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Shakespeare Bulletin

@shaxbull.bsky.social
1.3K followers 98 following 385 posts

Peer-reviewed quarterly journal, publishing articles at the cutting edge of early modern performance studies. Posts by Dr. Peter Kirwan and Siena Maxwell.

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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Charlene V. Smith reviews Avant Bard’s 2025 production of The Margriad, or, The Tragedy of Queen Margaret, directed by Séamus Miller 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/998128
The text “In the final line of the play, the Chorus confronted the audience with an adapted line of Margaret's from Richard III: "Which of you trembles not that looks on them?" The shift from "me" to "them" took a line written about Margaret's power, longevity, and ability to unsettle, and made it neither about any of those things, nor about Margaret at all, but instead about the death and destruction of war. The image presented was powerful, though: a tableau of the actors' bodies stacked on top of one another forming a grotesque pile of limbs. It was the perfect encapsulation of the entire production. A memorable visual, yes, but one in which Margaret was completely subsumed into the whole, unimportant and indistinguishable from any other character,” over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Kim Gauthier reviews Théâtre Denise-Pelletier and Surreal SoReal’s 2025 production of Le roi Lear, adapted and translated by Jean Marc Dalpé and directed by Jon Lachlan 🎭: surrealsorealtheatre.com/our-shows/ki... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/998121 📷: Maxim Paré Fortin
The background of the photo is black, with warm-toned light illuminating the center of the stage. The actors are standing at the center of a gold and blue marble circular platform, with a gold and blue marble ring above them. There are eight actors in a clump, with two actors kneeling and the other six standing in a line behind them. The woman kneeling in the front left is wearing a pale skirt and a dark red cloth around her head like a shawl; she is pale-skinned with dark hair. The man kneeling in the front right is wearing brown pants, a white shirt, and a red cape over one shoulder; he is pale-skinned with dark hair. Standing in the back left is a pale-skinned man with black-rimmed glasses and short dark hair. He is wearing gray shorts, an open gray button down with a white shirt underneath, and he has a red cape over his shoulder. The woman next to him is pale-skinned with dark bangs, wearing a black gossamer dress with a gold waistband and a long red cape draped over her arm. The man at the center of the photo is old, with pale skin and a gray beard, wearing a helmet of gold antlers and a large red cape with gold tassels. Over his shoulder is an older pale-skinned man wearing a suit and a red cape. In the back right are two young actors, one pale-skinned woman with short curly hair and a red cape around her waist, the other in a gray suit with a red cape over her arm. Below the image is the text “Sinister at the beginning, this playful dance had at the end an aura of forgiveness and reconciliation, especially as Lear joined in and encouraged his daughters (freed from their husband-puppets) to do the same. These last moments were oddly moving, and I left the theater with a light heart.”. The image and the text are over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Nick Trusty reviews Constellation Shakespeare Collective’s 2025 production of The Sea Voyage, directed by Emily Bassett 🎭: www.mbushakespearemfa.com/projects/sea... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/998129 📷: Ariel Tatum
A pale-skinned man with brown hair and a goatee is collapsed on his back. He is wearing tall black boots, blue puffy pants, a silver and green vest, and a large pirate hat. A pale-skinned woman with dark hair in two short braids is leaning over him with his head in her lap. She is wearing a yellow skirt, a white puffy shirt, and a red corset. Behind them are two actors observing the interaction who appear to be grimacing. The actor on the left is in blue pants and a blue vest, with a white puffy shirt underneath. He has brown hair tied back in a bun and thick, black-rimmed glasses. The actor on the right is wearing a large pink skirt and a white puffy shirt. Behind them is a white brick wall with a black fireplace. Below the image is the text “The heightened theatrical artifice of small-scale theater that creates emptiness through signifiers, then, did not read as a lack of meaning but rather as a sincere attempt to animate and popularize this rarely staged text.”. The image and the text are over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Kailey Potter reviews Atlanta Shakespeare Company’s 2025 production of The Venetians, written by Matt Barbot and directed by O'Neil Delapenha 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/998131 📷: Jeff Watkin
