Unusual Representations of Shakespeare Performances

This slideshow groups together distinctive images in order to encourage critical comparison and analysis.

This slideshow contains 108 slides. Click any slide to begin.
William Shakespeare at Oxford Postcard
The Macbeths: David Garrick and Hannah Pritchard by Johann Zoffany (1733-1810)
The Macbeths: David Garrick and Hannah Pritchard by Henry Fuseli (1741-1825)
The Macbeths: by Henry Fuseli, 1812
Macbeth at Covent Garden
Macbeth: Ferdinand Fleck as Macbeth
Macbeth at Boston Theatre
Close Up of Macbeth at Boston Theatre
The Macbeths: Charles Kean and His Wife
The Macbeths: Edwin Forrest and Charlotte Cushman
Macbeth: Ralph Richardson as Macbeth
The Macbeths: Alan Howard and Anastasia Hille
King Lear, David Garrick as Lear
King Lear: Michael Gambon as Lear, Antony Sher as Fool
King Lear: John Wood as Lear
King Lear: National Theatre, London, 1997
Richard III: David Garrick as Richard III
Richard III: Junius Booth Senior as Richard III
Richard III: Edwin Booth as Richard III
Richard III, Thomas Keene (1840-1898) as Richard III (Poster)
Samuel Rowley's 'Henry VIII'
Henry VIII: Betterton as Henry VIII
Henry VIII, Arthur Bourchier as Henry VIII
Henry VIII: Henry Harris as Cardinal Wolsey
Henry VIII: Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Cardinal Wolsey
Henry VIII: Queen Katherine's Dream by Henry Fuseli
Henry VIII: Queen Katherine's Dream by William Blake
Henry VIII: Queen Katherine's Dream, Directed by Charles Kean
An Elizabethan Fool: Richard Tarlton
Frontispiece of Nine Days Wonder (1600): Will Kemp Performing a Jig
The Fool Robert Armin
As You like It, Thomas King as Touchstone, 1775
The Merry Wives of Windsor: Title Page for the 1602 Quarto
The Merry Wives of Windsor: John Henderson as Falstaff
The Comedy of Errors: Robson and Crane as the Two Dromios
The Tempest, 19th Century
Hamlet: Charles Rock as First Grave-Digger
King Lear: Paul Scholfield as Lear, Alec McCowen as the Fool
Henry IV, Part 2: Mistress Quickly, Falstaff, and Doll Tearsheet
As You Like It: David Fielder as Touchstone
As You Like It, The Wrestling Scene, 1750
Twelfth Night: Frances Abington as Olivia
Henry VI, Part 1: Ann Stuart as Joan La Pucelle
Joan of Arc: Record from Parlement de Paris
Cymbeline: Imogen at the Cave
As You Like It: Mrs. Alsop as Rosalind
Hamlet: Irish Actress Harriet Smithson as Ophelia
Romeo and Juliet: Charlotte Cushman as Romeo
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Lizzie Weston as Oberon
As You Like It: Ada Rehan as Rosalind
The Merchant of Venice: Ellen Terry as Portia
Hamlet: Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) as Hamlet
Antony and Cleopatra: Lily Langtry as Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra, His Majesty's Theatre, 1906
Antony and Cleopatra, Sarah Bernhardt as Cleopatra, 1890
Antony and Cleopatra: Cleopatra in 1972 Film
Antony and Cleopatra: Royal Shakespeare Company, 1999
Antony and Cleopatra: Mark Rylance as Cleopatra
A Midsummer Night's Dream Design
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Titania's Kingdom
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Victor Jory as Oberon
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Olivia de Haviland as Hermia
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Jean Muir as Helena
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Diana Rigg as Helena, Helen Mirren as Hermia
The Tempest: Frontispiece to Nicholas Rowe's Edition
Twelfth Night: Viola Allen (1869-1948) as Viola
Richard II: His Majesty's Theatre, 1910
The Taming of the Shrew: Richard Burton as Petruchio, Elizabeth Taylor as Katherina
Henry VIII: Claire Bloom as Queen Katherine
Richard III: Royal Shakespeare Company, 1984
The Winter's Tale: Royal Shakespeare Company, 1986
Twelfth Night: Royal Shakespeare Company, 1994
Romeo and Juliet: Bryn Mawr College, 1908
Romeo and Juliet: Fred Terry Production
Romeo and Juliet: 1968 Film
Romeo and Juliet: Royal Shakespeare Company, 1990
Henry VI, Part 1: The English General Talbot Outmaneuvers the Countess of Auvergne
Henry VI, Part 1: Picking the Red and White Roses
Henry VI, Part 1: La Pucelle Invokes Fiends
Henry VI, Part 2: Suffolk Presents his Mistress, Queen Margaret, to her Pre-Contracted Husband Henry VI
Henry VI, Part 2: The Duchess of Gloucester Attends a Conjuration
Henry VI, Part 2: Jack Cade Triumphs
Henry VI, Part 3: Queen Margaret Mocks the Duke of York Before Having Him Killed
Henry VI, Part 3: The Murder of the Prince of Wales in Front of his Mother Queen Margaret by the Yorkist Brothers
Henry VI, Part 3: King Henry VI is Murdered by Richard of Gloucester
King John, Drury Lane Theatre, 1865
King John: The Scene Before Angiers
King John: John Lies Dead as Prince Henry is Crowned
Henry VI, Part 3: Royal Shakespeare Company, 2000
A Scene from Titus Andronicus: 1595
Titus Andronicus: Market Theatre & National Theatre Company, 1995
Titus Andronicus, Old Globe Theatre, 2006
Boydell's Collection: Hamlet and the Ghost by Henry Fuseli
Hamlet, Thomas Keene (1840-1898) as Hamlet (Poster)
Hamlet, Laurence Olivier as Hamlet, 20th Century
Hamlet, Leslie Howard as Hamlet, 1939
Edward Alleyn (1566-1626)
Portrait of Shakespeare's Leading Actor: Richard Burbage
Nathaniel Field (1587-1620)
John Lowin Portrait
"Ben Jonson and Shakespeare Playing Chess" by Karel van Mander
Cobbe Portrait of William Shakespeare
Direct Comparisons Between the Shakespeares of the Cobbe Portrait, Chandos Portrait & Droeshout Engraving
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke
Mary Fitton (1578-1647): Possibly the "Dark Lady" in Shakespeare's Sonnets
Portrait by Nicholas Hilliard: A Dark Lady - Emilia Bassano Lanier?
John Fletcher, Shakespeare's Successor as King's Men Playwright
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