Globe Education at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London will host a major conference this October to mark the 400th anniversary of the re-acquisition of the Blackfriars Playhouse by Shakespeare’s theatre company, The King’s men. The event is being organized in partnership with the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia. The center is home to a full-scale, working replica of the Blackfriars Theatre. The conference, titled Outside In / Inside Out: Shakespeare, the Globe and the Blackfriars, will bring together Shakespearean scholars and theatre practitioners to consider plays that were written for outdoors theatres that transferred to indoor theatres and vice versa.
Some of England’s most promising young actors are headed to Stratford-upon-Avon this summer to form the Royal Shakespeare Company’s first youth ensemble. The ensemble will consist of twenty-two secondary schools students, aged 13-18 years, from nine different regions including Newcastle, Manchester, Oxford, Norfolk and London. For two and half weeks in August, the students will form an acting company and learn firsthand what it’s like to work in an ensemble theatre environment
Peggy O’Brien, a former public broadcasting executive and editor of the Shakespeare Set Free series, has been named the recipient of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s 2008 Shakespeare Steward Award. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the innovative teaching of Shakespeare in American classrooms. As head of education for the Folger in the 1980s, O’Brien developed the library’s education department and its performance-based philosophy.
The British government has announced a trial plan to stop testing secondary school students over the works of William Shakespeare.
Students are currently tested on one of three Shakespeare plays although the requirement is being reduced next year to just two plays. The students are tested on extracts from “The Tempest” and “Romeo and Juliet” [...]
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The United Kingdom’s Department for Children, Schools and Families is starting an initiative to teach English primary schools students as young as five years old about the works of William Shakespeare. The initiative adheres to the philosophy that children should be introduced to Shakespeare at a young age.
Schools minister Jim Knight says, “Already all children have [...]
174 young people from nine primary and secondary schools across England will present their own performances inspired by Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on Monday. The event is part of Shine week, a national celebration of talent in young people. Monday’s event will be hosted by comedian and television presenter [...]
Only a select group of scholars has access to the Folger Shakespeare Library’s collection of rare books, manuscripts and artifacts. But the library also hosts plays, concerts, exhibitions, lectures and educational programs for the general public in pursuit of its mission to advance the understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare’s writings and of the culture of [...]
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. is offering visitors a chance to learn about 16th–century herbal lore, traditions, and remedies this summer through guided tours of its Elizabeth garden.
Inspired by gardening and herbal references in Shakespeare’s plays, the Folger opened the garden in 1989. Visitors will find plants that were popular in his time [...]
In a sign that the market for comic book versions of Shakespeare is growing, the UK publisher Classical Comics has announced that it will begin distributing graphic novel adaptations of “Henry V” and Macbeth” in the U.S. and Canada this fall. The comics were first released late last year in the UK. Now, Classical Comics [...]
The Canadian government recently announced $2.9 million in funding for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
“Of the funding provided by the Government of Canada, $1.5 million will help finance the creation of the Brunswick Centre. The Centre will house a number of Festival departments under one roof, including Festival archives and enhanced warehouse space. Another $1 million, [...]