A brown-skinned man, Othello (Keithen Neville), stands on the left, wearing a blue velvet vest with gold stripes along the shoulders and a gold lion rearing his legs up on the chest. The man is wearing a white ruffled shirt beneath the vest and a pale gold sash. He has short dark curls, a mustache, and a beard, and is looking towards his left shoulder, perhaps at his companion to his right. The man on the right, Aaron (Tyren Duncan), is brown-skinned, bald, with a long mustache. His eyes are wide and looking towards the man on his left, and his brows are furrowed, giving him an appearance of concern or surprise. He is wearing a V-neck orange shirt and a black leather vest with the lace undone. Below the image is the text “The Venetians blends the worlds and characters of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Othello, introducing an Othello trying to pay for his wedding to Desdemona, and a Shylock unwilling to lend him the money, warning of the dangers of disrupting the "norms" of Venice as an "outsider." To me, this premise added a clear logic to the world of Barbot's play and set the stage for the production's central question—what price are you willing to pay in order to assimilate?”. The image and the text are over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Isobel Strevens reviews Focus Features and Universal Pictures’ 2025 production of Hamnet, directed by Chloé Zhao 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/998120
The text “In both novel and film form, Hamnet makes a concerted effort to decenter Shakespeare by bringing his family into the foreground alongside him [. . .] Shakespeare—referred to throughout just as Will (Paul Mescal)—is not alone in his parental grief. Buckley's portrayal of Agnes, Will's wife, confronts the viewer with unflinchingly raw maternal pain, anger, and self-castigation following the death of her son. Hamnet brings Agnes Shakespeare into the foreground alongside her husband to offer a nuanced and heartbreaking portrayal of grief for the loss of a child.” over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Terri Bourus reviews the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2025 production of Merry Wives, directed by Taylor Reynolds 🎭: www.shakespearetheatre.org/index.php/ev... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/998124 📷: Teresa Castracane Photography (Merry Wives)
An image of Falstaff (Jacob Ming-Trent), Madam Nkechi Ford (Felicia Curry), and Madam Ekua Page (Oneika Phillips) standing at the front of a set which is designed to look like a laundromat. The back wall of the stage is a faux-brick facade containing large windows with AC units, as well as a yellow awning that says “laundry” in white capital letters with a blue outline. The floor of the laundromat is white and gray tile, with a set of modern gray dryers along the back wall and three white old-fashioned washing machines in the middle of the room. The actor on the left, Falstaff, is a brown-skinned man in a matching shirt and short set with an orange, blue, and white checkered pattern and palm trees. He has his hands on both sides of his cheeks and his mouth open, appearing to be surprised. The actor in the middle, Ford, is a brown-skinned woman with her dark hair in an up-do, also with her hands on both sides of her cheeks and her mouth open, appearing to be surprised. She is wearing metallic high heels, bright purple pants, and a purple and blue peplum top. Beside her is a large blue commercial laundry cart. The actor on the right, Page, is a brown-skinned woman, taller than the woman in the middle, with blonde waves. She is pointing at the man, with one hand over her heart and a straight face. She is wearing white heels, white pants, and a yellow and gray blouse with puffed sleeves. Below the image is the text “This production's choices were vivid, intelligent, and world-building, and they culminated in the raucous, happy, singing, dancing neighborhood costume party of the final scene. In the shared safe space of Harman Hall, America was still a place where immigrants, and audiences, could safely celebrate their interlocking differences.”. The image and the text are over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Bailey Sincox’s “Much Ado, Anyone But You, and Adapting the “Merry War”: An Interview with Screenwriter Ilana Wolpert”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/998118
