William Shakespeare

Wanted: modern takes on a classic group of plays.

Battle the Bard in Shakespeare Remix Competition

$25,000 is on the line—along with some serious bragging rights

Abraham Ortelius created the world's first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, or "Theater of the World," in 1570. Shakespeare, who famously wrote that "all the world's a stage," was doubtless influenced by the maps that flourished during his lifetime.

How Maps Shaped Shakespeare

An exhibition in Boston delves into historical maps to show how the Bard saw the wider world

An archaeologist studies remains of the Curtain theater's foundations.

Shakespeare May Have Tailored "Henry V" for a Specific Theater

Archaeological digs at the Curtain theater suggest it looked very different from the Bard’s usual venues

Portrait thought to be Christopher Marlowe

What to Know About Shakespeare's Newly Credited Collaborator Christopher Marlowe

Textual analysis convinced the editors of <i>The New Oxford Shakespeare</i> to make Marlowe a co-author on the "Henry VI" plays, parts 1, 2 and 3

The Chandos portrait is the only-known painting of Shakespeare made during his lifetime.

Cleaning This Portrait Could Change the Way Historians See Shakespeare

The only portrait of the Bard made while he was alive might be getting touch-ups

Researcher Unearths a Trove of New Shakespeare Documents

Archival papers show the Bard was interested in improving his social status

The Biodiversity Heritage Library has the digitized version of the University of Toronto’s Fisher Library’s copy of Evelyn’s work

Celebrate National Salad Month with Rare and Historic Books that Include Your Favorite Leafy Greens

A Smithsonian librarian journeys through history and time on a quest to explore salads throughout antiquity

King Lear was deemed too dark for its 17th century audiences.

Is There Such a Thing as a “Bad” Shakespeare Play?

More than four hundred years after the Bard’s death, the quality of his works is still a fluid scale

Illustration from Merchant of Venice

Four Hundred Years Later, Scholars Still Debate Whether Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” Is Anti-Semitic

Deconstructing what makes the Bard’s play so problematic

The three volumes of the newly-discovered copy of Shakespeare's First Folio.

A New Copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio Was Found in a Scottish Library

Only a few hundred copies still survive

Kronborg Castle, listed as World Heritage by UNESCO, is known as the setting of William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.

Celebrate Shakespeare’s Legacy at Hamlet’s Castle

Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! A bed awaits at “Elsinore”

Three Things to Know About Judi Dench's Theater Career

The acclaimed actor's career spans decades

Epitaph on William Shakespeare's grave

Did Shakespeare Lose His Head?

Scans of the Bard's grave reveal that robbers may have stolen his skull two centuries ago

Bristol Old Vic artistic director Tom Morris with the thunder run.

A New Production of "King Lear" Features 18th-Century Special Effects

The Bristol Old Vic’s thunder run hasn’t been used since 1942

A First Folio kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, U.K.

Shakespeare’s First Folio Goes on Tour in the U.S.

Rare copies of the tome, containing 36 of the Bard’s plays, will visit every state for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death

These Brave Playwrights Want to Rewrite Shakespeare

“They have been at a great feast of languages, and stol’n the scraps.”

Does this look like a stoner to you?

Did Shakespeare Smoke Pot?

Tobacco pipes in the Bard’s backyard may retain traces of cannabis, but some historians remain skeptical

Orson Welles as Macbeth in the 1948 film with Jeannette Nolan as Lady Macbeth

Listen to 98 hours of Shakespeare’s Poems and Plays Performed by Great Actors

The playlist includes the voices of Edith Evans, Dylan Thomas, Orson Welles and Sir Ian McKellen

Detail from The herball, or, Generall historie of plantes gathered by John Gerarde, purportedly depicting Shakespeare.

Is This a Portrait of Shakespeare? One Historian Says Yes, Many Say No

Many experts doubt whether the engraving found in a 400-year old book is actually the Bard himself

An oil painting dated 1609 that is the portrait engraved by Martin Droeshout for the First Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays published in 1623.

New Research May Solve a Mystery Behind Shakespeare’s Sonnets

The first printing of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets was dedicated to a “Mr. WH”—has a scholar finally identified him?

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