William Shakespeare wrote a lot of great plays, but he also coined and popularized a lot of words and phrases that we still use to this day.

We put together a list of our 21 favorites. Check them out:

"Puking"

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. ..."

How Shakespeare uses it: "Puking" was first recorded in Shakespeare's "As You Like It." It was likely an English imitation of the German word "spucken," which means to spit, according to Dictionary.com.

Modern definition: A synonym for the verb "to vomit."

Source: "As You Like It," Act 2, Scene 7

"Vanish into thin air"

"Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I'll away. Go; vanish into air; away!" (Othello)

How Shakespeare uses it: The Clown says this to the musicians in "Othello" to make them go away.

But some have also suggested that there is a darker underlying meaning. Act 3 in Othello is the final act that suggests that all of this might have a happy ending. It gets pretty dark starting in Act 4. So the Clown might be symbolically asking musicians and all happy things to "vanish into thin air" because there's no more room for them in the play.

A similar phrase is also found in "The Tempest."

Modern definition: To disappear without a trace.

Sources: "Othello," Act 3, Scene 1, "The Tempest," Act 4, Scene 1

"There's a method to my madness"

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?"

How Shakespeare uses it: Polonius says it in "Hamlet," basically suggesting that there is reason behind apparent chaos.

Modern definition: The meaning is the same nowadays, although the language is a bit updated into modern terms. It is also a Bee Gees song.

Source: "Hamlet," Act 2, Scene 2

21 everyday phrases coined by Shakespeare.

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Hoarder, moneylender, tax dodger — it's not how we usually think of William Shakespeare.

But we should, according to a group of academics who said the Bard was a ruthless businessman who grew wealthy dealing in grain during a time of famine.

In 2013, researchers from Aberystwyth University in Wales argue that we can't fully understand Shakespeare unless we study his often-overlooked business savvy.

"Shakespeare the grain-hoarder has been redacted from history so that Shakespeare the creative genius could be born," the researchers say in a paper due to be delivered at the Hay literary festival in Wales in May.

Jayne Archer, a lecturer in medieval and Renaissance literature at Aberystwyth, said that oversight is the product of "a willful ignorance on behalf of critics and scholars who I think — perhaps through snobbery — cannot countenance the idea of a creative genius also being motivated by self-interest."

Archer and her colleagues Howard Thomas and Richard Marggraf Turley combed through historical archives to uncover details of the playwright's parallel life as a grain merchant and property owner in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon whose practices sometimes brought him into conflict with the law.

"Over a 15-year period he purchased and stored grain, malt and barley for resale at inflated prices to his neighbors and local tradesmen," they wrote, adding that Shakespeare "pursued those who could not (or would not) pay him in full for these staples and used the profits to further his own money-lending activities."

He was pursued by the authorities for tax evasion, and in 1598 was prosecuted for hoarding grain during a time of shortage.

The charge sheet against Shakespeare was not entirely unknown, though it may come as shock to some literature lovers. But the authors argue that modern readers and scholars are out of touch with the harsh realities the writer and his contemporaries faced.

He lived and wrote in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, during a period known as the "Little Ice Age," when unusual cold and heavy rain caused poor harvests and food shortages.

"I think now we have a rather rarefied idea of writers and artists as people who are disconnected from the everyday concerns of their contemporaries," Archer said.

"But for most writers for most of history, hunger has been a major concern — and it has been as creatively energizing as any other force."

She argues that knowledge of the era's food insecurity can cast new light on Shakespeare's plays, including "Coriolanus," which is set in an ancient Rome wracked by famine. The food protests in the play can be seen to echo the real-life 1607 uprising of peasants in the English Midlands, where Shakespeare lived.

Shakespeare scholar Jonathan Bate told the Sunday Times newspaper that Archer and her colleagues had done valuable work, saying their research had "given new force to an old argument about the contemporaneity of the protests over grain-hoarding in 'Coriolanus.'"

Archer said famine also informs "King Lear," in which an aging monarch's unjust distribution of his land among his three daughters sparks war.

"In the play there is a very subtle depiction of how dividing up land also involves impacts on the distribution of food," Archer said.

Archer said the idea of Shakespeare as a hardheaded businessman may not fit with romantic notions of the sensitive artist, but we shouldn't judge him too harshly. Hoarding grain was his way of ensuring that his family and neighbors would not go hungry if a harvest failed.

"Remembering Shakespeare as a man of hunger makes him much more human, much more understandable, much more complex," she said.

"He would not have thought of himself first and foremost as a writer. Possibly as an actor — but first and foremost as a good father, a good husband and a good citizen to the people of Stratford."