“EXTRA CREDIT WITH Bailey Sincox” overtop of an orange background with the SB logo. “I was writing a new introduction to Much Ado About Nothing for Oxford World's Classics (out next April!) and was thinking a lot about the play, including its adaptations. I actually learned about Anyone But You from Shakespeare Bulletin's own Elizabeth Kolkovich, who is currently editing Much Ado for Cambridge and with whom I'm organizing a seminar on the play for SAA next year.” overtop of an orange background with the SB logo.“Since I had the longer historical arc of performing and adapting Much Ado fresh on my brain, I was particularly excited to talk to Ilana about how she approached the play and to unpack with her the Shakespearean DNA of this popular rom-com. I think the film shows us how vibrant Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's characters, and even Shakespeare's jokes (!) continue to be, even in forms we don't immediately recognize as ‘Shakespearean’.” overtop of an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Roweena Yip’s “Teaching A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a Global Narrative”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/998117
“EXTRA CREDIT WITH Name” overtop of an orange background with the SB logo.  “‘In university contexts where students are increasingly taking non-humanities majors, how does Shakespeare continue to remain relevant in an interdisciplinary curriculum? This article considers how teaching an intercultural performance of Shakespeare in Singapore offers new ways of looking at text and performance, not only through the lens of adaptation theory but through students' distinctive modes of reception.’” overtop of an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Hailey Bachrach’s “Consent and Shakespearean Dramaturgy: Towards a New Tool for Actor Empowerment”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with @bachrach.bsky.social's open-access article! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
EXTRA CREDIT WITH Hailey Bachrach” overtop of an orange background with the SB logo. Hailey’s article, “Consent and Shakespearean Dramaturgy: Towards a New Tool for Actor Empowerment”, discusses how questions of consent are handled in Shakespearean rehearsal rooms, especially post-#MeToo, and suggests a framework to assist artists in engaging those topics within the plays” overtop of an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
NEW ISSUE KLAXON: Shakespeare Bulletin 44.2 is now published via Project Muse! Check it out here 📰: muse.jhu.edu/issue/57436
The cover of Shakespeare Bulletin 44.2 featuring three black-and-white production images and the SB logo over an orange background.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Michael W. Shurgot reviews Seattle Shakespeare Company and A Contemporary Theatre’s 2025 production of Twelfth Night, directed by Annie Lareau 🎭: www.unionartscenter.org/twelfth-night/ 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/992532 📷: Howard Shack
An image of Lady in Waiting (Rhys Daly), Maria (Sarah Harlett), and Olivia (Jasmine Jean Sim). The floor of the stage appears to be a mosaic, with stone steps on the left side of the photo and wicker chairs on the right side. The Lady in Waiting and Maria stand in the back of the photo, the former with short dark hair and in a blue dress with red stripes along the collar, and the latter with long curly blonde hair, a red striped knee-length dress and a polka-dot short sleeve jacket over top. Olivia is sitting on the edge of a reclining wicker chair, facing the audience. She has pale skin, and medium-length brown curly hair. She is wearing a large black sun hat, black sunglasses with gems along the frames, a mesh black robe, pink heels with bows on top of the feet, and a black one-piece bathing suit with pink along the scalloped edge. Below the image is the text “Twelfth Night suggests the end of—something: ill-conceived love affairs, holiday, misrule, a year, a world war. The comic exuberance of  Lareau’s staging, marked by a lack of emotional depth in most of the acting, was appropriate given her late 1940s setting. War is done; let us imbibe, indulge, improvise. But not all was well.”. The image and the text are over a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Sheila T. Cavanagh reviews the 2025 production of Othello, directed by Kenny Leon 🎭: www.ethelbarrymoretheatrenyc.com/othello-at-t... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/992526 📷: Julieta Cervantes
An image of Iago (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Othello (Denzel Washington) standing in front of a concrete wall. The man on the left, Iago, is staring at the man on the right, Othello, while Othello is not looking at him. Iago has pale skin and his dark hair is shaved close to his scalp. He is wearing black pants and a dark blue sport coat, and he appears focused on what the other man is doing. Othello is dark skinned, also with his hair shaved close to his scalp, although it appears to be white. He is wearing a blue suit and is not looking at Iago. Both men are standing with their hands clasped behind their backs. Below the image is the text “While star-studded Shakespeare seems to be proliferating, it offers no guarantee of excellence. Leon’s production brought little that is new to the play and missed numerous opportunities to dig deeply into the complex characters and issues presented in the text.”. The image and the text are over a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Shehrazade Zafar-Arif reviews Shakespeare’s Globe’s 2025 production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by Sean Holmes 🎭: www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/the... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/992531 📷: Marc Brenner
