Library
Watch, read, revise
Shakespeare is not only a book. Start with a production, keep a reliable text open, and use revision sites after you have a reading of your own. Links go to the organisations themselves — availability of streams changes, especially on the BBC.
Filmed productions and films
Nothing substitutes for hearing the verse spoken. Use a production to test a reading: if a choice surprises you, that is usually the interesting bit.
Shakespeare’s Globe — Globe Player
Filmed open-air productions from the reconstructed Globe. Some titles free or low-cost; many schools have access.
Shakespeare’s Globe on YouTube
Talks, scene clips, and occasional full lectures. Excellent for staging and original practice.
Royal Shakespeare Company
RSC streaming, cinema relays and education clips. Production pages include interviews with actors and directors.
RSC on YouTube
Classroom-length extracts, historical footage and current-show trailers.
National Theatre at Home
NT Live recordings (Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Othello and more). Many UK schools subscribe.
BBC Shakespeare / iPlayer search
The Hollow Crown histories, filmed stage productions, and documentaries — availability rotates.
Internet Archive: Shakespeare collections
Older BBC and stage films in the public domain or with lending copies. Quality varies; historically invaluable.
The Complete Works (BBC Television Shakespeare)
1978–85 cycle of (almost) every play. Some episodes circulate on archive sites and DVD. A full-text baseline.
Free texts and trustworthy notes
Use a clean text for quotation. Then use notes to check a word — not to replace your reading.
Folger Shakespeare Library — digital texts
Free modern-spelling texts, scene summaries, and essays from a major research library.
Internet Shakespeare Editions
Scholarly editions, facsimiles and performance databases from the University of Victoria.
MIT Complete Works
Plain public-domain texts. Fast to search when you need a line.
Open Source Shakespeare
Concordance: find every use of a word across the canon. Brilliant for imagery questions.
Project Gutenberg — Shakespeare
Downloadable complete works. Check you are quoting the play, not a nineteenth-century introduction.
British Library — Shakespeare in Quarto
Digitised early quartos. Useful when an A Level question touches Q1 Hamlet or variant Lear.
Revision and classroom explainers
Use these after you have a reading of your own. They are maps, not the territory.
BBC Bitesize — English Literature
GCSE-focused notes on the most-set plays. Clear on plot; push further on methods for higher bands.
RSC Education
Classroom resources, language activities and rehearsal-room approaches.
Globe Education
Staging, original practice, and student workshops from the Globe.
Folger Education
Getting students on their feet with the verse. Strong for language confidence.
No Fear Shakespeare (SparkNotes facing-page)
Modern English cribs. Use to unblock a speech, then close them and write from the original.
World, stage, and history
Context marks come from a fact that changes a line — not from a paragraph about ‘the Elizabethans’.
British Library — Shakespeare in context
Articles on theatre, religion, race, gender and print culture, with primary documents.
Shakespeare’s Globe — Discover
How the wooden O works: groundlings, daylight, costume, music.
The National Archives — Shakespeare
Documents and teaching packs on early modern England.
Internet Encyclopedia of Shakespeare (Folgerpedia)
Quick, sourced explainers from Folger staff and scholars.
Listen without a screen
Verse is music. Walking a scene in audio is one of the fastest ways to hear antithesis and the line-ending.
Arkangel / Naxos Shakespeare recordings
Full-cast audio of the canon. Libraries and audiobook apps often hold them.
BBC Sounds — Shakespeare
Radio dramatisations and discussions. Availability changes; search by play title.
Librivox public-domain readings
Variable quality, fully free. Fine for extra listening on a commute.
Each play guide also lists productions and texts specific to that title.