She said the playwright's funeral monument in Stratford's Holy Trinity Church reflected this. The original monument erected after his death in 1616 showed Shakespeare holding a sack of grain. In the 18th century, it was replaced with a more "writerly" memorial depicting Shakespeare with a tasseled cushion and a quill pen.

SEE ALSO: 21 everyday phrases that come straight from Shakespeare's plays

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"She's the Man" is not only an underrated teen comedy, but stands as the greatest Shakespeare adaptation since "10 Things I Hate About You."

The 2006 movie stars Amanda Bynes as Viola Hastings — a high school soccer player with a twin named Sebastian. When her soccer team gets cut and Sebastian ditches school to play music in London, Viola decides to pose as her twin brother and join the rival high school's soccer team. 

While wearing her disguise, Viola falls in love with her roommate Duke. But Duke (played flawlessly by Channing Tatum) is already in love with Olivia, who in turn is crushing on "Sebastian" (who is really Viola). 

Sound familiar? This is basically the entire plot of "Twelfth Night"— a comedic play written by Shakespeare sometime around 1600 — except in Shakespeare's play, Viola believes her brother Sebastian died at sea.

The brilliance of "She's The Man" lies in its subtle re-telling of "Twelfth Night." I was 15 years old when the movie first came out, and unaware of pretty much anything written by Shakespeare that wasn't "Romeo and Juliet,""Hamlet," or "MacBeth."

Bynes' unique brand of physical comedy is written into a story that requires no background in "Twelfth Night" in order for teen viewers to appreciate it. The movie came out the same year as "Step Up" (Tatum's breakout film), which means you get peak athletic, but doofy and not-yet-famous Tatum. Man-candy and Bynes' humor aside, the story also works to defy stereotypical gender roles — a theme welcome in any teen rom com.

Once you do learn a thing or two about Shakespeare and "Twelfth Night," the movie-watching experience is only enhanced. 

The clever ways in which names and locations are re-purposed is one big part of the "She's The Man" magic. Viola, Olivia, and Sebastian all have identical names and plots, but Tatum's character Duke Orsino has a twist. 

In the play, Viola falls in love with the Duke of Illyria — a man named Orsino. "She's The Man" named Tatum's character Duke Orsino, and the school he attends is called Illyria Academy.

There are other character name quirks like this. A "Twelfth Night" character named Malvolio is another man who loves Olivia, and Feste is the fool in Olivia's court. But "She's The Man" combined these into the character Malcolm Feste, and gave him a pet tarantula named Malvolio instead. 

There are plenty of other hidden references to Shakespeare throughout the story. Viola's debutante ball takes place at the Stratford Country Club, riffing on Shakespeare's own hometown. Several side characters take their names and personalities from other play characters, like the Illyria headmaster Horatio (played by David Cross) or a popular date spot Cesario's.

Shakespearean roots aside, "She's The Man" is a darn fun movie. Roger Ebert gave it three stars back in 2006, and said Bynes "is convincing, and her poise, under the circumstances, is extraordinary." The excellent mid '00s soundtrack includes the All American Rejects, OK Go, and The Veronicas. Plus there are no fewer than four jokes about flirting with the opening line: "Do you like cheese?" 

If you've never see "She's The Man," I forgive you. But only if you swear to rectify that life mistake by watching it within the next 48 hours. This is a teen comedy worthy of everyone's one hour and 30 minutes, especially given its perfect Shakesperean adaption choices.

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"Every student should do the best they can."

If you're a grammar purist, that sentence may have made you cringe.

Standard English dictates the word "they," a plural pronoun, should never be used to refer to a single person. Since "student" is a singular noun, you'd need a singular pronoun like "he" or "she" to match it.

A high-school English teacher, however, wrote a convincing argument about why he'll no longer mark that usage as incorrect in his students' essays. His decision could reflect a dramatic shift in the English language.

In a column for PBS NewsHour, 38-year teaching veteran Steve Gardiner of Billings, Montana, said that forbidding the singular "they" has outlived its usefulness.

"I have burned up hundreds of red pens, and hours of time, correcting this grammatical usage based on a traditional gender binary of he and she. It's time to move on," Gardiner wrote.

"They" has gained considerable traction recently as a singular pronoun. The Washington Post added "they" to its style guide last year to accommodate "people who identify as neither male nor female." And in January, the American Dialect Society declared "they" its Word of the Year in a vote among linguists, grammarians, and lexicographers.

"It does say something about the way people are exploring gender and sexual identity, and perhaps a greater openness to accepting new ways of expressing that identity through language," Ben Zimmer, chair of the American Dialect Society's new words committee, told Business Insider in January. "It feels like an opening up of the language, allowing for a greater possibility of what these pronouns can refer to."

