I've been seeing various Shakespeare plays throughout my life but none really *hit* me the way a great performance of Measure for Measure did. It's in a lot of ways a truly radical play: it questions how morality is molded by and dictated from on high by power and how those same powerful people are just as if not more guilty than the rest of us. I'd love to read some critical explorations (positive, negative, or neutral) of this hidden gem (in my opinion); are there any good academic or casual essays on the play that folks have enjoyed?

By the way: this is the festival that put on the performance I saw https://newswanshakespeare.com/

Where does everyone stand on Olivier as the greatest shakespearean thespian?

He seems to have quite a few awards up for sale in an estate auction that could place him as the greatest actor in the last 100 years?

https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/auctions/hollywood-legends-laurence-olivier-571

OK, so the song is sad, foreshadowing her death, etc etc. But she says the maiden sat "under a sycamore tree." And she sings "willow, willow, willow." Why a sycamore, if the symbolism of the weeping willow and all that goes with it is the point? I looked them up - they're both by riverbanks, but not the same thing, distinctly different trees. Is it just a matter of meter? Or is there something I'm missing?

So I just read this play and I liked a lot of it, but at certain points in the language my eyes glazed over a bit (usually I'm pretty good with understanding everything, this play was just pretty difficult for me), and as such watching a performance would help my understanding a great deal. Does anyone know where I can watch a good production online?

Aside from the Folio editions from the 1960s, are there any other options for non-annotated well-bound hardback versions of the plays?

EDIT: ‼️FOUND!!‼️ Thank you for everyone's help!!!

I'm doing an argumentative essay proving that hamlet is mad. but i cant for the life of me figure out a hook. and my title sucks but oh well. thanks in advance! i promise i wont copy yours, ill just use it as an idea. p.s. ill update when ive found one

We spent 386 days watching 135 movies which equalled about 11 days total of film time. Ask us any questions if you have them. I did notice that watching a bunch of interpretations and adaptations of a single work in a row really helped me grasp the characters and the story and have more of an option on them than I was expecting. I plan on reading all of the plays next although definitely not all in one year

Top 10 adaptations we saw in no particular order.

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

Julius Caesar (1953)

Hamlet (1996)

All Night Long (1962)

A Thousand Acres (1997)

Henry V (1944)

Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

Big Business (1988)

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

He gets some of the best lines in Richard II. His grief at his son's exile- the extinct taper, the irretrievability of life. That great argument with York about whether people heed the words of dying men. The thundering speech about England. He only appears in a fraction of the play but he really is one of the most memorable characters.

I'm visiting London in December and as a Shakespearian, look forward to being inside the Globe theatre. I understand there will not be any plays during this time of the year at the Globe and therefore I am now researching on what the best experience would be. I also see there's a Hamlet elsewhere in London, starring Tennant. It's a more expensive option but sounds interesting. Can you please share your recommendations on how best Shakespeare's theatre works and legacy can be experienced in London?

Hi! I am planning to write a reflective essay on Merchant of Venice. Can you guys suggest a theme i should focus on? And how would i execute it properly?

I just watched Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V" - and while I like most of it, I think I enjoy Derek Jacobi as "Chorus" the most, especially his closing of the play.

I'm trying to imagine what historical irony would hurt as much to modern audiences as Chorus's description of Hal's son, Henry VI, losing everything his father worked for and then some would have stung for audiences in Shakespeare's day. After all, the play was published less than 200 years after Agincourt - that reversal of English fortunes wasn't SO far in the past.

hi! i have a project in my racism in Shakespeare course in a "three minute thesis" style! i have to alter a scene of a work we read in class and i chose Othello. (we also read The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest.) i chose to make Emilia and Iago closeted gay characters in a lavender marriage where Emilie is secretly in love with Desdemona and Iago in love with Othello. I need help choosing a scene to alter/re-write or help with coming up with a new scene! I want to talk about externalized racism by Iago and Emilia thinking Othello doesn't deserve Desdemona because he is not white. I know this is "unrealistic" but it's what we came up with lol

I performed both dukes at another nearby theatre about twelve years ago. I have never reprised before and I am very excited. It was nice, because the director said he wanted me in the show on the spot. My audition piece was the Chorus at the top of Henry V, which I've had at performance level for some time now, and it's a wonderfully written monologue too. Of course it's wonderfully written, it's Shakespeare. When I looked at my lines again it was like I had tracings in the my head that had been floating around for ten years looking to be filled again by words. My memorization is going to be really easy and much more deeper than the first go around. Having the experience of performing the roles before will allow me to delve so much more deeply into backstories, motivations, and all kinds of dramatugical references for which I did not have the time to persue the first time. Beyond that, I look forward to hearing the play recited over and over again each night. When I did the show back then I would take every chance to stop backstage and just let the bard's words wash over me. (Sorry to get sappy). I do like Shakespeare. I'd love anyone's input on all this.

Hi all! Basically, I’m a senior in college looking to apply for grad school. I love Shakespeare & have done a modest amount of research/writing on him already in undergrad as I’m lucky to work with an excellent Shakespeare professor at my university. One of the next steps I’m considering is applying to King’s College London’s MA in Shakespeare studies in conjunction with The Globe theatre. I think I want to get a PhD and teach English one day. My professors think this is a good choice for me.

So, I wondered if there were any alums or current students of that program on this sub that would be willing to answer a few questions about the program from a student perspective? Thanks!

Also if you don’t have anything nice to say about my choice of education, don’t say anything at all please—don’t worry, plenty of people have already told me I’m wasting my time studying Shakespeare lol, I’ve heard it alllllllll before.

I'm making an essay and that's one of the points in it. I'm looking for unique interpretations and quotes that could also be linked the theme of militarism in the play and supports this idea, any help would be appreciated.

its linked with the main point of the pg which is the argument that othello and desdemonas relationship is founded on the very basis of militarism (im trying to make a link that desdemona might be in love w othello could be tied to his military status)

Has anyone else seen all 38 Shakespeare plays? It took me 17 years but I finally "completed the canon" in September with Henry VI trilogy.

please help me i have a 9 page essay due on this question i’ve watched and read it multiple times and am having such a hard time coming to a conclusion.

Hi folks, I’m a male actor who is over 40. I’m not a Shakespeare guru, but am getting more and more interested in performing Shakespeare. Are there any really juicy roles for a man over 40 in “As You Like It”? Thank you in advance.

Shakespeare in general isn't really known for historical accuracy, but these are two of the most glaring omissions in my opinion:

1. Julius Caesar never mentions that Cleopatra was in Rome at the time that Caesar was assassinated. This is particularly noticeable considering that Cleopatra is the subject of one of his later plays.

2.The Henry VI plays have not a whisper of the extreme mental illness that the titular king suffered, which likely in large part led to the Wars of the Roses as it made it impossible for him to govern and therefore caused others to jockey for power around him(basically, for long periods he was extremely catatonic and unresponsive to anyone else around him).

I was just wondering two things-

-What's the best complete works edition if you don't like small print, and want to annotate the plays?

-Is there a big difference in the text between different editions, and if so, are some considered more authentic than others? I've noticed that punctuation tends to vary a little between different online versions, but I was wondering if there are more major differences in terms of material which is cut/added from different versions (dialogue, monologues etc.)