Besides housing the Bard’s largest collection of works and materials, DC has plenty of ways to engage with history’s most celebrated poet.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day, DC? Thou art more lovely, and, this year, thou art more celebratory, as well.
William Shakespeare turns 462 just as America reaches 250, and it’s only right to make doubly merry. In honor of the Bard’s birthday (observed on April 23), we’ve rounded up DC’s Shakespeariences for you (yes, Will, we can make up words, too) and in honor of DC250, we’ve composed a sonnet for our beloved – the District, of course. Read on for DC’s big Willie style.
Folger Shakespeare Library and Theatre
There’s nowhere to start but here: the largest collection of Shakespeare materials in the world graces Capitol Hill in America’s capital city. Explore 82 first folios, hear live early music concerts, examine related art and, of course, see a play in the Elizabethan-style theater. The newly reopened center features remarkable spaces after a years-long renovation, including the stunning Quill and Crumb cafe. England, we love you, but if you want to dive in to the world’s premiere Shakespeare resource, DC is the place to be. Plus, it’s kind of our year. In honor of America’s 250th birthday, Shakespeare and the American Story reflects on the playwright’s part in America’s unfolding from the beginning.
Shakespeare Theatre Company
This world-renowned organization with two locations in Chinatown regularly draws major names for groundbreaking performances. From Ralph Fiennes in Macbeth to Brian Cox in The Score (STC devotes several slots each season to classical works not by Shakespeare, as well), shows here are often star-studded and always riveting. Expect excellence, and if you’re here in late summer, try for tickets to Free for All, a different Shakespeare play each year free to the public. STC is also known for Will on the Hill, an annual benefit during which members of Congress perform Shakespearean scenes: a lighthearted, bipartisan tradition.
Drunk Shakespeare
Drunk Shakespeare
All the world’s a stage, and this one’s for the adults! In a speakeasy tucked away in Downtown DC, five professional actors perform an entire Shakespeare play every night – after one of them downs five shots of whiskey to start the show. Per the company, “it is exactly as chaotic and brilliant as it sounds.” It’s earning rave reviews, and during the 90-minute production you can imbibe, as well. “Drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things,” said the man himself, and in this case, one of those things is scintillating theater.
***
Beyond these thrilling performance opportunities, check out the Bard’s statue and some unique materials in the magnificent Reading Room at the Library of Congress, where you can take a moment to wonder at the immeasurable impact he’s made. If he ambled through DC’s monuments and neighborhoods today, we think he might commemorate DC250 with his pen, surely in iambic pentameter, and say something like this:
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I think about the nation's capital
I realize that the best things can't be bought
And free museums really do beat all.
But DC never was only the Mall:
The neighborhoods and all their lively ways
Will keep you busy winter, spring and fall
Will captivate with fun your nights and days.
If music, food or learning's what you seek
You'll never miss; the District boasts renewal
Of dining, concerts, shows – they're here all week!
The city sparkles brighter than a jewel.
The world is full of change but here's the key:
There's only one true Washington, DC.
Want more? Use our book-lovers guide to the District to plan another literary adventure.