An image of Falstaff (George Fouracres) and Mistress Page (Emma Pallant). Falstaff is starting to sit down inside a large wicker basket, with pale skin, shoulder-length dark gray hair, and a gray beard and mustache. He is wearing a red doublet and fur along his shoulders. Mistress Page is leaning over the basket, in a long bright yellow skirt, a white long-sleeve shirt, and a blue and yellow floral overdress. She has pale skin, with her light brown hair in a bun with a long braid. She has a small ruff around her neck and at the end of each sleeve, and she is holding a letter out to the man. She is also wearing what appears to be a small pointed hat with a yellow feather. Below the image is the text “Falstaff ’s presence, as much as it was an intrusion on the peace of Windsor, also shone a light on some of the existing cracks in the community, where husband and wife scheme behind each other’s backs, and townsfolk are quick to swear revenge against each other over perceived slights.”. The image and the text are over a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Henry MacCarthy reviews Iceland Dance Company’s 2025 production of Romeo and Juliet—Up Close, choreographed by Erna Ómarsdóttir and Halla Ólafsdóttir 🎭: id.is/en/romeo-jul... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/992529 📷: Hörður Sveinsson
An image of seven dancers onstage, all wearing flowing white garments and covered head to toe in blood. In the back of the photo, two women have their hands up in the air as if in celebration, with their eyes wide and their mouths open. Two more women stand in front of them, one level down, both staring up at the sky. One appears to be screaming and the other is wiping blood down the rest of her body. A fifth woman stands center stage with her long dark hair stuck to her face and a fist in the air, her mouth open as if shouting in triumph. There are two men in front of her, clutching one another as if in an embrace and covered in blood. Below the image is the text “Romeo and Juliet—Up Close was not a translation of Shakespeare’s play into dance; it was a confrontation with its themes and a radical reappropriation of its emotional architecture. The performance resisted the urge to narrate or explain, choosing instead to immerse its audience in a visceral journey.”. The image and the text are over a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Dympna Callaghan reviews Edward’s Boys’ 2025 production of The Enterlude of the Godly Queen Hester, directed by Perry Mills 🎭: edwardsboys.org.uk/productions/... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/992530 📷: Bea Baldwin
An image of Hester (Rufus Round), a boy in a white shirt with gold jewelry around his neck, wearing a dark, shoulder-length curly wig and an ornate gold crown with diamonds along the outside. He is the focus of the photo but he has the audience in front of him and behind him, as if he is walking down an aisle. His mouth is parted as if he is speaking to them. Below the image is the text “The revival after almost five hundred years of a now-obscure Tudor court performance that depicts, in ragged rhyme, the biblical Esther would present a challenge to even the most accomplished professional troupe of actors. Not so for the intrepid Edward’s Boys [. . .] These players succeeded in bringing to life the most consequential political and personal crisis in the reign of Henry VIII, when England was in the traumatic throes of the Protestant Reformation.”. The image and the text are over a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Edel Semple reviews the Bridge Theatre’s 2025 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Nicholas Hytner 🎭: www.bridgetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/a-m... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/992521 📷: Manuel Harlan
An image of Puck (David Moorst) and Lysander (Divesh Subaskaran). Lysander, a man with brown skin and short, dark curly hair sits on the edge of a bed with a guitar in his lap, looking out at the audience with his mouth slightly parted in a smile as if he is speaking or singing. He is wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a leather jacket, with a gold chain around his neck. Above him is a Puck, hanging upside down by his foot, suspended in the air by an aerial sling. He has pale skin and short brown hair, and he is wearing black leather pants, a black tank top with black sequins wrapping around his torso, and he is holding a purple flower between his toes. A bright white spotlight is in the top left corner of the photo, illuminating the stage like the moon. Below the image is the text “My enduring memories of Nicholas Hytner’s 2025 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre are of beds, bodies, and joy”. The image and the text are over a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Nora Williams’s “Four Women on A Two Woman Hamlet: An Interview with Marina Cusí, Deanna Strasse, and Sharmila Peake”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/992519
