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.
A Tour of the Newly-Reopened Folger | Part 1
Join Shakespeare Unlimited host Barbara Bogaev on a personal tour of the Folger’s newly-renovated public spaces, opening June 21.
Fred Wilson on His New Work for the Folger
The contemporary artist reflects on his new piece for the Folger’s Shakespeare Exhibition and how his work uses museums’ collections to explore their histories.
Second Chances, Shakespeare, and Freud, with Adam Phillips and Stephen Greenblatt
Lots of Shakespeare’s characters long for second chances. That desire is also at the heart of Freudian psychotherapy, Stephen Greenblatt and Adam Phillips tell us.
Mary Zimmerman on Adapting Ovid and Directing Shakespeare
Theater-maker Mary Zimmerman joins us on our podcast to talk about creating her award-winning adaptation of Metamorphoses.
Dame Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea on Seven Decades of Shakespeare
Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea talk about Dench’s experiences playing Ophelia, Gertrude, Lady Macbeth and Titania. Plus, parrots, Polonius, dirty words, hijinks with Sir Ian McKellen, and more.
Shakespeare and the Environment, with Todd Andrew Borlik
Todd Andrew Borlik’s book explores the ways that the ecological concerns of Jacobean England appear in Shakespeare’s plays.
Ramie Targoff on Shakespeare's Sisters
Ramie Targoff explores the lives and works of Mary Sidney, Aemelia Lanyer, Anne Clifford, and Elizabeth Cary in her new book, Shakespeare’s Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance.
Michelle Ephraim on Discovering Shakespeare and Reevaluating The Merchant of Venice
Michelle Ephraim’s memoir Green World refracts The Merchant of Venice through the changing dynamics of her own family, as her Holocaust-survivor parents age and she becomes a mother herself.
Eddie Izzard on Performing Hamlet Solo
Legendary comedian and actor Eddie Izzard tells us about her one-actor performance of Hamlet.
Shakespeare and Disgust, with Bradley J. Irish
Bradley J. Irish explains why disgust is one of the key thematic emotions in Shakespeare’s works.
Rita Dove on Shakespeare and Her Poem of Welcome for the Folger
Poet Rita Dove tells us about how she wrote her poem of welcome for the Folger’s west garden. Plus, we discuss how she discovered Shakespeare… and the snack that goes best with each of his plays.
Julia Fox and John Guy on Their New Biography of Anne Boleyn
Biographers Julia Fox and John Guy on the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn.