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December 3, 2008 12:49:37 PM CST

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William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare news stories

10 Stories

 Pianist's Skull 
 Steals Hamlet Scene 

Concert pianist left skull to theater

Times Literary Supplement Nov 26, 08 9:24 AM CST
(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 »

More about:  theater • William Shakespeare • Royal Shakespeare Company • skull

MOVIE REVIEW

 Demented Hamlet 2's the Thing

The play's the thing in deranged spoof of high school musicals

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes Aug 27, 08 11:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hamlet 2 may not put the Bard out of business but it's not lacking for invention, critics say. The "genuinely bizarre and frequently hilarious comedy" follows the outrageous fortunes of a failed actor turned high-school drama teacher who tries to pen a Hamlet sequel, Rafer Guzman writes in Newsday . More »

More about:  movie • movie review • comedy • William Shakespeare

 Early Shakespeare 
 Theater Discovered


Associated Press Associated Press Aug 6, 08 8:37 PM CDT
(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 »

More about:  London • theater • William Shakespeare • archeology

Bard-Working Librarians Help Nab Book Thief

Shakespeare folio stolen in England surfaces in Washington

Washington Post Washington Post Jul 11, 08 4:29 PM CDT
(Newser) - Quick-thinking librarians have helped recover a valuable book of Shakespeare's works stolen from a British university 10 years ago, the Washington Post reports. A man who arrived unannounced at Washington's Folger Shakespeare Library with a copy of the 1623 First Folio set off "alarm bells" with his tale of the $2.5 million volume's provenance, says a library official. More »

More about:  literature • theft • William Shakespeare

ANALYSIS

 Federer's Grass
 Now Nadal's
 Shade of
 Green 

Victories in French, Wimbledon finals give Spaniard upper hand—if not No. 1 ranking

ESPN ESPN Jul 7, 08 11:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - A year meant to land Roger Federer in the record books, surpassing Pete Samparas’ Grand Slam total, has instead left Sandra Harwitt, writing on ESPN.com, wondering if the 12-time winner remains the game’s top player. After their epic Wimbledon final, it’s abundantly clear Rafael Nadal “continues to have his number,” and Federer’s 2008 date with destiny is instead “a year he’ll prefer to forget.” More »

More about:  tennis • Roger Federer • Rafael Nadal • Wimbledon • William Shakespeare • Pete Sampras

 Is Something
 Rotten in
 the Bard's
 Works? 

Debate over who really wrote Shakespeare's plays rages on

NPR NPR Jul 6, 08 12:37 PM CDT
(Newser) - Did William Shakespeare really write the plays attributed to him? The question remains the subject of an intense academic debate, NPR reports. Those who doubt the “man from Stratford” penned his plays point to a lame rhyming epitaph on the supposed bard’s headstone, and to lack of documents tying him to his works—or even suggesting he was a writer. More »

More about:  literature • theater • William Shakespeare • play • academics • skeptics

Troop Crams 118 Years of Shakespeare Into 2 Months

RSC mounts all 8 history plays with one cast in London

Bloomberg Bloomberg Apr 4, 08 10:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - Shakespeare's eight history plays cover 118 years of English royal succession, but one troop of actors is going to present the entire span in just two months. The Royal Shakespeare Company has decamped from Stratford-upon-Avon to London, where they are mounting all the plays in repertory on a single set. Bloomberg reports on the unprecedented project, which calls on a cast of 34 to master 528 roles. More »

More about:  United Kingdom • London • theater • William Shakespeare • Royal Shakespeare Company

NEW RELEASE

London's Hot Ticket Gets Mixed Reviews

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

Daily Telegraph (UK) Daily Telegraph (UK) Dec 5, 07 8:58 PM CST
(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 »

More about:  London • theater • William Shakespeare • Ewan McGregor

Shakespeare Game Much Ado About Nothing

MMO game hoped to be social experiment - instead it's 'no fun'

MIT Technology Review MIT Technology Review Dec 5, 07 2:03 PM CST
(Newser) - Edward Castronova’s Arden: The World of Shakespeare was supposed to be a revolutionary academic experiment, a massive multiplayer online world where players learned about Shakespeare while Castronova tested economic theories on them. There’s just one problem, Technology Review reports: “It’s no fun,” says Castronova. Focused on research, developers produced a dull game. More »

More about:  video game • World of Warcraft • William Shakespeare • MMORPG

Fake-speare: Scholar Says Bard Portrait
Is a Phony

400-year-old painting was swapped, she says

Times (UK) Times (UK) Oct 25, 07 1:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - A famous portrait of Shakespeare owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company is a fake—a 19th-century imitation that replaced the older original sometime in the past decade, a German scholar claimed yesterday. “Where is the priceless 400-year-old original 'Flower' portrait?” she asks, saying that the painting appears different this year than when she last examined it in 1996. More »

More about:  painting • William Shakespeare • English literature • Royal Shakespeare Company • National Gallery

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