Shakespeare and his contemporaries, with Darren Freebury-Jones
Darren Freebury-Jones explores the ways in which Shakespeare reshaped the works of contemporaries like John Lyly, Thomas Kyd, and Christopher Marlowe into something distinctly his own.
Tabitha Stanmore on Practical Magic in Shakespeare’s England
Uncover the world of cunning folk in Shakespeare’s England, as scholar Tabitha Stanmore reveals how these magic practitioners helped everyone from commoners to royalty with their practical spells and charms.
Will Tosh on the Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare
Scholar Will Tosh explores the hidden queer lives in Shakespeare’s works, revealing how early modern gender fluidity and same-sex desire influenced the Bard’s plays and characters.
Mat Osman's The Ghost Theatre Imagines the Lives of Elizabethan London's Child Actors
The novelist and Suede bass player takes us flying over the rooftops of Elizabethan London and down into the gritty lives of its child actors.
Lucy Wooding on Tudor England: A History
In her book Tudor England: A History, Lucy Wooding argues that to really know the Tudors, we must look past the famous names and racy plotlines.
How Shakespeare Thought About the Mind, with Helen Hackett
The Elizabethan period marked an unusually rich moment for theories of consciousness and for the representation of thought in literature, says scholar Helen Hackett.