Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited
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The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV, with Helen Castor
26 november 2024 · 45 min
What happens when a king believes he rules by divine right yet loses the trust of his people through his tyrannical actions? In this episode, acclaimed historian Helen Castor brings us into the world that inspired Shakespeare’s most celebrated history plays. Lees meer
Castor’s latest book, The Eagle and the Heart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV, peels back the layers of history to reveal the human drama behind a deadly royal rivalry. From Richard’s glittering but ill-fated reign to Henry’s reluctant haunted rule, this engaging discussion uncovers the timeless lessons behind the rise and fall of two kings. Packed with historical insight and fresh perspectives, this episode is a must-listen for history buffs, Shakespeare enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the delicate balance between power and duty.
Helen Castor is an acclaimed medieval and Tudor historian. Her first book, Blood and Roses: The Paston Family in the Wars of the Roses, was longlisted for what is now known as the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction and won the English Association’s Beatrice White Prize. Her next two books, She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth and Joan of Arc: A History were both on numerous Best Books of the Year lists and made into documentaries for BBC television, and Joan of Arc was longlisted for the PEN America/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography. She has one son and lives in London.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published December 3, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Studying Shakespeare Now
20 november 2024 · 37 min
Forget dusty textbooks and silent classrooms—the Folger Shakespeare Library has released new teaching guides designed to make the Bard’s works more engaging, accessible, and inclusive than ever before. In this episode, Peggy O’Brien, the editor behind these guides, and teachers Deborah Gascon and Mark Miazga, co-authors of the lesson plans for Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth respectively, explore how the Folger Method transforms student understanding by focusing on performance, collaboration, and creative engagement with Shakespeare’s language. Lees meer
The discussion also addresses how the guides tackle important topics like race and gender and how to adapt to today’s technological and social challenges, offering fresh strategies to connect with students in meaningful ways about Shakespeare and all kinds of literature. Whether you’re a teacher, a student, or simply a Shakespeare lover, this episode sheds light on innovative methods for bringing the classics to life and ensuring they remain relevant for future generations.
About the Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare
The Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare series offers educators fresh insights, innovative tools, and detailed lesson plans for teaching Shakespeare’s most frequently taught plays. Rooted in the proven Folger Method and informed by the experiences of classroom teachers across the United States, the guides are designed to make Shakespeare accessible, engaging, and relevant for today’s students.
> > The new teaching guides are available for purchase online at the Folger Shop.
Peggy O’Brien is a classroom teacher and the founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Education Department. Since 1981, she has championed K–12 Shakespeare education, establishing the Teaching Shakespeare Institute and serving as the instigator and general editor of the Shakespeare Set Free series. From 2013 to 2024, Peggy returned to the Folger to serve as Director of Education, during which she oversaw the creation of the Folger …
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Farah Karim-Cooper on The Great White Bard (Rebroadcast)
5 november 2024 · 32 min
Can you love Shakespeare and be an antiracist? Farah Karim-Cooper’s book The Great White Bard explores the language of race and difference in Shakespeare’s plays. Dr. Karim-Cooper also looks at the ways Shakespeare’s work became integral to Britain’s imperial project and its sense of cultural superiority. Lees meer
But, for all this, Karim-Cooper is an unapologetic Shakespeare fan. It’s right there in the subtitle of her book: “How to Love Shakespeare While Talking about Race.” Far from casting Shakespeare out of the classroom or playhouse, Karim-Cooper shows new ways to appreciate him. By drawing connections between the plays and current events, she offers an eyes-wide-open tour of Shakespeare’s continued relevance. Karim-Cooper talks with Barbara Bogaev about the role of race in Titus Andronicus, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and more.
Farah Karim-Cooper, is the new Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, was previously a Professor of Shakespeare Studies at King’s College London and Director of Education at Shakespeare’s Globe. The Great White Bard is available now from Viking Press.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Originally published August 15, 2023, updated and rebroadcast November 5, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Paola García Acuña is the web producer and edited this transcript. We had technical help from Mark Dezzani in Surrey and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc
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How Shakespeare Revolutionized Tragedy, with Rhodri Lewis
22 oktober 2024 · 33 min
Shakespeare is often associated with tragedy, but did you know that he changed the genre? In this episode, Rhodri Lewis, professor of English at Princeton University and author of Shakespeare’s Tragic Art, explores how Shakespeare redefined tragedy in ways that still feel modern today. Through a close examination of plays like Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear, Lewis explains how Shakespeare shifted the traditional classical form of tragedy, introducing characters who deceive themselves and struggle to understand their own nature. From the slasher-style Titus to the complex interiority of Juliet, Shakespeare experimented with plot, language, and character to push the boundaries of tragic drama, giving audiences an unsettling yet profoundly human insight into the flawed nature of existence. Lees meer
Rhodri Lewis teaches English at Princeton University. His previous books include Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness (Princeton) and Language, Mind, and Nature: Artificial Languages in England from Bacon to Locke. Outside the academy, he writes for publications including The Times Literary Supplement, Prospect, The Literary Review, and The Los Angeles Review of Books.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published October 21, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Tabitha Stanmore on Practical Magic in Shakespeare’s England
8 oktober 2024 · 31 min
Forget witches, broomsticks, and cauldrons bubbling over—when it came to real magic in Shakespeare’s time, most people turned to their local cunning folk. These magical practitioners wielded spells to cure illnesses, recover lost items, and even spark a bit of romance. Far from the dark, devilish image popularly associated with witchcraft, cunning folk were trusted members of society, providing magical services as casually as a modern-day plumber or dentist. Lees meer
In this episode, Barbara Bogaev talks with Tabitha Stanmore, a scholar from the University of Essex, about the fascinating, overlooked world of practical magic in early modern England. Drawing from her new book, Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic, Stanmore sheds light on how cunning folk, who served as diviners, astrologers, charm makers, and healers, shaped the lives of both ordinary people and royals alike. These practitioners were called upon for everything from predicting the future to healing the sick, and their magic was seen as helpful, not harmful. Stanmore explains how these magical practices were woven into the fabric of daily life and how cunning folk managed to steer clear of the persecution that plagued so-called witches.
