Thanks, Hester. Love the foodie thought!

To see or not to see? Every single Shakespeare play – ranked! Antony and Cleopatra? Exhausting. Lear? Magnificent but flawed. Hamlet? Limitless. For Shakespeare’s birthday, the Guardian’s former theatre critic ranks all the plays

www.theguardian.com/stage/ng-int...
Agree with Michael Billington? Disagree? Either way, an excellent reminder of brilliant productions and performers, many of which shaped my own early theatregoing.

Which is probably why Swynnerton remembered to leave Rebecca ££ in a codicil to his will!

Thanks, Tracey.

Rebecca Heminges (1571-1619) by Meryl Faiers, 20 April 2026Evidence of the lives of non-elite women is often fragmentary and frequently found in administrative records. The first stage of thinking about the experiences of someone...

My latest blogpost for the Kingswomen introduces Rebecca Edwards: she married star actor William Knell at 14, was widowed at 15, then married Shakespeare’s colleague, John Heminges.

www.kingswomen.org/post/rebecca...

#earlymodern
#womenshistory

Rebecca Heminges (1571-1619) by Meryl Faiers, 20 April 2026Evidence of the lives of non-elite women is often fragmentary and frequently found in administrative records. The first stage of thinking about the experiences of someone...

My latest blogpost for the Kingswomen introduces Rebecca Edwards: she married star actor William Knell at 14, was widowed at 15, then married Shakespeare’s colleague, John Heminges.

www.kingswomen.org/post/rebecca...

#earlymodern
#womenshistory

One of the First Comedy Double Acts? Meet Richard Tarlton, Elizabethan England's biggest celebrity, and his wife Kate in their stand-up venue...

One of the First Comedy Double Acts?
open.substack.com/pub/shakespe... Another great Friday piece from Callan Davies, this time on an Elizabethan husband and wife stand up duo.

So sorry to hear this, Tracey. Hideous.

Good. I found it by accident when I lost my SI access. Hope you’re well.

Register with Folger Shakespeare Library for an Open Athens account. That should work.

A Visit to the Spanish Playhouses Golden Age Spain's 'corrales de comedias' as a guide to Shakespearean London's playhouses...

This travelogue post shares some of my new playhouse research, on the back of a
very insightful trip to see some 400-year-old Spanish playhouses. It’s helped me understand the Shakespearen theatre scene more keenly.

open.substack.com/pub/shakespe...

Or dried - even less appealing

Salted fish, I imagine.

My home village of Comberton formerly gave herrings to the poor before Easter, provided by the income from the herring field. The Herringfield charity survives. The village sign illustrates the giving of herrings

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...

History's Most Prolific Playwright? On why we don't talk enough about Thomas Heywood...

History's Most Prolific English Playwright?
open.substack.com/pub/shakespe...

Latest post from Callan Davies - an introduction to and appreciation of Thomas Heywood, Shakespeare’s truly prolific contemporary.

I still have a programme and ticket stub

A truly life changing production for me leading to a career in theatre. So good to see the image again.

Another fascinating piece from Callan Davies

How to Become a Tudor Playwright (and Fail) Roland Broughton's impossible task and the beginnings of a playwrighting "career"

How to Become a Tudor Playwright (and Fail)
open.substack.com/pub/shakespe...

A Shakespearean History of Traffic Could Shakespeare ride a horse? How did Tudor wine orders get delivered? Did playhouses cause congestion? and other questions

Stuck in traffic on your way to work? Here’s an excellent read from Callan Davies.
A Shakespearean History of Traffic
open.substack.com/pub/shakespe...

Sorry - autocorrect: David Waller

And yes, cast change. Bottom had been David Walker, I think. From (hazy) memory.

1972 Dream (l) is Barry Stanton (r) could be Michael Williams - not sure.

Really interesting piece from Callan Davies on looking through and beyond modern surroundings to see what had been there.

Discovering London Through "Our Other Shakespeare" The lost London homes of the dramatist Thomas Middleton

I went in search of “our other Shakespeare” to find some of London’s less obvious theatre history. Meet Thomas Middleton just off the Elephant and Castle…

open.substack.com/pub/shakespe...

😯

Time to distract him with a palaeography photo to puzzle over. Much More Important.

Margaret Brayne: the Forgotten Woman Who Built the Theatre Industry You've probably never heard of her, but Margaret Brayne should be an icon of theatre history

Great blog by Callan Davies about Margaret Brayne and the (literal) building of the Theatre. shakespearestage.substack.com/p/margaret-b...

Bess (beautiful but not very bright) is currently howling at and attacking her reflection in the back door. She’s nearly 15 - you’d have thought she’d worked it out by now.

No, saw it a few weeks ago and the audience was mostly comprised of slightly confused tourists. I gave up trying to explain the plot to my German-speaking neighbours.