Troop Crams 118 Years of Shakespeare Into 2 Months

Show to arrive from London in September

(NEWSER) - Jude Law is Broadway-bound as the prince of Denmark in a production of Hamlet exported from London, the New York Times reports. The show is set for a 12-week run on the Great White Way, with previews starting Sept. 12 and the official opening Oct. 6. Before it arrives Stateside, however, the show will stop at Denmark’s Elsinore Castle. More»

Movie star's Shakespeare turn gets strong notices

(NEWSER) - Jude Law took to the stage last night for the opening performance of Hamlet in London, and newspapers were largely impressed by the actor's take on the melancholy Dane. In the Telegraph, Charles Spencer writes that Law showed "rare vulnerability and emotional openness" in Shakespeare's toughest role. Dressed in black jeans, a worn T-shirt, and often near tears, Law "joins the modern pantheon of spellbinding sweet princes." More»

Concert pianist left skull to theater

(NEWSER) - A concert pianist has appeared on stage in a 22-performance run of Hamlet—26 years after his death. André Tchaikowsky, a Polish Jew who was smuggled out of Warsaw as a child of 7, left his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company upon his death in 1982. It was finally used in the graveyard scene as the unearthed skull of Yorick, the jester, by actor David Tennant, in performances in Stratford, the Times of London reports. More»

(AP) - Archeologists think they have found the theater where Romeo and Juliet debuted and where William Shakespeare himself may have trodden the boards. The possible foundations of what is known as simply "the Theatre" were unearthed by builders excavating the London site—a vacant garage—for another structure. Museum archaeologists were called to the location and had a eureka moment when they noticed the angled walls common in the 16th century. More»

Fans shell out for McGregor's Iago, but it's the Moor who wows

(NEWSER) - The hottest ticket in London is for a production of Othello, starring Ewan McGregor in a 250-seat theater, with the price of tickets hitting $4,000 on the secondary market. Yet the play opened this week to decidedly mixed reviews. While everyone praised Chiwetel Ejiofor as the Moor of Venice, McGregor's Iago has come in for a drubbing, with one critic sniping "I'd be reluctant to part with a tenner for his performance." More»