Stanmore shares the fascinating methods cunning folk employed—from using bread and cheese to identify thieves to casting love spells with fish (seriously!)—and why their magic was essential in a world that still sought out supernatural help. If you thought magic in Shakespeare’s time was all witches and broomsticks, think again—Stanmore takes us on a magical journey that’s far more practical…and surprising.
Tabitha Stanmore is a social historian of magic and witchcraft at the University of Exeter. She is part of the Leverhulme-funded Seven County Witch-Hunt Project, and her doctoral thesis was published as Love Spells and Lost Treasure: Service Magic in England from the Later Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period.From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published…
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Will Tosh on the Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare
24 september 2024 · 35 min
How did Shakespeare engage with the complexities of gender and sexuality in his time? Was his portrayal of cross-dressing and same-sex attraction simply for comedic effect, or did it reflect a deeper understanding of queer desire? In this episode, host Barbara Bogaev speaks with scholar Will Tosh, who delves into these questions through his new book Straight Acting: The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare. Tosh, Head of Research at Shakespeare’s Globe, explores Shakespeare’s work in the context of early modern London—a city bustling with queer subcultures. Lees meer
This conversation touches on Shakespeare’s depictions of gender fluidity, same-sex desire, and the influence of classical literature on his plays. The episode highlights the cultural and social dynamics of the time, revealing the complex ways in which gender and sexuality were understood and expressed in early modern England. Tosh also examines Shakespeare's schooling, shaped by homoerotic classics like Cicero’s De Amicitia and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which deeply influenced his writing.
>>Discover Straight Acting by Will Tosh—a literary biography that opens a window into Shakespeare’s queer subtexts, available now from Seal Press.
Tosh’s conversation offers a nuanced exploration of how Shakespeare navigated and represented homoerotic relationships, with specific attention to characters such as Antonio and Sebastian from Twelfth Night. He also connects Shakespeare’s work with the wider culture of early modern England, where queer desire was both expressed and concealed.
Will Tosh is head of research at Shakespeare’s Globe, London. He is a scholar of early modern literature and culture, a dramaturg for Renaissance classics and new plays, and a historical adviser for television and radio. He is the author of two previous books, and he appears regularly in the media to discuss Shakespeare and his world. He lives in London.
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Throughlines, with Ayanna Thompson and Ruben Espinosa
10 september 2024 · 33 min
How can educators effectively incorporate discussions about race into the study of Shakespeare and other premodern texts in the college classroom? Barbara Bogaev speaks with scholars Ayanna Thompson and Ruben Espinosa about Throughlines, a pedagogical resource developed by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Arizona State University. This free online tool offers professors a variety of accessible teaching materials for incorporating premodern critical race studies into their teaching. Specifically designed for use in higher education, the materials include lectures, syllabi, and activities on a unique and expansive range of topics that will continue to grow. Lees meer
>>Explore Throughlines, a free online resource for the college classroom at throughlines.org
Espinosa and Thompson share their experiences teaching Shakespeare in diverse higher education settings. Their conversation underscores students' need for open dialogue and provides practical strategies for navigating these discussions. They offer valuable insights for experienced professors and those new to teaching, highlighting the value of integrating premodern critical race studies into studying Bard's works and other literature and history.
Ayanna Thompson
Ayanna Thompson is a Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University and Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Thompson, an influential Shakespeare scholar, is the author of many titles, including Blackface and Shakespeare in the Theatre: Peter Sellars. She is currently collaborating with Curtis Perry on the Arden4 edition of Titus Andronicus. Thompson's leadership extends beyond the university, serving on the boards of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Play On Shakespeare, and Folger Shakespeare Library. She is a Shakespeare Scholar in Residence at The Public Theater in New York. In 2021, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Ruben Espinosa
Ruben Espinosa is the …
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Juliet, Then and Now, with Sophie Duncan
27 augustus 2024 · 37 min
Was Romeo and Juliet your first brush with Shakespeare? Whether it was on stage, on screen in films by Franco Zeffirelli or Baz Luhrmann or Shonda Rhimes' Still Star-Crossed, or in the pages of the Folger Shakespeare edition, your early experience probably shaped how you see Juliet. Over 400 years, our thinking about Shakespeare's first tragic heroine has shifted repeatedly, revealing as much about us as Shakespeare's play does. Oxford professor Sophie Duncan, Shakespeare scholar and author of Juliet: The Life and Afterlives of Shakespeare's First Tragic Heroine, explores the enduring legacy of one of Shakespeare's most iconic characters. Lees meer
The conversation touches on Juliet's cultural impact, why Shakespeare may have centered his tragedy around a young woman and the societal reflections found in the various interpretations of Juliet throughout history. The episode also discusses how different eras, particularly the Victorian period, have grappled with Juliet's rebellious and passionate nature, often reshaping her character to fit their values.
Duncan shares insights into why Juliet remains a potent symbol of love and tragedy and how this character continues to captivate audiences centuries after she was first brought to life on the stage.
Sophie Duncan is a scholar who specializes in Shakespeare's performance history and how Early Modern dramas have been used to explore issues of gender, race, and sexuality over the last four and a half centuries. She is interested in women's creative networks, theatrical memory, theater props, cognitive approaches to drama, and cultural memory. Sophie regularly works with theater companies to bring Shakespeare's works to life.
Duncan is the author of Juliet: The Life and Afterlives of Shakespeare's First Tragic Heroine and Shakespeare's Women and the Fin de Siècle. She writes about Shakespeare and gender and has worked extensively as a historical advisor in theater and television. Additionally, Sophie is a Research Fellow and D…
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Completing the Canon: Barry Edelstein on The Old Globe's Henry 6
14 augustus 2024 · 38 min
This summer San Diego’s Old Globe became one of only 10 theaters in America who have produced all of Shakespeare’s plays (or 11, depending on how you count it) with their production of Henry VI, parts 1, 2, and 3. Lees meer
Artistic Director Barry Edelstein shares the details of how they tackled staging three rarely seen works with more than 150 characters, and condensed it into two exciting nights of theater. The epic production includes contributions from nearly a thousand San Diegans, many of whom have participated in the Globe’s community programs.
