New Articles | SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYHOUSE

This wooden O

A replica of the Globe theatre in London has forced a re-examination of Shakespeare’s plays, and sparked a bitter dispute among scholars about the playhouse itself

|

THE play “A Comedy of Errors”, which has been performed to appreciative audiences at the Globe theatre beside the Thames in London this autumn, has one of William Shakespeare's most highly wrought plots, featuring two pairs of identical twins, each pair identically named. Not surprisingly, until the final climax, cross purposes abound and nothing is what it seems.

This article appeared in the New Articles section of the print edition under the headline “This wooden O”

Bleak and bloody Russia

From the December 18th 1999 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from New Articles

Archive 1945

How The Economist reported on the final year of the second world war, week by week

How Ozempic could change beauty standards

A handpicked article read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist


Introducing Opinion, our latest newsletter

Get leaders, columns, guest essays and readers’ letters in one place


We’re hiring a senior producer

Join The Economist’s video department

Pint-sized news quiz

Have you been following the headlines?

Espresso, our daily news app, is now free for students

We are also using AI-powered translations to reach new audiences