“EXTRA CREDIT WITH Nora Williams” overtop of a blue background with the SB logo. “A Two Woman Hamlet is a gimmicky concept with a serious, feminist heart. This adaptation of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy focuses on the relationships between characters and avoids casting Hamlet as the only person whose feelings matter at Elsinore. In the process, it finds new agency for Ophelia, asks big questions about toxic masculinity, and highlights the absurdity of the play’s ending.” overtop of a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Perry Mills and Janice Valls-Russell’s “Edward’s Boys and the Educational Value of Ensemble”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article about @edwardsboys.bsky.social 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/992518
“EXTRA CREDIT WITH Perry Mills and Janice Valls-Russell” overtop of a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Kevin Ewert’s “Playable Whiteness; or, My Week As Iago”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! All resources are included in the link in our bio. 📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
“EXTRA CREDIT WITH Kevin Ewert” overtop of a blue background with the SB logo. “If someone asks you to play the bad guy, before saying ‘how fun!’ maybe ask ‘how bad?’ and ‘bad how, exactly?’. Kevin Ewert asks himself those questions and more in the article “Playable Whiteness; or, My Week As Iago” overtop of a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Alice Dailey and Chelsea Phillips’s “Making (Ambitious, Impractical, Interdisciplinary) Dreams Come True: The Spanish Tragedy at Villanova”. Check out these open-access resources from Alice & @chelseaphillips.bsky.social 📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
“EXTRA CREDIT WITH Alice Dailey and Chelsea Phillips” overtop of a blue background with the SB logo.  “Before Game of Thrones, before Kill Bill, before Carrie - even before Hamlet - there was The Spanish Tragedy, the great-granddaddy of modern revenge tales. Chelsea Phillips and Alice Dailey recount the process of bringing this highly influential but rarely performed play to the stage in an ambitious production at Villanova University” overtop of a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
NEW ISSUE KLAXON: Shakespeare Bulletin 44.1 is now published via Project Muse! Find the first issue of a planned two-part issue featuring scholar-practitioners reflecting on their rehearsal room work in educational and professional contexts. Check it out here 📰: muse.jhu.edu/issue/57024
The cover of Shakespeare Bulletin 44.1, featuring three black-and-white production images and the SB logo over a blue background.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
We'd like to invite you to join our newsletter mailing list! If you subscribe, you'll receive a newsletter with the release of each new issue detailing the articles and reviews you'll find in this edition. Join us here: confirmsubscription.com/h/i/80DC405C..., or by scanning the QR code below!
“Join the Shakespeare Bulletin mailing list! Scan the QR code or click the link in our bio to receive a newsletter with the release of each new issue, detailing the articles and reviews you’ll find in this edition” overtop of a blue background with the SB logo. A QR code overtop of a blue background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Jennifer A. Low reviews The Public Theater's 2025 production of Twelfth Night, directed by Saheem Ali 🎭: publictheater.org/productions/... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/985858 📷: Joan Marcus
An image of Olivia (Sandra Oh), Maria (Daphne Rubin-Vega), and members of the company with the text “[I]t's important to remember that the full title is Twelfth Night, Or What You Will, with the "or" suggesting a playful element, as if the play should be viewed as a bagatelle, a trifle.  These differing meanings were echoed in Ali's production by two different modes of performance: some actors played their parts as if the play were a farce, while others did so as if the play were a tragicomedy.” over a green background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Kathleen Mitchell reviews the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s 2025 production of Twelfth Night, directed by Brian Isaac Phillips 🎭: cincyshakes.com/on-stage/twe... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/985863 📷: Mikki Schaffner