By accepting the singular "they," Gardiner wrote, we can finally throw away the awkward constructions English speakers have invented to circumvent the issue.

Decades ago, masculine pronouns could be used to refer to someone of either sex, like in the sentence "The writer must address his readers' concerns." In the legendary writing guide "Elements of Style," EB White and William Strunk advised rewording that sentence to "As a writer, you must address your readers' concerns," according to the New Republic's John McWhorter. It's a compromise that sacrifices the conciseness of the original, though.

As society became more inclusive, English saw the advent of more workarounds, including the clunky "he/she" and the unpronounceable "s/he." And dozens of gender-neutral pronouns have been proposed over the years — including "heesh," "thon," and "zie," although none of them came close to catching on.

Meanwhile, the history of the singular "they" goes back centuries, as McWhorter pointed out in another piece. Shakespeare used the possessive form in his "Comedy of Errors," first performed in 1594:

"There's not a man I meet but doth salute me / As if I were their well-acquainted friend"

As singular "they" creeps into the lexicons of writers and media figures, it's only a matter of time before it becomes fully accepted. Ultimately, Gardiner acknowledges the fight against the singular "they" is futile:

"Having fought this battle with students for more than three decades, I am ready to admit defeat. Every student is going to write what they want. Every broadcaster is going to say what they want. There, I even wrote it myself, and most readers probably did not notice."

Read Gardiner's column here »

SEE ALSO: A simple pronoun has been named 2015's Word of the Year

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The legacy of Shakespeare's famous Globe Theater is still around 400 years later. A collection of architects and designers have formed the Container Globe, an effort to build a reconstruction of the Globe Theater, entirely out of repurposed shipping containers.

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LONDON (AP) — Oxford University Press says its new edition of William Shakespeare's works will co-credit Christopher Marlowe on the three Henry VI plays.

The decision announced Monday for the upcoming edition comes after a team of scholars using modern analytical methods revisited the question of whether Shakespeare collaborated with others.

The research suggests that experts underestimated the extent to which Shakespeare collaborated with others.

The publisher says that "identifying Marlowe's hand in the Henry VI plays is just one of the fresh features of this project."

The experts included Gary Taylor of Florida State University and John Jowett at the University of Birmingham.

The authorship of Shakespeare's works has long been disputed, with one theory being that philosopher Sir Francis Bacon is the true author of the works.

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Delta Air Lines pulled its sponsorship from New York City's Public Theater on Sunday because one of its plays depicts the assassination of a politician who looks like President Donald Trump.

The theater company's production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" features actors wearing modern dress and a blond, business suit-wearing title character. The character is stabbed to death in a bloody scene midway through the play.

"No matter what your political stance may be, the graphic staging of Julius Caesar at this summer’s Free Shakespeare in the Park does not reflect Delta Air Lines’ values," Delta said in a statement. "Their artistic and creative direction crossed the line on the standards of good taste."

The play is running through June 18 as part of the Public Theater's popular "Shakespeare in the Park" series in Manhattan's Central Park.

Hosts of the Fox News morning program "Fox and Friends" criticized the play earlier Sunday.

"A disgusting New York City play depicting the president brutally assassinated, all while being funded by your taxpayer dollars," a Fox host said as she introduced a segment about the play.

Donald Trump Jr. chimed in as well, tweeting a Fox News article about the segment and asking "Serious question, when does 'art' become political speech & does that change things?"

Before pulling its sponsorship, Delta responded to the Fox News tweet with the statement, "We do not support this interpretation of Julius Caesar."

A note on the play's website, from director Oskar Eustis, addresses the provocative scene.

"'Julius Caesar is about how fragile democracy is. The institutions that we have inherited from the struggle of many generations of our ancestors, can be swept away in no time at all," it reads, in part.

"The difficulty in determining the protagonist of 'Julius Caesar — there are at least four credible candidates — is not a formal weakness of the play, but rather essential to its structure. When history is happening, when the ground is slipping away from under us and all that is solid melts into air, leadership is as transitory and flawed as the times."

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Is seeing graphic, violent content onstage different than watching it on a screen? The Royal Shakespeare Company is using science to find out.

The British theater troupe is currently performing "Titus Andronicus" in Stratford-upon-Avon. Considered Shakespeare’s goriest play, "Titus" includes scenes where characters are raped and mutilated, or have their hands chopped off. And the RSC production (which The Guardian called “blood-drenched”) puts this graphic content front and center.