Edelstein, the Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director of The Old Globe, is one of America’s most experienced Shakespeare directors and has staged more than half the canon himself. Before joining the Globe in 2012, he directed the Public Theatre’s Shakespeare Initiative and was the artistic director for Classic Stage Company in New York City. He is the author of Thinking Shakespeare about American Shakespearean acting and Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions.
Henry 6 runs through September 14 and 15, 2024 at the Globe in San Diego, California. For tickets and more information, visit https://www.theoldglobe.org.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published August 13, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Colman Domingo on Sing Sing and the Power of Theater
30 juli 2024 · 30 min
Can a musical comedy featuring Hamlet and Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger change lives? Lees meer
Actor, playwright, and director Colman Domingo thinks so. In Sing Sing, a new film from A24, Domingo stars in a true story about the power of theater. Inspired by the real-life Rehabilitation through the Arts program at Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison, Sing Sing tells the story of Divine G, played by Domingo, imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, who finds purpose by acting in a theater group with other incarcerated men. When a wary outsider joins the group, the men decide to stage their first original comedy. Sing Sing stars an ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors who are alumni of the RTA program, including Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin and Sean San José.
Domingo takes us behind the scenes of the making of Sing Sing. He also shares how he became an actor after a class at Temple University and his own Shakespeare story including an inventive take on Helena from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Domingo is beloved for onscreen portrayals including Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin in Netlfix’s Rustin for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Other films include Lincoln, Selma, If Beale Street Could Talk, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Zola, and The Color Purple. His breakthrough came as conman Victor Strand on Fear the Walking Dead. He won an Emmy for his performance as Ali on HBO Max’s Euphoria. On stage he was nominated for Tony and Olivier awards for his role as Mr. Bones in The Scottsboro Boys. He wrote the book for the Broadway musical Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2024.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published July 30, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our t…
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The Brief Life and Big Impact of the Federal Theatre Project, with James Shapiro
16 juli 2024 · 37 min
Imagine: a fiercely idealistic, politically progressive artist takes the stand at a hearing of the House Un-American Activities Committee. The chair of the committee is a hard-right demagogue with a gift for sound bites and a fixation with Communism. Lees meer
If you’re picturing Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist crusade in the 1950s… think two decades earlier. This story played during the Great Depression. The congressman was Martin Dies, a Democrat from Texas. On the stand was Hallie Flanagan, the director of the Federal Theatre Project, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ambitious program to rescue live theater in America. The project attempted to create jobs for thousands of out-of-work playwrights, actors, directors, and backstage technicians. It commissioned new plays and staged productions all around the country. And, despite logistical hitches and ideological blowback, the Federal Theatre managed to reach millions of Americans, many of whom had never seen a live production ever before.
Columbia University Professor James Shapiro’s new book, The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War, tells the story of that New Deal program and how it changed our cultural and political landscape. He discusses it with host Barbara Bogaev.
James Shapiro is the Larry Miller Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is the author of several acclaimed books on Shakespeare including A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599, Contested Will; Who Wrote Shakespeare?, and The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, and Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future.From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published July 16, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services provided by…
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A Tour of the Newly-Reopened Folger | Part 2: Research at the Folger
2 juli 2024 · 31 min
After a four-year renovation, the Folger Shakespeare Library is now open with 12,000 square feet of new public spaces. But behind the scenes, in our original building, we’ve also revamped the way we serve researchers working with the world’s largest Shakespeare collection. On this episode, host Barbara Bogaev talks with Director of Collections Greg Prickman, Folger Institute Director Patricia Akhimie, and Folger Director Michael Witmore about how research happens at the Folger, from Folger Institute fellowships to the chairs in our Reading Room. Lees meer
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published July 2, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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A Tour of the Newly-Reopened Folger | Part 1
18 juni 2024 · 34 min
On June 21, the Folger reopens after a four-year renovation. The reimagined Folger has brand-new public exhibition spaces where we can introduce visitors to Shakespeare and his plays, as well as showcase some of the treasures of the Folger’s collection. Behind the scenes in the original building, we’ve also completely revamped the way we serve researchers visiting the world’s largest Shakespeare collection. Lees meer
In this episode, the first of two parts, celebrate our reopening with us and join Folger Director Michael Witmore and Shakespeare Unlimited host Barbara Bogaev on a tour of our building.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published June 18, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Fred Wilson on his New, Othello-Inspired Work for the Folger
5 juni 2024 · 34 min
Fred Wilson’s artistic output includes painting, sculpture, photography, and collage, among other media. But his 1992 work “Mining the Museum” at the Maryland Historical Society used the museum’s own collection as its material, radically reframing how American institutions present their art. Wilson went on to represent the United States at the 2003 Venice Biennale. For that exhibition, Wilson commissioned a black glass chandelier from the famed Venice glassmakers on the island of Murano. Wilson titled the piece “Speak of me as I am,” after the line from Shakespeare’s tragic Venetian, Othello. Lees meer
In the years since then, Wilson has made several other pieces that engage with Othello, many of them made from the same evocative black Murano glass. In a new installation piece commissioned by the Folger, Wilson brings together two sides of his artistic practice: institutional critique and glass sculpture. It’s titled “God me such uses send, Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend”—another line from Othello, this one spoken by Desdemona. The installation includes a massive black-glass mirror, ornately etched and filigreed. Visitors see themselves reflected in the mirror, along with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth that hangs opposite the mirror in the gallery. On another wall hangs an engraving of the actor Ira Aldridge in the role of Othello, alongside lines from the play written out in Aldridge’s own hand. The piece brings together questions of identity, belonging, erasure, and representation—and lets those facets reflect and refract one another, without easy answers. On this episode, Wilson discusses the piece with host Barbara Bogaev.
