Author Archives: Jack Belloli
Introduction: The Taming of the Shrew
At first glance, the continued popularity of The Taming of the Shrew can seem rather hard to stomach. Its two subplots focus on the wooing of Bianca and Katherine, the two daughters of the Paduan gentleman Baptista Milona: while the … Continue reading
Word of the day: Quintessence
…as found in the quintessentially Shakespearean ‘What a piece of work is man!’ speech from Hamlet. ‘Quintessence of dust’ marks the speech’s turning point: the former word is the last gasp of Hamlet’s ironic praise for mankind, the latter is … Continue reading
Open Shakespeare @ the ADC
Open Shakespeare is continuing to advertise itself around Cambridge. This week, audience members at the ADC Theatre’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ will find one of our flyers in their programmes. We’re very grateful for the ADC’s support, so do go … Continue reading
Word of the Day: Lapwing
Better late than never, this week’s word is LAPWING. The name given to a variety of species of crested plover, the lapwing is associated with forwardness and decisiveness (ironically) in Hamlet, based on the legend that the chick would burst … Continue reading
Word of the Day: Incarnadine
Each week, a member of the Open Shakespeare team will be selecting a word of the week to be displayed on the site’s front page. This could be one of the thousands of words Shakespeare coined, or a pre-existing word … Continue reading
New introductions
Click on the links below to read the most recently uploaded short introductions – and, of course, the plays that go with them: The Winter’s Tale Titus Andronicus King John A Midsummer Night’s Dream Love’s Labour’s Lost As You Like … Continue reading
Happy New Year!
The first few weeks of 2010 have seen the Open Shakespeare team writing more short introductions – roughly two-thirds of the canon now has an introduction on the site or ready to upload. We are also sorting out the last … Continue reading
Introductions!
Members of Open Shakespeare are gradually writing and uploading a series of short introductions for each of the plays. These will eventually be supplemented by longer critical introductions and general essays to enhance your reading. All of these introductions can, … Continue reading