "Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?" Well, spring is back and singing again.

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How Spielberg and Shakespeare Found Their Groove

Todd Klick | Posted 05.18.2012

Read More: Shakespeare Plays, Style Shakespeare, Theater Rhythm, Story Writing Shakespeare, Writing Style Shakespeare, Shakespeare Rhythm, William Shakespeare, Arts News

What, you may ask, does a famous English playwright -- who gained acclaim in London in the early 1600s -- have in common with an American film director who directed his first blockbuster in the 1970s?

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All Hail the Conquering Hero!

George Heymont | Posted 05.12.2012

Read More: Film, Gerard Butler, Jessica Chastain, Coriolanus, Ralph Fiennes, William Shakespeare, Vanessa Redgrave, John Logan, Video, Arts News

Magnificently reconceived and directed by Ralph Fiennes, this new adaptation of Coriolanus uses Shakespeare's language in a tightly condensed screenplay by John Logan that grips the audience by the throat within the film's first 20 seconds and never lets go.

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