Shakespeare Unlimited podcast
William Shakespeare and his works are woven throughout our global culture, from theater, music, and films to new scholarship, education, amazing discoveries, and more. In our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast, Shakespeare opens a window into topics ranging from the American West, to the real history of Elizabethan street fighting, to interviews with Shakespearean stars. As you’ll hear, he turns up in surprising places, too—including outer space. Join us for a “no limits” tour of the connections between Shakespeare, his works, and our world.
How Shakespeare Changed My Life
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 95 Hear Sir Ben Kingsley, Earle Hyman, Liev Schreiber, James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach, Estelle Parsons, and others open up about their experiences with Shakespeare’s plays. Actor/director Melinda Hall interviewed these actors (and others), as well as…
Antony Sher
Sir Antony Sher, one the greatest Shakespearean actors of the 20th and 21st centuries, shares why he found preparation to be the secret behind every great Shakespearean performance. He talks about the RSC and playing Lear, Falstaff, and Richard III.
Dennis McCarthy and June Schlueter on the George North Manuscript
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 93 Scholars Dennis McCarthy and June Schlueter say they have discovered a major new source for Shakespeare’s Richard III, Henry V, Henry VI, Part II, and at least eight other plays. The scholarly world continues to investigate…
Derek Jacobi: Acting Shakespeare
Actor Derek Jacobi talks about his remarkable career, including the advice he received from Richard Burton, a disappointing rejection by the Royal Shakespeare Company, sharing the stage with Laurence Olivier, his collaborations with Kenneth Branagh, and a struggle with paralyzing stage fright.
Derek Jacobi: Playing Hamlet
Derek Jacobi talks about the Shakespearean role for which he is best known, Hamlet. Beginning at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1957, Jacobi has acted this role on stage nearly 400 times.
Bernard Cornwell: Fools and Mortals
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 90 Bernard Cornwell, a bestselling writer of historical fiction such as the Sharpe series, has turned to the world of the Elizabethan theater. His newest novel, Fools and Mortals, imagines the first production of A Midsummer Night’s…
Orson Welles and Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 89 There was a time when Orson Welles was one of America’s biggest celebrities. In 1938, he made national headlines when the radio show he produced did a version of The War of the Worlds that was…
Marketing Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 88 Getting theater audiences interested in Romeo and Juliet might be easy. But what about less familiar Shakespeare plays like Timon of Athens? This episode of the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast offers an insider’s take on the challenges…
Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Elizabethan Theater
In Shakespeare’s time, theater companies used a variety of staging effects in their productions to create a full-body experience for playgoers: fireworks, fake blood, fake body parts, paint, and more. Plays were smorgasbords for the senses—including smell.
Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare in China
On a 2015 state visit to Great Britain, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping called 17th century Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu the “Shakespeare of the East,” and ever since, there has been a concerted push to elevate Tang to the status of Shakespeare.
Shakespeare in Science Fiction
Shakespeare and his plays crop up in science fiction in a number of surprising places. Scholar Sarah Annes Brown shares how Shakespeare the man, Shakespeare the idea, Shakespeare’s writing, and Shakespeare’s meaning have appeared in the genre, dating all the way back to the 1820s.
Edward St. Aubyn: Dunbar
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 84 The title character of King Lear becomes a media mogul in Edward St. Aubyn’s new novel, Dunbar, which retells the story of one of Shakespeare’s most dysfunctional families for the Hogarth Shakespeare series. Edward St. Aubyn…