An image of Feste (Jeremy Dubin) in blue jester clothes playing the ukulele with the text “Phillips set Twelfth Night as a play-within-a-play, put on by a group of underground thespians living under an unidentified fascist regime. [Jeremy] Dubin delivered his opening monologue in the style of an emcee—not yet in the role of Feste he would later take on, but as an unnamed member of this underground troupe.” over a green background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Abhirupa Roy reviews Acharya Brojendra Nath Seal College’s 2025 production of Sabbas Shakespeare, directed by Rupayan Mukherjee and Agneyo De Sarkar 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/985860 📷: Rousan Alam
An image of Shakespeare (Agneyo De Sarkar) surrounded by the three witches (Debashmita Roy, Biva Adhikari, and Meghna Ray) with the text “Against this backdrop of acute educational crisis, the Department of English [. . .] staged an adaptation of Macbeth on the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth to question authority and the brutal exercise of power on its subjects. Sabbas Shakespeare tactically alluded to the concern of the abrupt and indiscriminate dismissal of jobs through the play's seventeenth-century lens.” over a green background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Yu Jin Ko reviews the National Changgeuk Company of Korea’s 2025 production of The Merchants of Venice, directed by Sung-youl Lee 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/985857 📷: National Changgeuk Company of Korea
An image of the company of The Merchants of Venice, dancing in a diagonal line with the text “As the choral finale of this musical adaptation celebrated the victory over Shylock, the audience joined in by clapping along and even standing. What enabled this perhaps surprising phenomenon was not Korean unawareness of global affairs, but changes wrought on the original play, beginning with the title.” over a green background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Emily Parise reviews the Center Theatre Group’s 2025 production of Hamlet, directed by Robert O'Hara 🎭: www.centertheatregroup.org/shows-ticket... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/985854 📷: Jeff Lorch
An image of Hamlet (Patrick Ball) kneeling center stage with his head in his hands, with the text “This production was half Shakespeare and half O'Hara; it seemed that the first half of this production asked questions of Hamlet, and the second half demanded answers.” over a green background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Noel Sloboda reviews the American Shakespeare Center’s 2025 production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, directed by Aidan O'Reilly 🎭: americanshakespearecenter.com/events/the-t... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/985862 📷: Lindsey Walters
An image of Launce (Geoffrey Warren Barnes II) in striped red stockings, holding one shoe in his hand and the leash of Crab (Lady), a white hound with black ears, in the other, with the text “Even in the preshow entertainment, the American Shakespeare Center's (ASC) staging of The Two Gentlemen of Verona displayed a buoyant façade that belied dark elements of Shakespeare's early comedy, which were preserved but softened.” over a green background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Mark Thornton Burnett and N.P. Ashley's article exploring caste in the Malayam-language reworking of Othello, Iru. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Peter Kirwan’s interview with Aidan O'Reilly and Vanessa Morosco about Aidan's experience of being the first blind director to work at the American Shakespeare Center. Check out these open-access resources! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
NEW ISSUE KLAXON: Shakespeare Bulletin 43.4 is now published via Project Muse! Find the final issue of Shakespeare Bulletin's 2025 volume, now fully open access. 📰: muse.jhu.edu/issue/56610
The cover of Shakespeare Bulletin 43.4, featuring three black-and-white production images and the SB logo over a green background.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Noel Sloboda reviews Folger Theatre and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s 2025 production of A Room in the Castle, written by Lauren M. Gunderson, directed by Kaja Dunn 🎭: www.folger.edu/whats-on/a-r... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/981809 📷: Erika Nizborski
An image of Gertrude (Oneika Phillips) with her hand under the chin of Ophelia (Sabrina Lynne Sawyer), with the text “Lauren M. Gunderson has made her mark writing about women from history and literature [...] Her latest, A Room in the Castle, is a compact and intense reimagining of Hamlet through a feminist lens. The play centers on Ophelia and Gertrude, who find they share far more in common than an interest in Hamlet.” over a purple background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Elizabeth Klett reviews 4th Wall Theatre Company’s 2025 production of Bedlam’s Hamlet, dir. Kim Tobin-Lehl 🎭: www.4thwalltheatreco.com/hamlet 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/981810 📷: Gabriella Nissen
