Elves and Fairies, illustration for The Tempest wikiart.org/en/edmund-dula… #artnouveau #dulac

If anyone is interested in lending me your ears & listening to me talk about Shakespeare/ Ben Jonson/ Dryden/ my all-time favourite, St Robert Southwell, do have a look at @Paideia_Forum in which I have a lecture series coming up next month!

Michael Lewis describes the 1987 London hurricane with a reference to The Tempest in his book Liar's Poker. (NB Although Caliban does plenty of howling in the play, it's actually Ariel who, at Prospero's command, unleashes and directs the storm)

It's 1587, just a few short years before Shakespeare's first plays are performed on the London stage. And in the wider world, momentous events are taking place.

My students are picking a sonnet to memorize next month. Student: “How many sonnets did Shakespeare write?” Me: “Over 150!” Student: “Wow, he must’ve been really bored!” Me: …

'St Crispin's Day' is certainly a candidate for Shakespeare's greatest speech...

“Good strong hair,’ he was fond of saying, ‘means there’s a good strong brain underneath.’ ‘Like Shakespeare,’ Matilda had once said to him. ‘ ‘Like who?’ ‘Shakespeare, Daddy.’ ‘Was he brainy?’ ‘Very, Daddy.’ ‘He had masses of hair, did he?’ ‘He was bald, Daddy.’

Today I have been allowed to go to the school trip to see Macbeth and the Globe. I am not sure I can stand for that long and may disappear to the bar. (This is a joke - it is not a joke).

Sarah Bernhardt in 1881 graces the cover of the Sunday Times magazine (1971) as an example of a ‘sexy’ Lady Macbeth, two centuries of the Scottish play inside, and a feature on the new (daring for its day) Polanski film starring Jon Finch and Francesca Annis (born #OTD in 1945)

What a piece of work is a man. Happy Birthday to Sir Ian McKellen, born #OTD in 1939. Unsurpassed in breadth, intensity and empathy, on film or on the boards. Hamlet at Leeds in 1971 – I thought he’d go quite far.

I get my news from the only reliable source, cryptic symbolism in the works of Shakespeare

Memorable '70s theatrical murder mystery (with exploitation horror elements). Contains a 3-D flashback sequence where an actor playing Othello murders his wife and her lover – needless to say they are playing Desdemona and Cassio.

Shorter version of The Merchant of Venice where Shylock agrees to settle out of court for a pound of fish.

Humming some of this music to myself, I was literally singing from the same book as Anne Boleyn. Only time separating us, I have never felt closer to the musical life of this endlessly fascinating lady. And so my mission to immerse myself in Anne Boleyn’s world continues!

Could you be our new Gardener? Exceptional opportunity to work in the gardens of the five Shakespeare family homes in Stratford-upon-Avon For more information and to apply, go to our jobs website: jobs.shakespeare.org.uk Closes 10 July 2022 #ShakespeareJobs #Gardener

Someone remind Goneril to send Dad a card.

For a text, auto spell turned Comedy of Errors into Comedy of Errands. That pretty much sums up my day.

Fancy a peek inside our Cockpit theatre? The first look is here! 😍 What a view! 📸 - Andrew Brooks

This regenerative farming project in Monmouthshire brings to mind the line from Henry V: "The Welshmen did good service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps..." ourfood1200.wales

Glorious glorious Hall’s Croft in the sunshine - my favourite of the Shakespeare family homes and a little piece of tranquility in the Stratford summer season! ☀️ #ShakespeareBT