The State of Shakespeare

Romeo & Juliet; Act 3, Scene 2 JulietOctober 24, 2023 Canadian actor Sara Topham met Shakespeare’s Juliet when she was just seventeen and facing the premature overthrow of a promising career.  This could be a story about how a star-crossed young dancer became one of the most accomplished classical stage actors of her generation.  Or it could be a masterclass in respecting Shakespeare’s verse.  Or...

Hamlet; Act 2, Scene 2 HamletSeptember 29, 2023 Marquis D. Gibson's Broadway debut was as sudden as it was spectacular. Appearing in the Hamlet inspired Fat Ham, Marquis played the Hamlet character wrestling with a lot of different big questions. For Marquis, it came down to truth, connection and a big dose of relationship. What a piece of work is a man, indeed. Click here to follow along with the...

Unrehearsed: A Midsummer Night's Dream The Barefoot Shakespeare CompanyAugust 29, 2023 Memorizing lines comes quickly for Andrew J. Dunn. Putting the fun back in theater is what he is all about, which is why he agreed to produce, publicize and act in the Unrehearsed Midsummer Night's Dream by the Barefoot Shakespeare Company. He even referees in what is called an event "for Sports Fans!" where the...

Love's Labor's Lost The Hudson Valley Shakespeare FestivalJuly 12, 2023 (Photo by John Nordell/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images) Ask Amanda Dehnert what she does for a living, and she’ll laughingly say she “imagines things.”  As a visionary theatre creator, she has worked with some of the most exciting theatre companies to emerge over the last 25 years.  Ms. Dehnert brings her unique...

Hamlet; Act 2, Scene 2 HamletMay 26, 2023 When it comes to Shakespeare's secrets, "meaning" and "sense" stand separate, yet actors must master both. So asserts Dakin Matthews: actor extraordinaire, seasoned stage savant of 250+ productions, and the scribe behind Shakespeare Spoken Here. Delving daringly into Hamlet's "Is it not monstrous..." soliloquy (Act II, scene 2), Daikin declares that in the...

The Winter's Tale; Act 3, Scene 2 HermioneMarch 23, 2023 Photo: Jenny Graham. Photo: Jenny Graham. For Miriam Laube, 16 is a magic number. 16 years at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and 16 years away from court in Winter's Tale (for her featured character, Hermione). With a dash of humor and a fierce sense of self, Miriam has breathed life into countless Shakespeare characters both on stage and throu...

Hamlet; Act 3, Scene 1 HamletFebruary 28, 2023 Drop in!   All Chukwudi Iwuji needs is the language, how the words resonate in him, their sounds and meanings and rhythms. Using these, how is he affecting the listener?  When you listen, you will know. Click here to follow along with the text. Click here for a First Folio version of the text.

Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 4, Scene 1 BottomJanuary 27, 2023 What does it mean to be “smartly stupid,” and how might this approach help an actor reveal delightfully unexpected moments in well-worn texts?  Ian Gould credits his training at the Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy in Washington DC for this technique, which he demonstrates in his fresh take on “Bottom’s Dream” from A Midsummer Night...

Shakespeare's Sceptered Isle November 30, 2022 What did it mean to be “English” in Shakespeare’s day?   How may Shakespeare’s most patriotic play, Henry V, have shaped notions of English identity ever since?  Brian Carroll’s new book, Shakespeare’s Sceptered Isle: Finding English National Identity in the Plays examines hints in Shakespeare’s text about what his audiences might have thought being “...

Julius Caesar; Act 2, Scene 1 Brutus October 11, 2022 With double digit years at a trio of theaters, Lynn Robert Berg is on the move. The self-proclaimed character actor has moved from intern to company leader with a skill set most actors would kill for (especially after listening to his reading of Brutus’ bloody-minded monologue from Julius Caesar.). A man of many hats, Lynn Robert Berg delights...

Romeo and Juliet; Act 3, Scene 5 Romeo and Juliet August 23, 2022 After a lifetime in the theatre, what does Shakespeare still have to teach us about life and love? Long-time stage veterans (and real-life couple0 Nance Williamson and Kurt Rhoads take on the titular roles in Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s “age-blind” production of Romeo and Juliet.   Having shared the stage together in sevent...

The Book of Will Colorado Shakespeare FestivalAugust 1, 2022 Who were the men and women who miraculously rescued half of Shakespeare’s plays from being lost forever – and what mystery, tragedy, romance, and drama raged around them as they struggled against greed, politics and their own mortality in order to grant immortality to a few precious words?   Kevin Rich and the Colorado Shakespeare Festiv...

