Shakespeare on Sleeping with a Stranger

“Would you have sex with a stranger to save your brother’s life?” NapaShakes Dramaturg Dr. Philippa Kelly’s cheeky take on “Measure for Measure” Would you have sex with a stranger to save your brother’s life? This is the question Shakespeare throws at Isabella, a Catholic novitiate, in the most famous…

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The Winter’s Tale: A Poem by Philippa Kelly

NapaShakes Dramaturg Dr. Philippa Kelly offers this poem to illuminate The Winter’s Tale, starring Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh and screening at the Cameo Cinema on January 17, 2016:   The Winter’s Tale Polixenes – Leontes’ friend, With dear intent a path didst wend To far Sicilia, there to rest, With…

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The “Merry War” of  Much Ado About Nothing

NapaShakes Dramaturg Dr. Philippa Kelly on the “Merry War” of  Much Ado About Nothing “You must not, sir, mistake my niece. There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her: they never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them.” (Leonato, Much Ado About Nothing.) Much…

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