The theater wants to find out whether modern-day audiences are desensitized to this violence, or if it still shocks. So, as The New York Times first reported, the RSC—in partnership with the British market research firm Ipsos MORI—will monitor the heart rates of 10 selected audience members at three Titus Andronicus performances (for a total of 30 subjects in all).

Then in August, as a basis of comparison, 30 people will wear heart rate monitors while they watch a screening of "Titus Andronicus" at a British movie theater—the filmed performance will not be one of the three that was monitored live.

The stage and screen groups will be demographically matched based on age, theater experience and gender to achieve a comparable set of results.

RSC head of audience insight Becky Loftus told the Times that the theater is conducting the experiment because audience members have been fainting or getting sick almost every night—the same phenomenon has occurred during the Broadway production of "1984."

“We want to see how the audience reacts physically to the production,” Loftus said. “Are people so used to things like (Quentin) Tarantino and 'Game of Thrones' that they’re not shocked anymore by theater magic, or theater blood and gore?”

Results from the project will be published in November. And any Americans curious about "Titus Andronicus" (which is performed in modern dress like the Public Theater’s controversial "Julius Caesar") can see for themselves when the production is screened here in September.

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William Shakespeare is most famous for his plays. But he also invented many words and phrases that we still use today in everyday life. 

We put together a list of our 21 favorites. Check them out:

"Puking"

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. ..."

How Shakespeare uses it: "Puking" was first recorded in Shakespeare's "As You Like It." It was likely an English imitation of the German word "spucken," which means to spit.

Modern definition: A synonym for the verb "to vomit."

Source: "As You Like It," Act 2, Scene 7

"Vanish into thin air"

"Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I'll away. Go; vanish into air; away!" (Othello)

How Shakespeare uses it: The Clown says this to the musicians in "Othello" to make them go away.

But some have also suggested that there is a darker underlying meaning. Act 3 in Othello is the final act that suggests that all of this might have a happy ending. It gets pretty dark starting in Act 4. So the Clown might be symbolically asking musicians and all happy things to "vanish into thin air" because there's no more room for them in the play.

A similar phrase is also found in "The Tempest."

Modern definition: To disappear without a trace.

Sources: "Othello," Act 3, Scene 1, "The Tempest," Act 4, Scene 1

"There's a method to my madness"

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?"

How Shakespeare uses it: Polonius says it in "Hamlet," basically suggesting that there is reason behind apparent chaos.

Modern definition: The meaning is the same nowadays, although the language is a bit updated into modern terms. It is also a Bee Gees song.

Source: "Hamlet," Act 2, Scene 2

The Royal Shakespeare Company's costume workshop in Stratford-upon-Avon is home to some of the most famous outfits in British theatre history.

There are about 30,000 items inside – worn by Richard Burton, Vivien Leigh, Ben Kingsley, David Tennant, and other actors.

Some of the oldest and most valuable pieces are on display at The Play's The Thing exhibition. There is also Richard Burton's Henry V costume from 1951, the performance that launched the actor onto a Hollywood career.

In the workshop, about 2,000 costumes and props are made each year by a team of 30 people. This makes it the largest in-house costume-makers of any British theatre.

Due to the number of items, the RSC holds costume sales every 4-5 years to make space. The workshop buildings, which are from 1887, also need to be refurbished. 

The Company hopes to raise £3 million with the Stitch in Time campaign to redevelop the costume workshop to modern standards.

Produced and filmed by Claudia Romeo

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William Shakespeare wrote a lot of great plays, but he also coined and popularized a lot of words and phrases that we still use to this day.

We put together a list of our 21 favorites. Check them out:

"Puking"

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. ..."

How Shakespeare uses it: "Puking" was first recorded in Shakespeare's "As You Like It." It was likely an English imitation of the German word "spucken," which means to spit, according to Dictionary.com.

Modern definition: A synonym for the verb "to vomit."

Source: "As You Like It," Act 2, Scene 7

"Vanish into thin air"

"Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I'll away. Go; vanish into air; away!" (Othello)

How Shakespeare uses it: The Clown says this to the musicians in "Othello" to make them go away.

But some have also suggested that there is a darker underlying meaning. Act 3 in Othello is the final act that suggests that all of this might have a happy ending. It gets pretty dark starting in Act 4. So the Clown might be symbolically asking musicians and all happy things to "vanish into thin air" because there's no more room for them in the play.

A similar phrase is also found in "The Tempest."

Modern definition: To disappear without a trace.

Sources: "Othello," Act 3, Scene 1, "The Tempest," Act 4, Scene 1

"There's a method to my madness"

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?"

How Shakespeare uses it: Polonius says it in "Hamlet," basically suggesting that there is reason behind apparent chaos.