Fred Wilson’s installation, “God me such uses send, Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend,” will welcome visitors to the Shakespeare Exhibition Hall when the Folger reopens on June 21.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published June 4, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Fra…
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Second Chances, Shakespeare, and Freud, with Adam Phillips and Stephen Greenblatt
21 mei 2024 · 36 min
The desire for a second chance provides the engine for many of Shakespeare’s plays. In their new book, Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud, Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt and psychologist Adam Phillips argue that this fascination with the second chance links Shakespeare with one of his biggest 20th century fans: Sigmund Freud. Shakespeare helped Freud think about second chances—why we desire them so deeply, and why, sometimes, we push them away. Host Barbara Bogaev talks with Greenblatt and Phillips about how reading Freud alongside Shakespeare can help illuminate both writers’ insights into human nature. Lees meer
Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud is available from Yale University Press.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published May 21, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Rob Double at London Broadcast and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Mary Zimmerman on Adapting Ovid and Directing Shakespeare
7 mei 2024 · 32 min
When Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of Ovid's Metamorphoses was on Broadway in 2002, it won a host of awards, including the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel awards for best play. Zimmerman took home the Tony award for best director. This spring, director Psalmayene 24 and an all-Black cast stage a new production of the play interpreted through the lens of the African diaspora. Lees meer
Zimmerman joins us on the podcast to talk about the process of adapting Metamorphoses and The Odyssey, directing Shakespeare, and more. She is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev.
Beyond Metamorphoses, Zimmerman has adapted other ancient texts for the stage, like The Odyssey, Jason and the Argonauts, and Journey to the West. She has directed many of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as operas at the Metropolitan Opera. She co-wrote the libretto for the Phillip Glass opera Galileo Galilei. The Matchbox Magic Flute, her new adaptation of Mozart, plays at DC's Shakespeare Theater Company this month, in association with the Goodman Theatre.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published May 7, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica, with help from Kendra Hanna. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from from Northwestern University and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Judi Dench On Seven Decades of Shakespeare, with Brendan O’Hea
23 april 2024 · 41 min
In her new book, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Dame Judi Dench and actor/director Brendan O'Hea chat about her long history with the Bard. On this episode, Dench and O'Hea join host Barbara Bogaev to talk about Dench's experiences playing Ophelia, Gertrude, Lady Macbeth and Titania. Plus, parrots, Polonius, dirty words, Ian McKellen, why it's easier to laugh while working on a tragedy, and more. Lees meer
Dame Judi Dench has played nearly all of Shakespeare's great roles for women, plus a few non-Shakespearean parts, too, including the title role in Stephen Frears’ Philomena, M in 8 of the James Bond films, Granny in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, and Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love, for which she won an Academy Award. Brendan O’Hea has acted in and directed multiple productions at Shakespeare's Globe in London, and appeared with Dench in the film Quantum of Solace. Their book Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent is available from St. Martin’s Press.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published April 9, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica, with help from Kendra Hanna. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from London Broadcast Studios and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Shakespeare and the Environment, with Todd Andrew Borlik
9 april 2024 · 34 min
Land enclosure. Wildlife management. Erosion. Pollution. Mining practices. Today, we’d call these environmental issues. But, hundreds of years before the modern environmental movement coalesced, these issues also appeared in Shakespeare’s plays. We talk to Todd Andrew Borlik, a professor at the University of Huddersfield and author of Shakespeare Beyond the Green World, Drama and Ecopolitics in Jacobean Britain, about ecology and environmentalism in Shakespeare’s works. Lees meer
Shakespeare Beyond the Green World, Drama and Ecopolitics in Jacobean Britain is out now from Oxford University Press.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published April 9, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica, with help from Kendra Hanna. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Ramie Targoff on Women Writers of the English Renaissance
26 maart 2024 · 38 min
In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf famously imagined what might have happened if Shakespeare had a sister who was as gifted a writer as he was. She invents “Judith” Shakespeare, and concludes that this female genius would have been doomed. Lees meer
But that’s not the end of the story. If Woolf had read Mary Sidney, Aemelia Lanyer (nee Bassano), Anne Clifford, and Elizabeth Carey, she might have thought differently about the fate of her fictional Judith Shakespeare. Ramie Targoff's new book, Shakespeare's Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance, explores the lives and works of those four women.. Targoff tells us about them and reflects on why reading their work is so important.
Ramie Targoff teaches English and Italian literature at Brandeis University. She’s also a member of the Folger’s Board of Governors. Her book Shakespeare’s Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance is available from Knopf.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published March 12, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Digital Island Studios in New York and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Green World: Michelle Ephraim on Discovering Shakespeare and Reevaluating The Merchant of Venice
12 maart 2024 · 33 min
In her new memoir, "Green World," Shakespeare scholar Michelle Ephraim tells the story of how she came to Shakespeare relatively late in her education. Although she didn’t grow up with Shakespeare, Ephraim became transfixed by "The Merchant of Venice" as a grad student. In particular, she found herself drawn to Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, and the mysteries of their relationship. That curiosity led Ephraim to discover a novel Biblical interpretation of some lines from the play as she researched her dissertation. In Ephraim’s memoir, "Merchant" refracts through the changing dynamics of her own family, as her Holocaust-survivor parents age and she becomes a mother herself. She shares her story with host Barbara Bogaev. Lees meer
Michelle Ephraim teaches Shakespeare at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. She’s the co-author of a cocktail recipe book called Shakespeare, Not Stirred, and the co-host of the Everyday Shakespeare podcast, both with Caroline Bicks. Her memoir Green World: A Tragicomic Memoir of Love & Shakespeare won the Juniper Award for Creative Nonfiction, and is out now from University of Massachusetts Press.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published March 12, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from WICN in Worcester and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc. -
Eddie Izzard on Performing Hamlet Solo
27 februari 2024 · 32 min
Eddie Izzard has a long record of dramatic roles. But it’s her decades of experience as a stand-up comedian that prepared Izzard for her recent solo shows—first Great Expectations, and now Hamlet at New York’s Greenwich House Theatre. Lees meer
