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.
The Victorian Cult of Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 156 For most of the 1700s, Shakespeare was considered a very good playwright. But in the 1800s, and especially during the Victorian period, Shakespeare became a prophet. Ministers began drawing their lessons from his texts. Scholars wrote…
Black Lives Matter in Titus Andronicus
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 155 In his classes at Binghamton University, David Sterling Brown and his students examine Shakespeare’s plays through the lens of Critical Race Theory. You might have heard about Critical Race Theory lately: put simply, it’s a way…
The Show Must Go Online
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 154 March 2020. Theaters were beginning to cancel ongoing and upcoming productions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Glasgow-based actor Robert Myles had just lost a gig that would have taken him through April. One night,…
Writing About the Plague in Shakespeare's England
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 154 Between 1348 and the early years of the 18th century, successive waves of the plague rolled across Europe, killing millions of people and affecting every aspect of life. Despite the plague’s enormous toll on early modern…
Tana Wojczuk on Charlotte Cushman's Radical Life
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 152 Charlotte Cushman was one of the most famous American theater artists of the mid-19th century. And while she was known for her Lady Macbeth and Oliver Twist’s Nancy, she was acclaimed for her performances as Romeo…
Richard II on the Radio
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 151 The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating to theater in the United States. Broadway and regional theaters are dark, and Shakespeare festivals across the country have cancelled their seasons. So it wasn’t a surprise when The Public…
Maggie O'Farrell on Hamnet
Anne and William Shakespeare’s son Hamnet died in 1596, when he was 11 years old. We don’t know too much more about him. But author Maggie O’Farrell’s new novel, Hamnet, delves into his story and comes away with…
Directing Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 149 No two theater directors approach Shakespeare’s plays in the same way. When it comes to setting, blocking, costuming, casting, and cutting, there are countless ways directors can shape Shakespeare to make his works their own. With this…
The Booksellers
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 148 The Folger Shakespeare Library started with Henry and Emily Folger, two collectors who loved books and Shakespeare and had the means to pursue what they loved. They were supported by booksellers, who make their livelihoods poring…
Lucy Munro on The King's Men
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 147 Who were the actors who first performed Shakespeare’s plays? Shakespeare was a member and shareholder of a company called the King’s Men. You might know the names of some of his fellow members, like Richard Burbage,…
Jonathan Bate on the Classics and Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 146 Every artist needs inspiration. In this episode, we talk to Sir Jonathan Bate. His book How the Classics Made Shakespeare, published by Princeton University Press in 2019, explores the Greek and Roman authors, narratives, and ideas…
Sandra Newman on The Heavens
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 145 A young woman falls asleep in the 21st century and slowly finds herself slipping into 16th-century England, where she falls in love with an obscure young poet named Will. Sandra Newman’s new novel The Heavens crosses…