Modern definition: The meaning is the same nowadays, although the language is a bit updated into modern terms. It is also a Bee Gees song.

Source: "Hamlet," Act 2, Scene 2

• Majoring in English doesn't mean your only career option is to become a writer. 
• There are plenty of well-paying career options for English majors.
• Two examples of great positions English majors can get are: human resource generalist, and marketing director.

"I see thou art an English major?" (Translation for non-Shakespearean scholars: "Why are you an English major?")

Fear not, English majors have some well-paying career options, says Katie Bardaro, lead analyst for online salary database PayScale.com.

"If you want to major in English and earn a lot of money, you don't have to figure out how to do that as a writer," she says. "Take your communication and analytical-thinking skills and apply them in other areas."

Check out this list of the best-paying jobs for workers who have bachelor's degrees in English and five-to-eight years of experience in their field.

Sales account manager

A sales account manager maintains business relationships with existing clients and seeks opportunities for new clients—tasks that require strong written and oral communication skills. Because English majors learn critical thinking, they are well-suited to handle the problem-solving and strategizing issues involved in this job.

Median salary: $67,300 per year

IT project manager

Working as an IT project manager is much like diagramming sentences—breaking down something complex and then building or reconstructing it. IT project managers plan, coordinate, and direct technology-related activities, from installing and upgrading computer software to building network security measures.

To land this job, you'll want to punctuate your grammar skills with computer knowledge. Employers often prefer a bachelor's degree in a computer- or information science-related field. Graduate degrees are sometimes required.

Median salary: $67,000 per year

Proposal manager

Remember persuasive writing? Proposal managers use those same skills to help their organizations land new work. They coordinate writers, illustrators, and other team members to prepare proposals on behalf of their company for contracted projects, like building a school. English majors' mastery of language and details help them excel in this role.

Median salary: $65,000 per year

Web developer

Web developers design and create websites and sometimes even write the content. They are responsible for the site's performance, capacity, and look. A high school diploma may be enough to get started in this field, but an associate or bachelor's degree is sometimes required. You'll need a full understanding of computer languages, such as HTML.

"Being an English major prepared me with critical-thinking skills that I use all the time as a web developer," says David Feld, who worked as a newspaper editor and reporter before starting his own Web development business in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in 2011. "Having that strong writing background helped set me apart from competitors."

Median salary: $58,500 per year

Nonprofit executive director

Nonprofit executive directors devise strategies and policies to ensure an organization meets its goals. They oversee an organization's finances, manage staff, write grants, and work with the community.

"An English degree gives you such a great, flexible foundation from which to build a career," says Laurie Dean Torrell, executive director of Just Buffalo Literary Center in Buffalo. "Every step of my career, I've benefited from having that foundation."

Median salary: $55,200 per year

Human resources generalist

An HR generalist handles all aspects of human resources work, including recruitment; employee relations; payroll and benefits; training; and administering human resources policies, procedures, and programs. Communication skills are important when explaining these policies to employees.

Most employers prefer a bachelor's degree in human resources, business or a related field. A certification from the Human Resources Certification Institute is recommended because it shows knowledge and competence across all areas of HR.

Median salary: $54,000 per year

Marketing director

Fans of creative writing will likely end up here. A marketing director needs to come up with great ideas and encourage others to do the same. Marketing directors plan, direct, and coordinate the marketing of an organization's products or services. Work experience in marketing, sales, advertising, and promotions is essential.

Median salary: $53,200 per year

Managing editor

A managing editor is responsible for the daily operation of a news department at a newspaper, magazine, or TV station. Duties include editing content for proper context, planning content, and approving final versions of stories. Today, familiarity with web design, multimedia production, and other electronic-publishing methods keeps a job candidate competitive.

Median salary: $53,000 per year

Marketing communications manager 

Mar-comm managers create clear, compelling, and concise communications about an organization's marketing strategy. Their work can include coordinating press releases and website content, developing promotional strategies and campaigns, and editing white papers.

Employers usually seek candidates with bachelor's degrees in English, communications, journalism, public relations, or business.

Median salary: $50,500 per year

Technical writer

Technical writers produce instructional manuals and other supporting documents to communicate complex and technical information more easily.

After earning her English degree in 2005 from Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa, Krystal Gabel held substitute-teaching, library, and newspaper jobs. Since July 2011, she's worked as a technical writer for ACI, an Omaha company that writes software for the banking industry. She loves the challenge of deciphering complicated, technical language for numerous audiences.

"We're given raw material, and we have to make something of it," she said. "It's problem-solving for [the client]. That's what I like most about being a tech writer."