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published February 27, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Digital Island Studios in New York and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Shakespeare and Disgust, with Bradley J. Irish
13 februari 2024 · 34 min
Maybe there really was something rotten in Denmark. On this episode, we talk with Bradley J. Irish about disgust in Shakespeare. In his new book, Irish identifies the emotion, which combines physical revulsion and moral outrage, as one of the central thematic emotions in Shakespeare’s plays. In his close readings across the canon, Irish finds disgust everywhere: in Caius Martius Coriolanus’s disdain for ordinary Romans, in the over-indulgent food Antony eats in Egypt, in Henry IV’s preoccupation with sickness and disease in Henry IV, and beyond. Bradley Irish is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Lees meer
Bradley J. Irish is a professor at Arizona State University. Shakespeare and Disgust: The History and Science of Early Modern Revulsion is out now from Bloomsbury Publishing.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published February 13, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Rita Dove on Shakespeare and Her Poem of Welcome for the Folger
30 januari 2024 · 37 min
When the Folger reopens on June 21 and you come to take a walk in our new west garden, look down at the garden bed. There, you'll see a new poem, written for the Folger by US Poet Laureate emerita Rita Dove. This week, she joins us on the podcast to read that poem aloud for the first time. Plus, Dove reflects on how writing for marble is different from writing for the page, and remembers the moment she discovered Shakespeare. Rita Dove is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Lees meer
Rita Dove served as the US Poet Laureate for two terms, from 1993 to 1995, and as a special bicentennial consultant to the Library of Congress in 1999. Her third collection of poetry, Thomas and Beulah, won the Pulitzer Prize. She is the only poet ever to receive both the National Humanities Medal and the National Medal of the Arts, from presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. In 2021, she received the Gold Medal for Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Letters—the first African American poet in the medal’s history. She teaches at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Dove has also read in the Folger's O.B. Hardison Poetry series four times, and contributed a poem to our 2012 collection Shakespeare’s Sisters: Women Writers Bridge Five Centuries.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published January 30, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from With Good Reason, Virginia Humanities, and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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John Guy And Julia Fox on Their New Biography of Anne Boleyn
16 januari 2024 · 34 min
Even after appearing in a Shakespeare play, historical romance novels, a Broadway musical, and prestige TV dramas, there's still more to learn about Anne Boleyn. Lees meer
A new biography by the team of husband-and-wife historians John Guy and Julia Fox takes a scholarly look at the evidence surrounding Anne’s rise and fall. They freshly examine well-known accounts, and also take in passing references in neglected sources. In particular, they focus on Anne’s years of training in the courts of Europe, which shaped her into the formidable woman whom Henry VIII came to regard as an intellectual equal. It also prepared her for the ruthless politics of the English court, where Anne’s ambition and cunning won her some powerful enemies. Fox and Guy are interviewed by Barbara Bogaev.
John Guy is a fellow at Cambridge University and a Tudor historian who has appeared on many TV and radio documentaries about the period. He’s written biographies of Henry VIII, Thomas More, and Queen Elizabeth I. His biography of Mary Queen of Scots was adapted into a film in 2018. Julia Fox has written biographies of Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and Anne’s sister, Jane Boleyn. Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and the Marriage That Shook Europe is out now from Harper.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published January 16, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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David and Ben Crystal Share Shakespeare Quotations for Your Everyday Life
2 januari 2024 · 35 min
Shakespeare has the perfect lines for riding into battle or stumbling around a stormy heath. But does he have the right stuff to take us on a daily commute or a trip to the grocery store? On this episode, David and Ben Crystal join us to talk about their new book, "Everyday Shakespeare: Lines for Life," which offers daily Shakespeare quotes you can apply to everyday life. Lees meer
The Crystals—David is a linguist, Ben is an actor—are the father-son duo behind the "Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary"; "Shakespeare´s Words: A Glossary and Language Companion"; and "The Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation." We talk to them about which quotations they included, why they chose to skip the typical contextual notes, and how you can improve your memory for Shakespeare’s words.
"Everyday Shakespeare: Lines for Life" is available now from Chambers Books.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published January 2, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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What Happened to the Princes in the Tower, with Philippa Langley
19 december 2023 · 33 min
The most unforgivable crime in Richard III has to be when the king orders the murder of his two young nephews, Edward and Richard. But what if Richard III was framed? Lees meer
Philippa Langley is the amateur historian whose commitment to righting a historical wrong led to the discovery of Richard III’s remains a decade ago. Langley wasn’t a scholar—she was a screenwriter and a member of the Richard III Society. But she had become certain that Richard was the victim of Tudor propaganda, and that Shakespeare’s play had a key role in the slander. Langley convinced academic historians and archaeologists at the University of Leicester to excavate the parking lot where she believed Richard was buried.
Those experts did find a body, and DNA analysis confirmed that the remains belonged to Richard III. That discovery led to further insights about the historical Richard. The physical deformities of Shakespeare’s character were Tudor inventions. Far from being a “bunch-backed toad,” the real Richard III had nothing more than a case of scoliosis.
Since discovering the body in 2012, Philippa Langley and a team of collaborators have worked on cleaning up Richard’s reputation. Her new book, The Princes in the Tower, examines Richard’s most famous alleged crime: the murder of his two nephews, the sons of Edward IV. Investigating their disappearance as a 500-year-old cold case, Langley uncovers evidence that the princes survived Richard III’s reign… and points to another suspect for their eventual deaths. Langley talks with Barbara Bogaev about tracking down two of history's most famous missing persons.
Philippa Langley's new book, The Princes in the Tower: Solving History’s Greatest Cold Case, is out now from Pegasus Books.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published December 19, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the w…
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Will Somer: Peter K. Andersson on Henry VIII's Court Fool
5 december 2023 · 31 min
What comes to mind when you think about a "court jester?" What if we told you that fools in the Tudor court didn’t look or sound anything like the zany clowns you have in mind? Lees meer
Historians don’t know much about Will Somer. We know he was Henry VIII’s court fool, but the details of his biography—and, crucially, his comedy—were never recorded.
By Shakespeare’s time, Somer had become famous. Whenever a poet or playwright needed to reference a long-lost comedy great, they’d name-check Will Somer—kind of like mentioning Charlie Chaplin or Groucho Marx today. But unlike Chaplin or Groucho, none of Somer's jokes survived. So later writers just made them up, inventing a comedian to suit their own tastes.
