Summer: Rutgers- Shakespeare in England
The Program
Witness Shakespeare's work as it was meant to be seen; performances in the Globe Theatre in London and by the Royal Shakespeare Company are major parts of this program. Learn about the challenges and complexities of Shakespearian production by site visits to some of the United Kingdom's most famous theatres. Meet with actors and directors to get a true sense of the Bard's work.
Scholarships available through the English Department!
Program Locations
England
London
London is quite simply one of the most exciting cities on earth. It is the center of everything British—culture, politics, finance, history, and royalty—but also a world capital with a huge multinational population. “When a man [or woman] is tired of London, he is tired of life,” said 18th-century author Samuel Johnson, and the quote is no less true today. Cultural highlights range from St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London to the new British Library and Tate Modern art gallery and, especially, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
England
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's hometown from which he commuted to London, is an extraordinarily well-preserved city, in which Shakespeare's original home, along with those of many of his contemporaries (including his wife Anne Hathaway), still stand. Stratford-upon-Avon is also now home to extraordinary resources for Shakespeareans: the Royal Shakespeare Company, which runs two major theaters in Stratford, the Shakespeare Center at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and the Shakespeare Institute.
Academics
This course studies the work of England’s greatest dramatist. We will spend one week reading plays before traveling, and then we move to England to see them performed on the stages of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s Birthplace) and the Globe Theatre and other theaters in London. Attention will be given to Shakespeare’s context and contemporaries, film and stage interpretation, and the challenges of production and performance. While in England, we will see the major theatres and sites associated with Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and study with actors, directors, and scholars associated with the major centers for Shakespearean studies and performance in Stratford-upon-Avon and London.
The dates listed for this program include one (1) week of online class in the U.S. and two (2) weeks in the UK.
See the 2023 syllabus here; the 2024 syllabus will be posted when the plays are announced!
For information about study abroad credit transfer, registration, and transcripts please visit the Academics section of our website.
Housing and Meals
Students will reside in student apartments while in Stratford-upon-Avon and in a hotel in London. Breakfast and dinner will be provided in Stratford-upon-Avon, and breakfast will be provided in London.
Financial Information
Program Costs
| NJ Resident | non-NJ Resident | |
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate | $3,730 | $4,060 |
| Graduate | $3,940 | $4,250 |
Program Cost includes:
• Tuition
• Housing
• Some meals
• Excursions
• Administrative Fees
• Emergency Medical Access Abroad
Out-of-Pocket Costs
| Airfare | $1,200 |
| Meals | $500 |
| Books and Classroom Materials | $50 |
| Local Transportation | $50 |
| Personal Expenses | $400 |
| Total | $2,200.00 |
Out-of-Pocket Cost includes:
The above costs are estimations and represent the known out-of-pocket costs students encounter during their time abroad.
Some of these expenses will be paid for prior to going abroad, such as an airline ticket and visa costs, while some of these expenses, such as meals and local transportation, will be paid in-country as part of your daily expenses. As you plan, you will need to budget these costs and spend wisely throughout your time abroad.
Scholarships
People
Professor Fulton has written on cultural intersections of politics and religion, on problems in rhetoric and generic form, on media history, and on the history of reading.
He is the recipient of a Folger Shakespeare Library Long-term Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, several grants from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and numerous other awards.
Email Professor Fulton at: thomas.fulton@rutgers.edu
"The course mixed traditional academic rigor with any theater fan's dream vacation, and sparked conversations with my peers that took me from the classroom, to the theater, to the Underground and out into the city of London"
"Shakespeare in England is easily the best course I’ve taken in the Rutgers English department. Reading the plays in class can’t match the live performances we saw while abroad: The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Roman season in Stratford-upon-Avon, Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing at The Globe, and Hamlet in London’s theater district to name a few. As a transfer student, I didn’t expect to complete any study abroad programs in my limited time at Rutgers. This program though was special in that it delivered a genuine study abroad experience without a full semester commitment. Many of us also received small scholarships from the university to offset the costs of travel."
"Ever since I took drama class in all four years of high school, I’ve wanted to go to England to study Shakespeare. We spent the first week in Stratford-upon-Avon, where we participated in workshops and watched plays. It was the perfect small town to adjust from jet lag. We visited Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare was baptized, married to Anne Hathaway, and buried. His grave site is still undisturbed. We also had the chance to see Shakespeare’s birthplace, Anne Hathaway’s cottage, and Shakespeare’s second home called New Place. We spent most of our time in the classrooms of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, where we looked at archive materials, researched in the library, listened to presenters, took acting classes, and met with actors. We watched plays in both the Swan Theatre and the main stage of the Royal Shakespeare Company: Salomé, a play by Oscar Wilde; Titus Andronicus, a gruesome Shakespearean history; Venus and Adonis, a puppet show of one of Shakespeare’s first poems; Julius Caesar, the classic tragedy; and Antony and Cleopatra, a continuation of the Roman plays. We spent our last full day biking to Mary Arden’s farm, where Shakespeare’s mother lived. Our time in Stratford-upon-Avon also allowed us fourteen students to bond."