Median salary: $49,100 per year

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• Recently, people have been buzzing about how Anne Hathaway doesn't seem to have aged at all since "The Princess Diaries" was released in 2001, but now, something even stranger has started making the rounds.
• One Twitter user pointed out that Hathaway's husband looks just like William Shakespeare — and she shares the same name as Shakespeare's wife.
• Now, people are hitting Twitter to talk about this eerie connection.

  ---

Anne Hathaway might have been off the grid for awhile, but she's back — and since "Ocean's 8" hit theaters last month, she's become a huge topic of conversation. But now fans are buzzing about her for a different reason, and it all has to do with William Shakespeare.

As Twitter user @PEACHYBLACKG0RL pointed out, there are more than a few connections between Hathaway and Shakespeare, and now, her tweet is going viral with more than 160,000 retweets and growing.

"Anne hathaway is being talked about for her beauty but what about the fact that her husband looks very similar to William Shakespeare and William Shakespeare's wife's name was literally ANNE HATHAWAY......" the tweet read.

Strangely enough, this is all true. There obviously aren’t any actual photographs of Shakespeare, but the artwork that does exist showing what he looked like is very similar to Hathaway’s real-life husband, Adam Shulman. And as for Shakespeare’s wife herself? She was, in fact, named Anne Hathaway. Spooky, right?

Maybe not. According to a 2008 article in The Telegraph, Hathaway was actually purposefully named after Shakespeare’s wife, but the actress herself has yet to confirm that fact — and it still doesn’t explain why her husband looks so much like poet.

And of course, plenty of people have turned to Twitter to share how much their minds have been blown because of this connection.

So what’s the deal with Hathaway and Shulman? Are they actually time travelers, or is this all just one big coincidence? Either way, it’s pretty cool that she and the legendary poet (and his wife) share these similarities.

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• Two people have been arrested in Iran over a production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." 
• The play's director, Maryam Kazemi, and the manager of the theater that put on the production, Saeed Assadi, were released after posting $24,000 bail each.
• The two were arrested after a trailer of the production was posted to social media, showing men and women dancing together, which is illegal in the country.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian authorities have detained two artists over a theatre production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Cultural official Shahram Karami told the official IRNA news agency Monday that Iran’s judiciary had ordered the detention of the play’s director, Maryam Kazemi, and the manager of the theater that hosted it, Saeed Assadi.

Karami said both were taken into custody Sunday evening, after the broadcast of a video trailer about the work. He said it had caused a "misunderstanding," but did not elaborate, adding that a court had accepted to release the two on some $24,000 bail each.

A clip on social media showed female actors dancing with men as part of the trailer, an illegal act under the Islamic Republic’s strict rules that forbid gender mixing and women dancing in public.

The play was on stage for seven nights before the detentions. The comic fantasy tracks the intertwined fates of four lovers and is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, put on by theater groups and schools around the world.

The police forces and hardliners who dominate Iran’s judiciary reject western culture in Iran.

In July, Iran detained Maedeh Hojabri, a teenage girl who posted dance videos online.

In 2014 authorities sentenced six young men and women to suspended prison terms after they appeared in a video dancing to Pharrell Williams’ song "Happy."

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• In Cynthia Lewis' new book "The game's afoot: A Sports Lover's Introduction to Shakespeare," the author compares the rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics to the age-old feud between the Capulets and Montagues in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. 
• Although the rivalry has been less relevant in recent years, LeBron James's arrival in Hollywood and his tense history with Celtics star Kyrie Irving could put their teams' ongoing feud back in the spotlight. 
• The two teams will face off for the first time this upcoming season in Boston on February 7.

Historically, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics have been the NBA's marquee rivalry, and despite its secondary status in recent years, there is a chance it could revive itself.

First, it was Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Next came Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Most recently, Kobe Bryant reigned supreme versus Kevin Garnett and a band of sharpshooters in the 2010 NBA Finals. Now there is a new legend in the rivalry in LeBron James and maybe a lesson from Shakespeare.

In her recent book "The game's afoot: A Sports Lover's Introduction to Shakespeare," author Cynthia Lewis examines the parallels between Shakespeare's plays and modern spectator sports. In one section, Lewis likens the rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics to the age-old feud between the Capulets and Montagues in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Could teammates-turned-foes LeBron James and Kyrie Irving become the title characters in the historic rivalry's next chapter?

All signs point to yes, according to Lewis's criteria for a powerful and sustained rivalry.

