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Elizabethan Christmas: carols
Singing Elizabethan carols at Harvington Hall Now we’re getting really near to Christmas, let’s have some music to get us in the mood. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania contrasts the long summer...
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Shakespeare’s Christmas through the eyes of the Victorians
This year I’ve received a Christmas card featuring an engraving dating back to 1846, originally published to illustrate “A Story about a Christmas in the seventeenth century”*. It’s a charming picture,...
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Celebrating Christmas with the Royal Shakespeare Company
At Christmas, the RSC traditionally gets into party mood by putting on a special show. This year the company has two: Matilda in London, after its successful premiere in Stratford last year, and The...
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A view of Christmas
Christmas Day is always a time for looking back at the year that’s ending and forward with hope. I’ve known this picture of Christmas celebrations in an English village all my life as it used to hang...
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Christmas at court: Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe raided
James 1 You’re at work again and everything is getting back to normal. Spare a thought then for those who are busiest at Christmas – those who entertain us. In spite of the more sophisticated...
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Exchanging Christmas cards: the actress and Queen Victoria
A typical 1870s Christmas card What do you do with your Christmas cards at the end of the festive season? By tradition cards and decorations should be taken down on 6 January, Epiphany. E-cards and...
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Christmas puddings: a taste of tradition
A tudor banquet More than any other holiday time, Christmas has always been about food and drink. Thomas Tusser, an East Anglian farmer, wrote his verse calendar of the year Five Hundred Points of Good...
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“New-fangled shows”: Christmas and the Rose Theatre
An Elizabethan rehearsal Christmas must have been anything but relaxing for Shakespeare when he was at the height of his career. Instead of putting his feet up in front of a roaring fire with a warming...
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Celebrating Shakespeare at the turn of the year
As it’s the end of the year I want to thank readers of The Shakespeare blog for making it such a success. During 2012 the blog has had over 67,000 visits and over 100,000 page views. 239 of you have...
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Christmas shopping for Shakespeare-lovers
Judi Dench in An Age of Kings In case you’re still looking for Shakespeare-related Christmas presents for your nearest and dearest (or yourself), there are plenty to choose from. Top of my list is the...
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Astrology at the winter solstice
Aquarius This weekend is the winter solstice, the turn of the year after which days begin to lengthen again (at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere). It’s a perfect time to enjoy a...
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Marking the centenary of World War 1 with Shakespeare
Ceramic poppies at the Tower of London This week the marking of the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1 has reached its climax with Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day. The installation of the...
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Happy Christmas from the Shakespeare blog
Giving alms to the needy Many thanks to all of you who have been reading the Shakespeare blog during 2014! Over the past year I’ve written 145 posts, and have had nearly 135,000 visits to the site....
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Christmas traditions: The Mummers’ Play
The Ilmington Mumming play at the Howard Arms Christmas Day itself may have passed, but today as in past centuries the Christmas season continues. In Shakespeare’s time the Christmas period was marked...
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A heart that even cracks for woe
Flooding in Cumbria This week has been full of heartbreaking stories, including the coverage of repeated bouts of flooding in Cumbria, one of my favourite places. I can’t imagine what it must be like...
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It’s (almost) Christmas!
Good Tickle Brain Henry V carol With Christmas approaching fast now, I’d like to wish all readers of The Shakespeare blog a very happy festive season. I hope it will be everything you could wish for,...
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Plough Monday and Distaff Day
January, from a mss at the British Library. http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Cotton_MS_Tiberius_B_V/1 Although Christmas is well past, it’s been only a week since many people got back...
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