Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

This year is the 400th anniversary of the printing of Shakespeare's First Folio, which contains 36 plays that it labels as 15 comedies, 10 histories, and 12 tragedies. Some of these have later been called problem plays or romances. Of the 36 plays, 18 may have been lost forever if not for the printing of the First Folio. - There are a few others that we know Shakespeare had a hand in that are not included in the First Folio: Two Noble Kinsmen, Pericles, and Edward III. - There are also lost Shakespeare plays: Love's Labour's Won, and Cardenio. - And some Folio plays are known to have been collaborations. The exact date of Shakespeare's birth is not known, although his baptism was recorded as taking place on April 26, 1564, and his death on April 23, 1616. To keep things neat and tidy, his birth and death are observed on the same date, April 23, and this year, the anniversary of the First Folio has attracted special celebrations and publications. Seven years after Sh...

WHICH HAMLET? Many choices, Shakespeare fans: 1. The First (“bad”/unauthorized) Quarto (1602-3) reflects perhaps an early draft, or a shorter script for countryside touring while playhouses were closed? 2. Later came the Second (expanded, approved) Quarto (1604). 3. Still later came the First Folio (1623). 4. Eventually, some scholars created editions of Hamlet that combined most of the unique passages from both the Second Quarto and the First Folio, making a MUCH longer text overall— as if each word from Shakespeare were from an angel. (The Kenneth Branagh version uses this long, combined text.) But Shakespeare was no angel. Some prefer the First Folio because it might represent Shakespeare’s “last word” on the final (best?) text. This is also limiting: Perhaps he tailored each reversion to his changing times, and the last draft was not the best/last word, but more relevant to its times—and careful of its censors? 5. So this justifies what #dramaturgs and #directo...