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.
Bringing Latinx Voices to Shakespeare, with Cynthia Santos DeCure and Micha Espinosa
Cynthia Santos DeCure and Micha Espinosa, both vocal coaches and actors, grew up speaking English and Spanish and share memories of being made to feel like their voices, dialects, and identities weren’t “good enough” for Shakespeare. They share how an actor might embody their text and how important it is for actors to bring their voces culturales to Shakespeare’s words.
Shakespeare's Language and Race, with Patricia Akhimie and Carol Mejia LaPerle
Dr. Patricia Akhimie and Dr. Carol Mejia LaPerle explore the ways that Shakespeare’s language—think descriptors like “fair,” “sooty,” and “alabaster”—constructs and enshrines systems of race and racism.
Shakespeare in Latinx Communities, with José Cruz González and David Lozano
Theater artists José Cruz González and David Lozano, authors of “On Making Shakespeare Relevant to Latinx Communities” in the book Shakespeare and Latinidad, talk with us about adapting and translating Shakespeare, performing and directing it in ways that make it relevant to Latinx audiences, and whether the Bard has a place at theater companies working to carve out a space for Latinx voices.
Shakespeare and the British Royal Family, with Gordon McMullan
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 175 Shakespeare wrote a lot about English kings and queens. Over the last three hundred years, a lot of English kings and queens have gotten really into Shakespeare. Our guest Gordon McMullan is the Principal Investigator of…
Mike Lew on Teenage Dick
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 174 In Mike Lew’s play Teenage Dick, Richard, a high-school senior with cerebral palsy, is determined to become class president by any means necessary. Commissioned by theater artist Gregg Mozgala and Apothetae, the company Mozgala started to talk about…
Mona Awad on All's Well
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 173 In her new novel, All’s Well, author Mona Awad combines elements of All’s Well That Ends Well, Macbeth, and the 1999 movie Election to tell the story of Miranda Fitch, a theater professor with a mutinous…
How We Hear Shakespeare's Plays, with Carla Della Gatta
In Shakespeare’s time, people talked about going to hear a play and going to see one in equal measure. So what exactly do we hear when we hear one of Shakespeare’s plays? Scholar Carla Della Gatta’s study of Spanish-language or bilingual Shakespeare productions has led her to think a lot about the act of listening to a play and the ways a production of Shakespeare can challenge us to hear in new ways.
The Restoration Reinvention of Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 171 The next time someone complains about a director changing or tampering with Shakespeare… we’ve got an answer for them. The first generation of theater artists after Shakespeare weren’t particularly concerned about performing Shakespeare’s plays the way…
Geoffrey Marsh on Shakespeare's Neighbors
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 169 What would we find out about you if we got to know your neighbors? What if we took a walk around the neighborhood where you live? That’s the way that Geoffrey Marsh hopes to learn more…
Madeline Sayet on Where We Belong
We talk with Madeline Sayet about growing up Mohegan in Connecticut, her evolving relationship with Shakespeare today, and what it means to belong in a complicated world.
Race and Blackness in Elizabethan England, with Ambereen Dadabhoy
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 168 When did the concept of race develop? How far should we look back to find the attitudes that bolster white supremacy? We ask Dr. Ambereen Dadabhoy, an assistant professor of literature at Harvey Mudd College, and…
All the Sonnets of Shakespeare, with Paul Edmondson
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 167 Over 400 years after Shakespeare’s sonnets were first published in 1609, what is left to learn? All the Sonnets of Shakespeare, a new edition of the sonnets published in 2020, takes some bold steps to help…