{"title":"Akira Kurosawa","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAfter finishing \u003c\/em\u003eRashomon\u003cem\u003e I wanted to do something with Shakespeare’s \u003c\/em\u003eMacbeth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eIn \u003c\/em\u003eMacbeth\u003cem\u003e, Kurosawa saw a contemporary issue—a parallel between medieval Scotland and medieval Japan. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Donald Ritchie\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAs much as I love Shakespeare, \u003c\/em\u003eLear\u003cem\u003e has always been a play that I have found extremely dissatisfying.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLear never reflects on his past evil or why he comes to what he is, but Hidetora \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e[Ran] \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis aware that his past is catching up with him, and this in the end is the cause of him becoming mad.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eAbout Shakespeare, I am not a specialist.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch1\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eAssociated Plays\u003c\/h1\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"hamlet-prince-of-denmarke-shakespeare","title":"Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/fifth-folio-hamlet-prince-of-denmark-cover.jpg?v=1790777425\" alt=\"Cover artwork for Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke in the Fifth Folio edition featuring layered folio typography from the Ghost scene superimposed against a nocturnal cityscape of Midtown Manhattan viewed from above.\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eþe Tragicall Historie of HAMLET, Prince of Denmarke.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_bittar_greg_teen.jpg?v=1773129894\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eGregory Bittar, 1982\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_hamlet_rembrandt.jpg?v=1780367076\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eRembrandt van Rijn, self-portrait\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_hamlet_gertrude.jpg?v=1780369849\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003emy Mom, summa cum laude PhD in History, NYU, 1979. She loved the Arts and Crafts movement, that period of history, and regularly appealed to its practice. This folio is directly inspired by her. She loved William Shakespeare, loved to slip him into conversation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/fifth-folio-hamlet-working-copy.jpg?v=1778436303\" alt=\"Cover artwork for Hamlet in the Fifth Folio edition featuring the Midtown Manhattan skyline at night.\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fifth Folio™","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":62807511335281,"sku":"FF-PAM-HAM-1.0","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/fifth-folio-hamlet-prince-of-denmark-cover.jpg?v=1790777425"},{"product_id":"king-lear-v1-shakespeare","title":"King Lear, v1","description":"\u003cp\u003eþe tragedie of KING LEAR.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/lear_above.jpg?v=1772928458\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_lear_above.jpg?v=1789768031\" alt=\"Shakespeare King Lear scene between Burgundy, Cordelia, and Lear superimposed over a fractured alpine snowscape. Literary collage wall art exploring pride, inheritance, emotional distance, and tragic negotiation through mountain photography and Shakespeare text montage.\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_lear_edmund_edgar.jpg?v=1789768143\" alt=\"Edgar and Edmund enact a high-altitude deception scene from *King Lear*, set against a precarious Alpine landscape where elevation becomes a metaphor for misreading, betrayal, and unstable perception. Suspended nearly 16,000 feet high, language and terrain mirror each other: shifting loyalties cut as sharply as rock faces, and trust thins in the air as Edmund performs honesty while engineering doubt.\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/fifth-folio-king-lear-cover.jpg?v=1789770488\" alt=\"Cover artwork for King Lear in the Fifth Folio edition featuring folio typography set against a photograph from Mont Blanc in the Alps.\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_lear_gonerill.jpg?v=1789769965\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_lear_top_of_the_alps.jpg?v=1789768236\" alt=\"King Lear’s world dissolves into Alpine vastness, where authority has no traction and meaning is carried only as far as the body can endure. As court language fades into weather, a solitary figure climbs the ridge beneath the collapsing order of the play—Exit Lear marked not by resolution, but by altitude, exhaustion, and the indifferent geometry of stone and snow.\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eAlpine photos taken with my son Anton, 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_lear_regan.jpg?v=1789769965\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_lear_crests.jpg?v=1789768518\" alt=\"A passage from King Lear in which Edgar intercepts letters and the Steward’s death is reported, set against an Alpine landscape that functions as a literal geography of exile, exposure, and concealment. The steep mountain terrain mirrors the play’s collapsing systems of authority and trust, where written messages become unstable carriers of truth and survival.\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_lear_crevice.jpg?v=1789768452\" alt=\"A passage from *King Lear* in which Cordelia reflects on her father’s condition and sends out concern for his welfare, layered over a snowbound Alpine landscape. The mountains in the background amplify the play’s emotional extremity—exile, endurance, and distance—turning Cordelia’s language of care and search into something physically vast and difficult, where affection must traverse a harsh and indifferent terrain.\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_lear_11.jpg?v=1789768330\" alt=\"Shakespeare King Lear final grief scene superimposed over an expressionist painting by Antoun Bittar. Literary collage exploring Cordelia’s death, aging, memory, sorrow, and psychological collapse through layered Shakespeare text and painterly abstraction.\"\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eGeorge Bernard Shaw, \u003c\/em\u003eby Antoun, 1967\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_lear_niagara.jpg?v=1789768697\" alt=\"Final cover artwork for King Lear in the Fifth Folio edition featuring Lear’s final lament, “Never, never, never, never, never,” layered over mist, melting water, and a pale sculptural face dissolving into the spray of Niagara Falls.\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fifth Folio™","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55650042118513,"sku":"FF-PAM-LEAR-1.0","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/fifth-folio-king-lear-cover.jpg?v=1789770488"},{"product_id":"macbeth-shakespeare","title":"Macbeþ","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/fifth-folio-macbeth-cover.jpg?v=1778446717\" alt=\"Cover artwork for Macbeth in the Fifth Folio edition featuring a mountain-top view of forest and sky superimposed against layered folio typography.\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eÞe Tragedie of MACBE\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eÞ.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/artwork_play_alt_macbeth.jpg?v=1789784312\" alt=\"Panoramic landscape photograph created for Macbeth, depicting layered storm clouds above an immense forested horizon. Presented without text, the image evokes the play’s atmosphere of prophecy, distance, and gathering dread.\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fifth Folio™","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55650084651377,"sku":"FF-PAM-MAC-1.0","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/files\/fifth-folio-macbeth-cover.jpg?v=1778446717"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/5859\/6209\/collections\/stagelights_07.jpg?v=1787417910","url":"https:\/\/fifthfolio.com\/collections\/akira-kurosawa.oembed","provider":"FIFTH FOLIO","version":"1.0","type":"link"}