The ‘divine right of kings’ may sound obsolete, but it has resonances today. Richard II asks what it means to have power, to take power – and what we’re left with when it’s gone.
Articles on Shakespeare
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There is an interesting new story emerging about the lengths of speeches in early modern plays. In the space of five years there was a dramatic shift in style – and it wasn’t just Shakespeare.
Worrying environmental issues dominated the time of William Shakespeare as they do now, from depleted fish stocks and food shortages, to overpopulation and animal exploitation.
In the late 16th century, new mathematical concepts were transforming perceptions of the world. Shakespeare’s plays helped audiences to process these changes.
Without the First Folio, the canon of Shakespeare’s plays would have decisively shifted.
Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life is a ‘bible’ for scholars, voted a top 10 book of the 20th century. It also fascinated general readers, as a guide to social manners.
The Globe has used both its theatres in tandem for a single production, for the first time in its history.
Do the show’s fans secretly identify with the characters’ pursuit of power and pleasure?
Shakespeare’s Conrad is now an ambitious ‘story producer’. With an eye over all the ‘Nothing Island’ action, he seeds rumours that bloom into reality TV gold.
In the First Folio, 18 of Shakespeare’s plays were published for the first time. With its appeals to patronage and commerce, and praise of his wit, this iconic book preserved the playwright’s genius.
Calls to decolonise curricula overlook the many ways in which Shakespeare’s plays are constantly being reinterpreted and revitalised in performance.
Predictions of the death of romantic comedy have been repeated over time. But it has been with us since before Shakespeare and is still very much alive and in constant transformation.
Originally from Richard III, the phrase was used by a power-hungry autocrat who preferred chaos over peace.
The Sydney Theatre Company’s production is beautiful and affecting – but it presents a Shakespeare we wish we had, rather than the one we do.
Swift, like all writers, draws from her literary forebears to craft new works.
Ghosts aren’t just the domain of fiction or trick-or-treating. Hauntology is a philosophical concept that embraces ghosts.
Shakespeare often portrayed crises of legitimacy and reflected on the politics of his day but the Tories might not fare so well in a modern production.
Behind the recent row over money for a school Shakespeare festival lies the bigger problem of theatre funding in general. Establishing a genuine national theatre could be the solution.
Stephen Frears’ film is adding to the furore surrounding Richard III, England’s most controversial king. New research examines what prompts such ferocious debate.
Going out of your way to get grossed out might seem like a contradiction of human nature. But it serves a strong evolutionary purpose.
Top contributors
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Lecturer in English, Australian National University
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Lecturer in English and Writing, University of Sydney
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Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London
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Tomlinson Professor of Shakespeare Studies, McGill University
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Rachel Hadas is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of English, Rutgers University - Newark
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Leverhulme Early Career Reseach Fellow, University of Warwick
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Professor of English, University of Newcastle
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Professor in English Literature and Cultural Studies, University of Southern Queensland
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Honorary Associate in Creative Writing, The Open University
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Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama, The University of Melbourne
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Associate professor, University of the Witwatersrand
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Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Birmingham
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Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University
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Research assistant, Empire, Migration and Belonging, University of Oxford
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Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Sydney