First, Lewis points to status and social hierarchy discrepancies as a hallmark of any great feud. Back in fair Verona, "the fact that human reason provided for speech meant that the use of language also distinguished human beings from beasts" (Lewis 14). Employees of the Capulets mocked Romeo's speech throughout the play, casting him as inferior and unworthy of Juliet and the stature that accompanies her courtship.

According to Lewis, similar tropes have historically characterized the Lakers-Celtics rivalry, which TIME journalist Charlie Duerr boils down to "Hollywood glamour versus East coast working-class grit." Players from today's Los Angeles and Boston teams largely fall into these same roles. James has been linked to multiple Hollywood productions, including a sequel to "Space Jam" announced earlier this week, and teammate Lonzo Ball and his outspoken father LaVar have been at the center of intrigue regarding their personal merchandising machine in Big Baller Brand. The Celtics have expressed much more humility across the country, with Irving spewing flat-Earth theories, Gordon Hayward not-so-subtly expressing his disappointment at finding out his third daughter was on the way, and Jayson Tatum trying everything to get his newborn son to sleep in his crib.

Lewis also stresses the importance of role players in the success or failure of either side of a rivalry.

"Romeo and Juliet are no more singly responsible for their tragedy than would be Magic, Bird, Kobe, or Garnett for a win or a loss," Lewis wrote.

As evidenced by the Cleveland Cavaliers' loss in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals caused by guard JR Smith's major gaffe, King James is not immune to this reality. The Lakers will surround James with a young cast of characters in Ball, Brandon Ingram, and Kyle Kuzma. Irving and Hayward, too, will have to rely on young players such as Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Terry Rozier.

Finally, Lewis cites strong mentorship as a crucial component to these rivalries. Both Romeo and Juliet turn to Friar Lawrence for guidance in moments of desperation, and Lewis says that "an analogy between the Friar as spiritual/life counselor and an athletic coach is not farfetched." James and the Lakers hope to thrive under the combined leadership of head coach Luke Walton and president of basketball operations Magic Johnson while the Celtics lean on head coach Brad Stevens, who is often lauded as a basketball genius.

All of these factors—combined with the added tension of Irving's dramatic departure from Cleveland in the summer of 2017—will undoubtedly rejuvenate one of the fiercest rivalries in all of the sports. The two teams will face off for the first time this upcoming season in Boston February 7. Check out Lewis's takes on other sports-Shakespeare parallels in "The game's afoot: A Sports Lover's Introduction to Shakespeare," which you can buy here.

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• The ancient Greek poet Archilochus of Paros wrote, "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."
• According to a 1953 essay by philosopher Isaiah Berlin, thinkers and leaders can be split in these two animal categories: Those who see the details in everything they do, like the fox, and those who are great at having one singular vision, like the hedgehog.
• In his book "On Grand Strategy," Yale professor John Lewis Gaddis says the adage can teach us a lot about becoming a great leader based on how we perceive big-picture goals.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

What can a 2,600-year-old line about a fox and a hedgehog teach us about leadership?

The ancient Greek poet Archilochus wrote a now-lost parable with the following moral: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."

The general gist of the line is this: Some people see the details in everything they do, like the fox, while others are great at having one singular vision, like the hedgehog. This animal-centric adage is at the heart of a lesson in "On Grand Strategy," an instruction manual for would-be leaders based on popular seminars by Yale professor John Lewis Gaddis.

Taking a cue from a 1953 essay by British-American philosopher Isaiah Berlin, Gaddis discusses how great leaders and thinkers can be categorized as either hedgehogs or foxes. Berlin went so far as to say that this split is "one of the deepest differences [that] divide writers and thinkers, and, it may be, human beings in general."

The divide may stem from how each animal reacts to its environment. Notable thinkers have pointed out that when a fox is hunted, it finds many clever ways to evade predators; when a hedgehog is hunted, it curls up into a spiky ball and lies still.

In Berlin's words, hedgehogs "relate everything to a single central vision... a single, universal, organizing principle in terms of which alone all that they are and say has significance." Foxes, on the other hand, "pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory... related to no moral or aesthetic principle." According to Gaddis and Berlin, Dante was a hedgehog, but Shakespeare and Joyce were foxes.

Gaddis also points out that Abraham Lincoln's leadership embodied the best of both animals. He notes that Lincoln focused on preserving the principles of the Declaration of Independence, but did it through foxy means: "What more praiseworthy cause could a hedgehog possibly pursue? But to abolish slavery, Lincoln must move the Thirteenth Amendment through a fractious House of Representatives, and here his maneuvers are as foxy as they come."

According to Gaddis, Lincoln's single goal was to preserve the Union, but he had to rely on bribery, flattery, and "outright lies" to do so. He knew that the future of America depended on both the big picture and the small details.

