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.
Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Elizabethan Theater
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 87 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,…
Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare in China
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 86 In 2015, on a state visit to Great Britain, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping called 17th century Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu the “Shakespeare of the East,” and ever since, the Ministry of Culture for the People’s Republic…
Shakespeare in Science Fiction
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 85 Shakespeare and his plays crop up in science fiction in a number of surprising places, from classic stories like Isaac Asimov’s “The Immortal Bard” to TV shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who. And it’s not…
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…
Shakespeare in Swahililand
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 83 Two literary scholars discuss Shakespeare’s influence on the politics, history, and literary culture of East Africa. Edward Wilson-Lee, the son of white wildlife conservationists, spent his childhood in Kenya and now teaches Shakespeare at the University…
Thinking Shakespeare with Barry Edelstein
How do actors breathe life into Shakespeare’s texts? How do they take language that’s centuries old and make it sound so real and immediate?
Shakespeare and War: Stephan Wolfert
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 81 In his one-man show Cry Havoc! actor Stephan Wolfert, a US Army veteran, draws together lines in Shakespeare’s plays spoken by soldiers and former soldiers—including Macbeth, Othello, and Richard III. He puts those words to the…
Leonard Bernstein and West Side Story
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 80 Without a doubt, American composer Leonard Bernstein’s most significant contribution to the world of Shakespeare was West Side Story, the 1957 smash Broadway hit adaptation of Romeo and Juliet written and created by Jerome Robbins, Arthur…
Shakespeare's Kitchen with Francine Segan
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 79 No oven dials, no electric gadgets. The kitchens of Shakespeare’s time looked very different from our kitchens today, and that’s not all that has changed when it comes to habits of diet, food preparation, and especially,…
Akala and Hip-Hop Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 78 “Is it Shakespeare, or is it hip-hop?” British poet, rapper, and educator Kingslee James Daley, who goes by the stage name Akala, likes to recite a passage and then challenge his audience with this question. Even…
Creating TNT's 'Will'
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 77 Will, the new series on TNT, tells stories derived from what we often call Shakespeare’s “lost years”—the time before he made a name for himself as a writer. The series takes advantage of that gaping hole…
Phyllida Lloyd and All-Female Shakespeare
In 2012, the Donmar Warehouse opened an all-female production of Julius Caesar, directed by Tony Award-nominated director Phyllida Lloyd and starring Harriet Walter as Brutus. The production was set in a womens’ prison, and would be the first of a trilogy of all-female productions. Julius Caesar was followed by Henry IV (parts 1 and 2 combined) in 2014, and ending with The Tempest in 2016.