Peter K. Andersson’s new biography of Somer, "Fool: In Search of Henry the 8th’s Closest Man," digs through the layers of fiction that accumulated over the centuries to reveal is a fool very different from anything we might recognize from King Lear or Twelfth Night. We ask Andersson what we know about Somer, how he became a celebrity, and how people with intellectual disabilities were treated in the 16th century.
Peter K. Andersson is a historian at Sweden's Örebro University. "Fool: In Search of Henry the 8th’s Closest Man" is available from Princeton University Press.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published December 5, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Frida Anund in Sweden and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Isabelle Schuler on Lady Macbeth and Queen Hereafter
21 november 2023 · 31 min
Isabelle Schuler’s debut novel Queen Hereafter attempts to fill in a backstory for Lady Macbeth. The book takes place in 11th century Scotland, where a king’s reign tended to be short and brutal. For her version of Lady M, Schuler didn’t rely on Shakespeare or his source material, Holinshed’s Chronicles. Instead, she looked to the annals and sagas that predate Holinshed. There, Schuler found Gruoch, who married Macbethad (the historical Macbeth) after her first husband died. Schuler talks with Barbara Bogaev about how she filled in the gaps of Shakespeare's tragedy. Lees meer
Queen Hereafter is available now from Harper Perennial.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published November 21, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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400 Years of Shakespeare's First Folio, with Emma Smith
7 november 2023 · 29 min
The First Folio—the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays—hit bookstores 400 years ago this November. Emma Smith of Oxford University tells us just what this famous book has been up to for the past four centuries. We explore notable collectors like Sir Edward Dering and our founders, Emily and Henry Folger; how the 18th-century slave trade supercharged the book’s value; how the 235 extant copies scattered across the world; and much more. Emma Smith is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Lees meer
Emma Smith teaches Shakespeare at Oxford University and is the author of Shakespeare's First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book. A new edition is available now from Oxford University Press. Smith is also leading a year-long scholarly program for the Folger Institute called “Next Gen Editing.”
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published November 7, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from VoiceTrax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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The Bloomsbury Group and Shakespeare, with Marjorie Garber
24 oktober 2023 · 31 min
We talk with Harvard Professor Marjorie Garber about how modernist writers of London’s Bloomsbury Group made Shakespeare their own. Garber’s most recent book—her twentieth—is Shakespeare in Bloomsbury. In it, she traces the influence of Shakespeare on the members of the Bloomsbury Group, that circle of early 20th-century intellectuals included novelists Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster, painter Vanessa Bell, director Dadie Rylands, critic and biographer Lytton Strachey, economist John Maynard Keynes, and others. She tells Barbara Bogaev about the threads of Shakespeare that run through Woolf’s novels, how Lytton Strachey changed our perspective on Shakespeare’s late plays, and what got her interested in the Bloomsbury Group in the first place. Lees meer
Marjorie Garber is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University. Shakespeare in Bloomsbury is available from Yale University Press. Garber is the inaugural Scholar in Residence of Washington, DC’s Shakespeare Everywhere Festival, happening across the city this fall. Join Garber in-person for five free public lectures through November 16. Learn more at shakespeareeverywheredc.com.
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Patrick Stewart on a Life Shaped by Shakespeare
10 oktober 2023 · 32 min
Sir Patrick Stewart joins us on the podcast to talk about how Shakespeare has shaped his life. Stewart tells host Barbara Bogaev about his Yorkshire youth, his audition for the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Starfleet Captain Jen-Luc Picard, and more. Lees meer
Stewart's memoir, "Making It So," is available now from Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
From the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published October 10, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leo Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Ngofeen Mputubwele in New York and Andrew Feliciano at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Michael Patrick Thornton on Learning to Breathe Again with Shakespeare
26 september 2023 · 30 min
Sometimes, the beauty of Shakespeare’s poetry takes your breath away. In the case of today’s guest, Shakespeare gave him his breath back. Lees meer
You may recognize actor Michael Patrick Thornton from his roles on TV series like Private Practice and The Good Doctor. Twenty years ago, Thornton had just started out in his acting career when he suffered two spinal strokes that nearly ended his life. He survived, but the strokes took away his ability to breathe and speak. A speech therapist helped Thornton find his way back to breath control… by reciting Shakespeare. He talks with Barbara Bogaev about learning to breathe again with the Bard.
Michael Patrick Thornton is the co-founder and former artistic director of The Gift Theatre in Chicago. He’s played Iago at the Gift, and Richard III in a co-production with Steppenwolf Theatre. Recently, he appeared on Broadway in Sam Gold’s 2022 production of Macbeth starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga and in the Tony-nominated Broadway production of A Doll’s House.
From the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published September 26, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leo Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Daniel Roth in Chicago and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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The Many Lives of John Donne with Katherine Rundell
12 september 2023 · 34 min
We talk with author Katherine Rundell about the extraordinary life —or should we say lives? — of John Donne, who wrote some of the 17th century’s most complex and intellectually dazzling poetry. Rundell, a fellow at All Souls College, Oxford and the author of Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne takes us through Donne’s evolution from hotshot poet to penniless prisoner to rock star preacher. Rundell has also written six novels for children, a book for adults about children’s books, and a nonfiction book about the wonder of animals called The Golden Mole. Her latest fantasy novel, Impossible Creatures, comes out in September 2023. Lees meer
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Shakespeare and the Ocean, with Steve Mentz
29 augustus 2023 · 33 min
Today, we sail the seven seas with Shakespeare. In addition to being a dedicated swimmer, Steve Mentz is a professor at St. John’s University. His books, including 2009’s At the Bottom of Shakespeare’s Ocean, connect literary criticism with marine ecology. Mentz talks with Barbara Bogaev about Shakespeare’s oceanic metaphors, how much Shakespeare really knew about the ocean, and what plays like The Tempest, King Lear, and Twelfth Night can teach us as we face rising sea levels and more destructive storms.
Steve Mentz is a Professor of English at St. John’s University. His new book, An Introduction to the Blue Humanities, is out now from Routledge. He is a former Folger fellow and a frequent participant in the Folger Institute’s scholarly programs.
