Julie Hammonds, author of Blue Mountain Rose, is on a mission to “complete the canon.”
What does that mean, exactly? A sanctioned or accepted group of an author’s related works is called a “canon.” Generally speaking, there are 38 plays in Shakespeare’s canon.*
Julie wants to complete the canon by seeing all of Shakespeare’s plays performed live. She saw her first play (Hamlet, of course!) in 1983. She hopes to complete the canon in 2025, the year Blue Mountain Rose is published.
Bonus mission: Because she’s on book tour this year, and because she loves a good challenge, Julie is also trying to complete the entire canon in just this one calendar year (yeah, good luck with that, right?!). Read more about her quest here.
Here are the 38 plays we consider to be Shakespeare’s canon. We’ll track Julie’s progress by listing the date she first saw a play. We also give the website for that theater company (if it’s still in business). When Julie sees a performance this year, she writes a pocket play review. Read those here.
| THE PLAYS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) | LIFETIME (STATUS: 34 OF 38) | 2025** (STATUS: 14 OF 38) |
| All’s Well That Ends Well | November 1990 Tygre’s Heart Shakespeare Co. | |
| Antony and Cleopatra | March 2023 Southwest Shakespeare | July 2025 Utah Shakespeare Festival Read our homage to USF |
| As You Like It | September 1992 Oregon Shakespeare Festival | July 2025 Utah Shakespeare Festival |
| The Comedy of Errors | September 2009 Southwest Shakespeare | March 2025 Chesapeake Shakespeare Read our pocket play review |
| Coriolanus | August 2023 Utah Shakespeare Festival | January 2025 Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival |
| Cymbeline | ||
| Hamlet | March 1983 Oregon Shakespeare Festival | April 2025 Alabama Shakespeare Festival Read our pocket play review AND Nevada Shakespeare Festival Read our pocket play review |
| Henry IV, Part 1 | August 2014 Utah Shakespeare Festival | |
| Henry IV, Part 2 | August 2015 Utah Shakespeare Festival | |
| Henry V | October 2000 Royal Shakespeare Company | |
| Henry VI, Part 1 | ||
| Henry VI, Part 2 | ||
| Henry VI, Part 3 | September 1992 Oregon Shakespeare Festival | |
| Henry VIII | July 2009 Oregon Shakespeare Festival | |
| Julius Caesar | July 1989 Pacific Repertory Theater | |
| King John | October 2014 Southwest Shakespeare | |
| King Lear | August 2015 Utah Shakespeare Festival | March 2025 American Shakespeare Center Read our pocket play review |
| Love’s Labour’s Lost | July 2025 Lanes Coven Theater Co. | July 2025 Lanes Coven Theater Co. Read our pocket play review |
| Macbeth | May 2005 Arizona Theatre Company | July 2025 Utah Shakespeare Festival |
| Measure for Measure | August 2014 Utah Shakespeare Festival | |
| The Merchant of Venice | April 2009 Southwest Shakespeare | July 2025 Portland Shakespeare Project |
| The Merry Wives of Windsor | October 2001 Theatre in the Rough | |
| A Midsummer Night’s Dream | July 1990 California State University Fresno, Courtyard Shakespeare Festival | |
| Much Ado About Nothing | November 1990 (audience) Seattle Repertory Theatre May 2015 (stage manager) Theatrikos | July 2025 Island Shakespeare Festival |
| Othello | September 1992 Oregon Shakespeare Festival | |
| Pericles | November 2018 Southwest Shakespeare | |
| Richard II | 2003 Shakespeare’s Globe | |
| Richard III | May 2008 Southwest Shakespeare | July 2025 GreenStage Shakespeare in the Park |
| Romeo and Juliet | November 1999 Perseverance Theater | February 2025 Southwest Shakespeare Read our pocket play review |
| The Taming of the Shrew | May 1987 Alabama Shakespeare Festival | |
| The Tempest | May 1987 Alabama Shakespeare Festival | |
| Timon of Athens | July 2017 Stratford Festival | |
| Titus Andronicus | July 2018 Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival | |
| Troilus and Cressida | ||
| Twelfth Night | March 1996 Theatre in the Rough | April 2025 Atlanta Shakespeare Company |
| The Two Gentlemen of Verona | July 1987 Montana State University | July 2025 Bard on the Beach |
| The Two Noble Kinsmen | October 2023 Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival | |
| The Winter’s Tale | November 2001 (as stage manager) Perseverance Theater August 2002 (audience) Oregon Shakespeare Festival |
** If you happen to run a theater company and you would like to invite Julie to your show, please send us an email. Julie would love to see what you’re up to and celebrate your contribution to the glorious collaboration that is live theater.
Have you completed the canon? Do you want to?
Dear fans of Blue Mountain Rose:
We encourage you to see at least one of Shakespeare’s plays performed live this year. Maybe you will even complete the canon yourself!
If you have completed the canon, send us an email. We’ll add your name to a Wall of Canonical Fame page on this website. You can download our handy Complete The Canon tracker here.
