William Shakespeare

King Lear review – Kathryn Hunter’s frail, fond old ruler almost unbearably affecting

Back in the role she first played in 1997, Hunter uses her extraordinary transformative powers to show us the king as a geriatric child at the head of a disintegrating nation

Mark Lawson

19, Jun, 2022 @12:06 PM

Starcrossed review – gay romance riff on Romeo and Juliet is a giddy delight

Rachel Garnet’s reframing ditches Shakespeare’s lovers for a smitten Tybalt and Mercutio. Can this winning couple alter their fate?

Miriam Gillinson

10, Jun, 2022 @12:00 PM

Shakespeare First Folio copy estimated to fetch $2.5m in New York auction

Book printed 400 years ago is one of fewer than 20 copies in private hands

Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent

09, Jun, 2022 @2:52 PM

Boris the Third: new play tells story of clown who became king

Adam Meggido’s comedy considers the PM’s blustering school performance as Richard III, drawing potent parallels to his current political position

Chris Wiegand Stage editor

09, Jun, 2022 @9:30 AM

The big idea: could the greatest works of literature be undiscovered?

Only a fraction of the world’s stories have survived. What might we be missing?

Laura Spinney

30, May, 2022 @11:30 AM

Henry VIII review – even gold phalluses can’t bring little-seen Shakespeare to life

The sexy makeover with dildos and inflatable testicles doesn’t work and the text additions only highlight the disjointedness

Arifa Akbar

29, May, 2022 @1:00 PM

The grim reality of Shakespeare’s ideas | Brief letters

Brief letters: Enduring lessons of the Bard’s plays | Children and risk | Wolves v buses | The next monarch | Purple line power

Letters

24, May, 2022 @4:35 PM

Schools don’t need to bin Shakespeare – but it’s time for us to teach him differently | Nadeine Asbali

Decolonising the curriculum doesn’t mean losing traditional texts, but studying the power imbalances my pupils already experience, says secondary school teacher Nadeine Asbali

Nadeine Asbali

24, May, 2022 @2:19 PM

UK’s ‘strictest headmistress’ fears schools will stop teaching Shakespeare

Katharine Birbalsingh says move to decolonise English curriculum could mean Shakespeare replaced with black and female authors

Sally Weale Education correspondent

22, May, 2022 @6:24 PM

Julius Caesar review – the revolution is rerouted in scattered Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Globe, London
Less a tense examination of a failing republic, or even of women in power, there is little electricity or danger here

Kate Wyver

12, May, 2022 @11:01 PM

Nothello review – clever and joyful, Shakespeare upended

Desdemona’s twins step forward to speak out against the racist tropes that led to their parents’ tragedy in this inclusive, urgent production

Mark Fisher

12, May, 2022 @9:08 AM

Much Ado About Nothing review – gaiety abounds in the Globe’s great garden party

Lucy Bailey’s ambling production of Shakespeare’s comedy, set in Italy on the eve of Mussolini’s defeat, exudes pastoral elegance and feels like the start of summer