From the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published August 29, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leo Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from Robert Scaramuccia in New Haven and Jenna McClelland at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc. Lees meer -
Farah Karim-Cooper on The Great White Bard
15 augustus 2023 · 32 min
Can you love Shakespeare and be an antiracist? Lees meer
Farah Karim-Cooper's new book, The Great White Bard, explores the language of race and difference in plays such as Antony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus, and The Tempest. Karim-Cooper also looks at the ways Shakespeare’s work became integral to Britain’s imperial project, and its sense of cultural superiority. But for all this, Karim-Cooper is an unapologetic Shakespeare fan. It's right there in the subtitle of her book: "How to Love Shakespeare While Talking about Race." Far from casting Shakespeare out of the classroom or playhouse, Karim-Cooper shows new ways to appreciate him. And, by drawing connections between the plays and current events, she offers an eyes-wide-open tour of Shakespeare’s continued relevance. Karim-Cooper talks with Barbara Bogaev about the role of race in Titus Andronicus, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and more.
Listen to Shakespeare Unlimited on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Farah Karim-Cooper is a professor of Shakespeare studies at King’s College, London, and a director of education at Shakespeare’s Globe theater. The Great White Bard is available now from Viking Press.
From the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published August 15, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leo Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Mark Dezzani in Surrey and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Isabella Hammad on Enter Ghost
1 augustus 2023 · 33 min
A Palestinian production of Hamlet in the West Bank is the backdrop for Isabella Hammad’s new novel, Enter Ghost. Lees meer
Hammad’s first novel, the beautiful and sprawling The Parisian, won international acclaim in 2019. Granta included Hammad in its decennial “Best of Young British Novelists” list earlier this year. The narrator of Hammad’s new novel is Sonia, a British Palestinian actress who visits her sister in Israel to recover from the end of an affair. Despite wanting to take a break from the stage, Sonia gets roped into playing Gertrude in a production of Hamlet being mounted in the West Bank.
Sonia’s fellow actors read Hamlet as an allegory for the Palestinian struggle. While Sonia resists their interpretation, she uncovers ghosts of her own—repressed memories, a family history of resistance, and a newly discovered commitment to the Palestinian cause. Despite the novel’s contemporary setting and political themes, Hammad never lets her characters’ trenchant views overwhelm the complex beauty of her storytelling.
Isabella Hammad is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Enter Ghost is available now from Grove Atlantic Press.
From our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published August 1, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Andrew Feliciano at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Mat Osman's The Ghost Theatre Imagines the Lives of Elizabethan London's Child Actors
18 juli 2023 · 32 min
Mat Osman's new novel, The Ghost Theatre, takes us flying over the rooftops of Elizabethan London and down into the gritty lives of its child actors. A historical novel set in a vibrant and sensuously reimagined Elizabethan London, the book's main character is Shay, the daughter of a clairvoyant who lives among a community who worship birds. When Shay meets a charming young actor named Nonesuch, she is drawn into the world of the children’s theater—that is, a theater whose actors and crew are all made up of young people, performing for an audience made of primarily of adults. Shay falls in love with performance and joins an immersive guerrilla theater troupe that gets tangled up in a violent political power struggle. Lees meer
Osman is more famous as the bass player in the British rock band Suede. To get the texture of Elizabethan life right in The Ghost Theatre, Osman researched as much as he could at the margins of history. Osman tells Barbara Bogaev about how he explored his young actors' lives, invented an early modern religious sect, and how his long career as a rock musician helped him write the novel.
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Adrian Lester on Playing Rosalind, Henry V, Othello, and Hamlet
4 juli 2023 · 37 min
We could listen to Adrian Lester talk about acting all day… but he's a busy man, so we’ll settle for this 37 minute episode. The actor joins us to discuss some of his most famous performances, including Rosalind in Cheek by Jowl’s acclaimed 1991 all-male As You Like It, Hamlet with Peter Brook, and Henry V and Othello with Nicholas Hytner. Plus, Lester takes us back to his childhood in Birmingham and tells us about his patronage of the Everything to Everybody project and the Birmingham Shakespeare Library. Lester is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Lees meer
Visit our website, folger.edu/unlimited, to learn more about Everything to Everybody and see video of Lester's performance in "As You Like It."
From our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published July 4, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Greg Doran on Forty Years of Directing Shakespeare
20 juni 2023 · 36 min
On today’s episode, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s former Artistic Director takes a look back at four decades of staging Shakespeare. Greg Doran’s career as a Shakespearean director began in the late 1970s, when he was a teenager. By the time he stepped down as the Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company earlier this year, Doran had directed every play in the First Folio, capping off the feat with an acclaimed production of Cymbeline. Lees meer
In between, Doran helmed era-defining productions of Shakespeare’s plays and worked with actors such as Judi Dench, David Tennant, Patrick Stewart, and the late Antony Sher, to whom Doran was married.
Doran’s new memoir, My Shakespeare, tells the story of his life through the plays he has directed. It’s a portrait of an artist at work, shot through with commentary about the plays themselves and insights about working with actors. It’s also an intimate account of Doran’s deep artistic partnership with Tony Sher. Greg Doran is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev.
My Shakespeare: A Director’s Journey Through the First Folio, is available from Methuen Drama.
From our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published June 20, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Melvin Rickarby in Stratford and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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David West Read on & Juliet
6 juni 2023 · 29 min
Start with Shakespeare’s "star-crossed" lovers and fold in the songs of Swedish pop hitmaker Max Martin… what do you get? The hit Broadway musical & Juliet, currently running at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in New York and nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical. Lees meer
The show imagines what would happen if Juliet woke up after Romeo’s death and decided not to end it all. Instead, she goes on a trip to Paris with some new friends, including Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. Juliet discovers that Romeo isn’t really dead… but he’s also not exactly boyfriend material. And every so often, the characters break into song with Max Martin’s hits for Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and Katy Perry.
The writer behind this mash-up is David West Read. He previously served as writer and executive producer of the comedy series Schitt’s Creek, and he created The Big Door Prize and the forthcoming Brother from Another Mother, both running on AppleTV+. Host Barbara Bogaev talks with Read about & Juliet… and the concussion that inspired it.
