Volume 18: February 8, 2021 Elizabethan Costumes as Status Symbols By London Johns The aim of many modern costume designers is to create a sense of realism. Plays set in a particular location and era require actors to dress in a way that communicates their characters’ time period and culture....
Volume 20: February 22, 2021 The Macbeth Riot By London Johns On May 10, 1849, William Macready was arranged to star in a production of Macbeth in the New York Astor Place Opera House. It was a much-anticipated performance, both by Macready’s supporters and his critics, and that...
Volume 16: January 26, 2021 The Second-Best Bed By London Johns In the winter of 1616, William Shakespeare, who had retired to live with his family in Stratford-upon-Avon, drafted his will. In March, he revised the document; from the shakiness of his signature, it appears that he...
Volume 15: January 20, 2021 Macbeth, King Lear, and the Gunpowder Plot By London Johns In the fall of 1605, William Parker, a member of the House of Lords, received an anonymous letter instructing him to refrain from attending Parliament the next day. “God and man hath concurred to punishe...
Written By Retley Gene Locke, Jr., Yale Law School 20' Introduction In 2017, Puerto Rico held another plebiscite (referendum) to address the question of future status. Citizens were given four options: becoming a state of the U.S. (statehood), independence, free association, or preserving the status quo. The results...
Volume 14: January 11, 2021 William Henry Ireland's Forgeries By London Johns In 1796, a newly-discovered Shakespeare play, Vortigern and Rowena, appeared onstage in London. At first, the audience watched quietly, expecting a play to rival King Lear or Hamlet. But by the final act, they had...