Twelfth Night Act 1, Scene 5July 8, 2022 PHOTO CREDIT - Richard Termine PHOTO CREDIT - Richard Termine Something special is happening in Harlem. The Classical Theater of Harlem is bringing its unique brand of Shakespeare to Marcus Garvey Park. Associate Artistic Director Carl Cofield is directing an Afro-Futuristic version of Twelfth Night - complete with VR and the ambient sounds of NYC. Carl sto...

Val Winkelman and John Dodd June 18, 2022 In Texas, when something delightful has been marinating for 36 years, you know you’re in for a treat. The Texas Shakespeare Festival has been a staple of East Texas since the 1980's. For five decades, TSF’s own John Dodd and Val Winkelman have helped to feed (literally) and nurture hundreds of theatre artists. They share advice, anecdotes and a who's who o...

Aili Huber and Toby Malone Cutting Plays for PerformanceMay 16, 2022 Was this the kindest cut of all?  It began as a friendly argument between fellow Shakespeareans,  Aili Huber and Toby Malone, about how to trim the text of Richard III.  They've since collaborated on a book and website with tools and hints to how to cut Shakespeare effectively.  With a dose of humor and a dollop of wisdom, Cuttin...

Henry V: Act 1, Scene 2King HenryMarch 28, 2022 Named for the rowdy Jacobean playhouse that illegally performed plays in England during the years of Puritan rule, the Red Bull Theater is breaking barriers. Using one of Henry V's speeches, Associate Artistic Director Nathan Winkelstein reveals the power of Shakespeare and other plays of heightened language to deepen our understanding of the human c...

Teenage DickFebruary 23, 2022 What happens if you plunk down Richard III in a modern day High School? You get Teenage Dick. Teenage Dick, Written by Mike Lew, was commissioned and developed by Gregg Mozgala's own theater company, The Apothetae, which is dedicated to productions that illuminate the disabled experience. “Exhilarating. It suggests how much richer the theater will be when it is truly...

The Untitled Othello ProjectJanuary 27, 2022 What is the Untitled Othello Project?  According to Keith Hamilton Cobb, the award-winning playwright who is the driving force behind the ensemble-based “adventure in theatre-making”, it’s much more than a deep and sustained exploration of Shakespeare’s text, it’s an “exercise in creative justice.” With this project, Keith is not just tackling Shakespea...

The Tragedy of MacbethAct 5, Scene 5December 10, 2021 Paul Alan Ruben has a sense for the feeling of a piece. The Grammy award winning director has finally turned his sense to Shakespeare. With Scott Brick in the title role, he has created the audiobook of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Creating this piece was a delicate balancing act between director, actor and microphone. Especially given that they wer...

Albert's Adventures in Willy WorldNovelSeptember 30, 2021 Prolific author, and two time guest, Scott Kaiser returns to tease his latest book, Albert’s Adventures in Willy World.  It’s a detective story that pokes fun at the “Shakespeare Industry”, set in a fictional wonderland which may seem oddly familiar to friends of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where Scott spent 28 seasons. 

Henry VI, Part 3: Act 3, Scene 2GloucesterAugust 25, 2021 Why Shakespeare? Jeffrey Wilson, the author of the book Shakespeare and Trump, explores this question in depth, centering on the character of Richard III. Why is evil so exciting and good so boring? Is deformity a sign of his evil or is the deformity and social stigma the cause of it? We explore the textual, ethical, interpretive problems t...

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 3, Scene 1BottomJuly 18, 2021 Live theatre is back!  Our guest, Patrick Harvey, is a member of the inaugural cast of the Connecticut Shakespeare Festival.  He’s playing Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Hartford’s Playhouse on Park.  In this interview, Patrick shares why he especially loves playing characters who speak in prose – hint: it’s not all about the ver...

Titus Andronicus: Act 1, Scene 4TamoraJune 28, 2021 Kamilah Long, the Managing Director of Play On Shakespeare, is a force of nature. Growing up in Alabama, she discovered Shakespeare and has never looked back. Kamilah has big plans for Play On Shakespeare and performs Tamora from Titus Andronicus. If you have doubts about the Play On Project, Kamilah goes a long way to dispelling them. Click here...

Twelfth Night: Act 5, Scene 1ViolaMay 30, 2021 The Folger Shakespeare Library stands in a prominent place in our nation’s capital.  Since its founding, the building, its architecture, contents, and programming have been thoughtfully curated with this in mind.  Dr. Michael Witmore, Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, reveals how Shakespeare’s works influenced our nation’s founders and helpe...

Who better to ask what Shakespeare can teach us about the turbulent times we are living in than Barry Edelstein - the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theater in San Diego and one of the foremost producers and directors of Shakespeare working today?