An image of Rosencrantz (Philip Hays) and Guildenstern (Christy Watkins) on either side of Hamlet (Wesley Whitson), who is sitting in a chair and holding Polonius (Philip Lehl) bridal style in his arms, with the text “The deputizing of spectators to fill certain roles (Cornelius, Voltemand, Fortinbras) not only drew attention to the text’s emphasis on metatheatricality, but also deliberately highlighted the considerable challenge of performing a nearly full text of  Hamlet  with a cast of four actors.” over a purple background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Sheila T. Cavanagh reviews Avant Bard Theatre’s 2025 production of The Magriad, or, The Tragedy of Queen Margaret, adapted and directed by Séamus Miller 🎭: avantbard.org/project/the-... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/981816 📷: DJ Corey Photography
An image of Margaret 3 (Kathleen Akerley), King Edward IV (Kiana Johnson), Henry VI (Samuel Richie), The Chorus (Stephen Kime), Richard III (Devin Nikki Thomas), Margaret 1 (Alyssa Sanders), and Margaret 2 (Sara Barker) clumped together, with the text “In this instance, Séamus Miller placed Margaret center stage in an adaptation that merged scenes from the various plays she inhabits. Notably, however, Avant Bard split the role of Margaret in The Margriad between three powerful and adept performers: Alyssa Sanders, Sara Barker, and Kathleen Akerley [...] They each presented a formidable Margaret, who fairly seamlessly morphed into the Queen at various stages of her life.” over a purple background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Remson DeJoseph reviews The Wasteland Theatre Company’s 2024 production of Richard the Ghoul, dir. Jonathan Thomas 🎭: www.wastelandtheatre.com/director-s-b... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/981814 📷: Jessica-Star Hussiere
An image of Anne (Vitriolplays) and Richard (Jonathan Thomas) in the post-apocalyptic online world of Fallout 76, with the text “I saw [The Wasteland Theatre Company’s] take on Richard as a ghoul as being sympathetic to the disability conversations surrounding the play, and at the same time, a thought-provoking reading of Richard’s charismatic and ghoulish nature. Nevertheless, a video game Richard III production raises important questions surrounding performance ethics in virtual spaces.” over a purple background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Joan Raube-Wilson reviews the American Shakespeare Center’s 2024 production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, dir. Dawn Monique Williams 🎭: americanshakespearecenter.com/events/merry... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/981819 📷: October Grace Media
An image of Mistress Page (Leah Gabriel), Mistress Quickly (Angela Iannone), and Anne Page (Summer England) dancing in masks, with the text “[This production] tested the limits of my conceptual senses and forced me to lean forward, engage, and see these eight people not as a cast of actors hectically changing costumes and voices, but as an ensemble; a community of skilled performers who contain multitudes and are capable of holding space for complex—and at times contradictory—identities.” over a purple background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Justin B. Hopkins reviews Arlekin Player’s 2024 production of The Merchant of Venice, adapted and directed by Igor Golyak 🎭: www.merchantofveniceplay.com 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/981817 📷: Pavel Antonov (The Merchant of Venice)
An image of Shylock (Richard Topol) in a cape, fedora, and disguise glasses, with the text “Golyak conceived his production of The Merchant of Venice as a play-within-a-television-show [...] That framework created an opportunity to depict Shylock as an object of scorn and derision, yet also challenge that hateful objectification, since it was never quite clear to what extent the story being told was that of the television show or the play-within-the-show.” over a purple background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Valerie Clayman Pye’s article ““I have thee not, and yet I see thee still”: Shakespeare’s Globe, Augmented Reality, and Actor Training”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Linhan (Shumo) Gan’s article “Bound by Belief: The Collapse of Bushido and the Rise of Faith in Ran”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Emily MacLeod’s article “Editing Margaret: Theatrical and Filmic Cuts in Much Ado about Nothing”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! All resources are included in the link in our bio. 📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
NEW ISSUE KLAXON: Shakespeare Bulletin 43.3 is now published via Project Muse! This open access issue features articles on Margaret's presentation in Much Ado; an analysis of bushido in Kurosawa's Ran; and a pedagogy-oriented exploration of a Globe app for actor-training. 📰: muse.jhu.edu/issue/56353
