NEWS FROM THE FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY

 

An Interview with Peter Brook Legendary director Peter Brook died last week. Revisit our 2019 interview with Brook about his remarkable career (including 1970's groundbreaking A Midsummer Night's Dream), his illustrious artistic collaborators, and the process of making theater.   Listen to the Episode Recipe: Heartsease Cordial Marissa Nicosia adapts an early modern recipe for heartsease cordial from the Folger collection. This purple pansy syrup was used to “clear the heart”—to treat the chest and lungs or to reduce fever—but also for healing heartaches and other amorous ailments.   See the Recipe       Folger Theatre's A Midsummer Night's Dream begins July 12 Young lovers, mischievous fairies. Shake up your summer with Shakespeare’s most magical comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, inside the majestic Great Hall of DC’s National Building Museum, where the Folger is building a theater from the ground up. Tickets start at just $20. Plan to visit The Playhouse at the National Building Museum—make a day of it!—to enjoy costume displays, backstage tours, face-painting, scavenger hunts, hip-hop Shakespeare workshops, and more. Plus, join us for these special pre-show events next week: Conversation with Folger Director Michael Witmore - Wednesday, July 13, 6:30pm Stage director talk with Victor Malana Maog - Thursday, July 14, 6:30pm   Buy Tickets Pre-Show Conversation Stage Director Talk     Potent Pansies While our early modern cordial recipe shows how pansies were used as a remedy, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream depicts them as an intoxicant.   Read the Blog Post Quotes Quiz Getting ready to see A Midsummer Night's Dream onstage? Take this quiz to see if you can fill in the missing words from these famous quotes.   Take the Quiz Summer Reading Austin Tichenor recommends an adventure novel starring a young Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare, who uncover a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth.   Read the Blog Post     #FolgerFinds For more encounters with the Folger collection, follow @FolgerLibrary on Instagram.           Folger Shakespeare Library | 201 East Capitol Street, SE Washington, DC 20003   Main (202) 544-4600 | Box Office (202) 544-7077 | info@folger.edu Image Credits: Peter Brook. | Heartsease cordial recipe adaptation photo by Marissa Nicosia. | Actors in A Midsummer Night's Dream: (left-right) Renea S. Brown, Hunter Ringsmith, Lilli Hokama, Bryan Barbarin. Photo by Peggy Ryan. | Great Hall image courtesy of National Building Museum. | Oberon and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II, Scene 2. Fr. Schwörer, del. ; G. Goldberg, sc. Folger ART File S528m5 no.27 (size M). | Bottom and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. George Cruikshank, 1867. Folger ART Box C955 no.57 (size L).