In his book "The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprints for Success," William Thorndike used the ancient parable to describe the rise of Warren Buffett. "Buffett, already an extraordinarily successful investor, came to Berkshire uniquely prepared for allocating capital," Thorndike writes. "Most CEOs are limited by prior experience to investment opportunities within their own industry – they are hedgehogs. Buffett, in contrast, by virtue of his prior experience evaluating investments in a wide variety of securities and industries, was a classic fox and had the advantage of choosing from a much wider menu of allocation options, including the purchase of private companies and publicly traded stocks."

Meanwhile, Carl Reichardt, former CEO of Wells Fargo, has been called "a consummate hedgehog."According to writer Jim Collins, "While his counterparts at Bank of America went into a reaction-revolution panic mode in response to deregulation, hiring change gurus who used sophisticated models and time-consuming encounter groups, Reichardt stripped everything down to its essential simplicity."

The phrase has been in vogue since the '50s, even inspiring a red fox mascot for statistical-analysis site FiveThirtyEight. According to Gaddis, Berlin not only succeeded in finding a fun way to compare personalities, but he made himself "intellectually indelible" by turning his "ideas into animals."

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For nine years I've worked at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, but like most "theater people" I've been reading and performing Shakespeare's plays and poems for most of my life.

So far, 2020 has shown me that I've underrated maybe the defining fact of Shakesepare's life: he lived during a time of pandemic.

There were periodic closures of theatres throughout Shakespeare's career due to the bubonic plague, and it's now become clear to me that living through a pandemic had a major impact on the plays by the recognized GOAT of English-language drama.

Here's how. 

1. The need for patronage from new sources — and the emergence of a recognizably 'Shakespearean' style

In the years before 1592, Shakespeare was highly successful but somewhat derivative, kind of like an action-movie director pumping out superhero blockbusters. His most popular plays were the bloody trilogy of "Henry VI" plays, written with a series of co-authors. 

When an outbreak closed the theaters between 1592 and 1594, a number of theatre companies were wiped out. Shakespeare likely sought out aristocratic patrons and began a different kind of writing — Sonnets and epic poetry. 

When the theaters reopened, Shakespeare was a shareholder in a newly formed company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and his plays were suddenly more sonnet-like. The lyrically virtuosic works he began writing include "Romeo and Juliet,""A Midsummer Night's Dream,""Richard II," and "The Merchant of Venice" — essentially what we start to recognize as a classically Shakespearean style. 

2. Shakespeare's likely quarantine in the country contributed to the trademark length of his plays

Shakespeare was also personally affected by pandemic while quarantining in the country.

His son, Hamnet, died at the age of 11 in 1596, probably from the plague. "Hamlet" was Shakespeare's resulting exploration of fathers and sons, death and grief. 

There are multiple versions of the play, and all of them are long. It's almost as if Shakespeare was working through something so traumatic that he couldn't leave well enough alone. 

The so-called "good Quarto" of "Hamlet," which most of us are taught in high school, first appeared in 1604, another year of plague closures that marked a major leap forward in Shakespeare's style. 

3. The pandemic led to theatre privatization, directly leading to modern-day enclosed performance

There was a third outbreak late in Shakespeare's career, and when the theaters reopened in 1609, his company started performing in the Blackfriars Theatre, purchased the year before. 

Unlike the Globe, a large, open-air theatre on the South Bank of the Thames, the Blackfriars was a smaller and indoor venue with artificial lighting. It had higher ticket prices, essentially assuring a more upper class and aristocratic audience than the Globe's "groundlings." In short, the Blackfriars was the beginning of the transformation of the theatre into the boutique art form it is today, one pitched toward a cosmopolitan elite rather than the masses. 

4. Shakespeare took advantage of a marketplace that pandemic created

The biggest effect of the plague on Shakespeare's career, however, was the fact that he had a career in the first place.

By some estimates, London lost more than 50% of its population during the 16th century, depriving thousands in the countryside, including Shakespeare, from making a living in their parent's trade (Shakespeare's father was a glovemaker). Many of these moved to London to make their own way. It was the creation of the secular theatrical marketplace. 

One generation prior, when most people remained tied to the land of their parents' birthplace, theater was confined to small groups of traveling players, revelry on feast days, and private celebrations sponsored by aristocrats in the great manor homes.

It was a pandemic, yes, but it was also, to quote Shakespeare, a "brave new world." Or to quote another famous English writer, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Drew Lichtenberg is the Resident Dramaturg and Literary Manager at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. He holds a Doctorate in Fine Arts from Yale School of Drama.

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