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Benjamin Blyth’s article, “Shakespeare’s “Dramatic Style” at the Curtain: A Collaborative Model for Site-Responsive Practice-as-Research”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Edel Semple reviews Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2025 production of The Comedy of Hamlet! (a prequel), written and directed by Austin Tichenor and Reed Martin 🎭: www.reducedshakespeare.com/productions/... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/974952 📷: Meg Moore
An image of Hamlet (Doug Harvey), Yorick (Geoffrey Barnes), and Ophelia (Austin Tichenor), with the text “Overall, with The Comedy of Hamlet!, the RSC have created a smart, fun, and funny take on Shakespeare's tragedy. This production had bags of charm and more gags than you can shake a jester's marotte at.” over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Terri Bourus reviews Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s 2024 production of Pericles, dir. Tamara Harvey 🎭: www.chicagoshakes.com/productions/... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/974950 📷: Johan Persson
An image of Pericles (Zach Wyatt) lifting Thaisa (Leah Haile), with the text “Of all the plays in the canon of what the program calls "this greatest of writers," it's hard to imagine one better suited to celebrate an exhilarating transoceanic reunion of two great theater companies.” over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Zola P. Feasel and Joseph F. Stephenson reviews Wild Goose Theatre’s 2024 production of Twelfth Night, dir. Paul Alex Nicholls 🎭: www.oxfordcastleandprison.co.uk/events/event... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/974949 📷: Phil Morton (Twelfth Night)
An image of Malvolio (Billy Morton) in a suit holding a letter up in the air, with the text ““[...] the actors were directed to play off the audience response, so rather than being thrown off by audience sighs, groans, and laughter, they returned the energy. That energy—inspired by Nicholls, expressed through his hardworking cast members, and at the performance we attended (and perhaps depending on the weather) reciprocated by appreciative audience members—can help turn an ordinary evening in Oxford into an extraordinary one.” over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Che Floy reviews Folger Theatre’s 2024 production of Romeo and Juliet, dir. Raymond O. Caldwell 🎭: www.folger.edu/whats-on/rom... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... 📷: Erika Nizborski
An image of Lady Capulet (Fran Tapia) clinging to the body of dead Tybalt (Alina Collins Maldonado), with Lord Capulet (Todd Scofield), the Prince (Deidra LaWan Starnes), and the Nurse (Luz Nicolas) in the background, with the text “This production offered a different sort of tragedy that shifted attention from the usual focus on the star-crossed lovers to the failing of a community, as evidenced by its inability to mourn for its dead children” over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Adib Faiz reviews Randai Macbeth, a 2025 production by Traditional Performing Arts Centre (PuTRA), National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (ASWARA), adapted and directed by Norzizi Zulkafli 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/974944 📷: Izzat Fazil
An image of Macbeth (Che Kem) and members of the ensemble, with the text “Norzizi's willingness to take liberties with both Macbeth and randai certainly yielded wonders rich and strange” over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Pascale Aebischer reviews Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2025 production of Titus Andronicus, dir. Max Webster. 🎭: www.rsc.org.uk/titus-andron... 📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/974942 📷: Marc Brenner, (Titus Andronicus)
An image of Titus Andronicus (Simon Russell Beale) in a trench coat standing before the coffin of his son, with the other Andronic seated behind him, with the text “The ending, then, resisted the facile hope that is often reached for in productions that seek to render Young Lucius into a ray of hope for interracial reconciliation and a brighter future [...] the ending alarmingly anticipated a future in which children are willing to kill those who threaten the purity of their own race.” over an orange background with the SB logo.
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Pascale Aebischer’s article, ““Why dost not speak to me?”: An Interview with Letty Thomas on Performing Lavinia”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/issue/55948
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Shakespeare Bulletin @shaxbull.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Today’s Extra Credit focuses on Stephannie S. Gearheart’s article, ““This island’s mine”: Imagining Alternatives to Thatcherism through Ghosting in Derek Jarman’s The Tempest (1979)”. Check out these open-access resources to go along with this open-access article! 📰: muse.jhu.edu/issue/55948
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