Ben Jonson
Thomas Kyd may have delighted Elizabethan audiences, but he still wasn’t a patch on Shakespeare
Brian Vickers aims to ‘restore’ Kyd to greatness – but claiming too much on too little evidence does the playwright no favours
The clue to Shakespeare’s sexuality lies in the sonnets
They are quite unlike any other sonnet sequence of the time and seem to be a kind of personal statement – written by a man with undeniable feelings for another man
The lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown
Elizabeth I’s refusal to name an heir resulted in many claimants to the English throne in 1603 – with the son of the Queen of Scots finally prevailing
Four female writers at the court of Elizabeth I
Of Ramie Targoff’s gifted quartet, Mary Sidney was particularly admired by her contemporaries for her translation of the Psalms into English verse
Not so much
‘Kiss me mucho,’ sang my husband with a revolting leer, ‘and we’ll soar. And we’ll dance the dance of love…
Was there a cover-up over Shakespeare’s death?
How did Shakespeare kick the bucket? Lloyd Evans considers the evidence
The Heckler: the Shakespeare anniversary has stripped the Bard of his beauty
The feeding frenzy over the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death has reached its peak. Recently we’ve had Shakespeare’s complete…
Father Christmas will be 400 next year
Christmas birthday Next year has a claim to be the 400th birthday of Father Christmas. Ben Jonson wrote a short…
Shakespeare with or without the waffle
30-Second Shakespeare: 50 key aspects of his works, life and legacy, each explained in half a minute sounds trivial, but…
Trevor Nunn’s Volpone reviewed: Henry Goodman bewitches the audience by doing nothing wittily
Easy playwright to get on with, Ben Jonson. His world is simple, his tastes endearing. He likes golden-hearted swindlers and…
How your funeral director is ripping you off
Funerals are a rip-off. But you can do something about that
Shakespeare invented Britain. Now he can save it
Shakespeare defined our united national culture – and now he can help save it
Big changes in little words
I managed to grab the TLS last week before my husband stuffed it in his overcoat pocket and lost it…