Get tickets to & Juliet here, and tune in to the Tonys broadcast on Sunday, June 11 at 8 pm ET on CBS.
From our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published June 6, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Claire Reynolds in Atlanta and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Robert O'Hara on Directing Richard III
23 mei 2023 · 34 min
Robert O’Hara joins us to talk about directing last year’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III, starring Danai Gurira of Marvel's "Black Panther." He tells us about gathering a diverse cast of actors with disabilities, wanting to “trigger” his audiences, and what it’s like to get a call about directing Shakespeare in the Park (spoiler: it’s a whirlwind). Robert O’Hara is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Lees meer
A film of Richard III premiered on PBS’s Great Performances on Friday, May 19, and is streaming now on the PBS App and at pbs.org/gperf.
Robert O’Hara is a two-time Obie Award and two-time NAACP Award Winner whose work has been seen around the country. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his direction of Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play.
From our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published May 23, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from CDM Studios in New York and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Publishing Shakespeare's First Folio, with Chris Laoutaris
9 mei 2023 · 29 min
2023 marks the 400th anniversary of the publishing of the First Folio, the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays. Eighteen of those plays, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest, had never been published before they appeared in the First Folio, which means that without it, they might have been lost. Lees meer
But how did the First Folio come to be? It turns out that this book's story has enough twists to fill out a five-act play. It has its own heroes, villains, and political subtext. And the success of the Folio itself was far from a sure thing. Dr. Chris Laoutaris's new book, Shakespeare’s Book: The Story Behind the First Folio and the Making of Shakespeare, re-examines everything we thought we knew about the publication of the First Folio, and uncovers some new information in the archives. He is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev.
Chris Laoutaris is a biographer, historian, poet, Shakespeare scholar, and Associate Professor at The Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England. He is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Shakespeare Beyond Borders Alliance and the Co-Founder of the EQUALityShakespeare (EQUALS) initiative. He is also the author of Shakespeare and the Countess: The Battle that Gave Birth to the Globe. Shakespeare’s Book: The Story Behind the First Folio and the Making of Shakespeare is out now from Pegasus Books.
From our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published May 9, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Melvin Rickarby in Stratford-upon-Avon and Andy Plovnick at Bunker Studios in Brooklyn. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Lolita Chakrabarti on Adapting Hamnet for the Stage
25 april 2023 · 36 min
Lolita Chakrabarti is the playwright of Red Velvet, about 19th-century Black actor Ira Aldridge, and has adapted Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities and Yann Martel's The Life of Pi for the stage. Now, she has adapted Maggie O'Farrell's bestselling novel Hamnet for the stage. Hamnet is currently playing at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan Theatre. Lees meer
The play tells the story of a young Agnes Hathaway and William Shakespeare as they fall in love and start a family, and the psychological damage caused by the death of their son, Hamnet. Barbara Bogaev talks with Chakrabarti about adapting O'Farrell's story, how she portrays the Shakespeare family, and her earlier play Red Velvet.
Hamnet is onstage at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s newly restored Swan Theatre until June 17 and will open at London’s Garrick Theatre on September 30.
From the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published April 25, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer, with help from Leonor Fernandez. We had technical help from Melvin Rickarby in Stratford and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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James Ijames on Fat Ham
11 april 2023 · 33 min
Hamlet has been adapted, retold, and reinvented countless ways. But you’ve never seen a version of Hamlet quite like James Ijames’s Fat Ham, which won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and is now playing on Broadway. In Fat Ham, Ijames takes the outline of Hamlet and transposes it to the present day American South. Instead of “funeral baked meats,” Fat Ham serves up barbecue—expertly cooked by Rev, the Claudius character. The queer, Black Hamlet character is named Juicy. He isn’t on break from Wittenberg; he’s taking an online degree in human resources. After being visited by his father’s ghost, Juicy believes that his uncle murdered his father in order to marry his mother. And, just like Hamlet, Juicy has to decide what to do about it. But the way Ijames transforms Shakespeare’s premise makes Fat Ham into much more than a parody or an adaptation. James Ijames is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Lees meer
James Ijames is the co-artistic director of the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia and the author of the acclaimed plays Kill Move Paradise, TJ Loves Sally 4Ever, and The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published April 11, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Haley Paskalides in Manhattan and Evan Marquart at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Marion Turner on The Wife of Bath: A Biography
28 maart 2023 · 35 min
In her book The Wife of Bath: A Biography, Marion Turner reacquaints us with a remarkable, vital character: Alison, Wife of Bath, the most famous fictional pilgrim in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Turner puts Alison into her historical context in 14th- and 15th-century England and the literary tradition, arguing that the Wife of Bath is literature’s first “ordinary woman,” neither a paragon of virtue nor a vicious caricature. Instead, she’s funny, sexual, opinionated, competent—a recognizably human character. That’s all the more remarkable for her having been written by a man.
Turner’s biography goes on to trace the afterlives of the Wife of Bath through reinterpretations and reworkings of the character. That includes Voltaire’s version, James Joyce’s Molly Blum, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s film adaptation, a recent play by Zadie Smith, and her influence on Shakespeare. Turner is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Lees meerMarion Turner is a professor of English at the University of Oxford. She is also the author of Chaucer: A European Life. The Wife of Bath: A Biography is available from Princeton University Press.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published March 28, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Eloise Stevens in Oxford and Jenna McClellan at VoiceTrax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Patrick Page on King Lear and Shakespeare's Villains
14 maart 2023 · 41 min
You might recognize Patrick Page from films like Spirited, or shows like The Gilded Age, or from his Broadway roles as Hades in Hadestown for which he was nominated for a Tony. But Page is also an accomplished Shakespearean, with a long relationship with Washington, DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he’s played Prospero, Macbeth, Coriolanus, Iago, and now King Lear. Page talks with Barbara Bogaev about getting inside Lear’s head and his long fascination with Shakespeare’s villains. Lees meer
King Lear, starring Page and directed by Simon Godwin, is onstage at Shakespeare Theatre Company through April 16.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published March 14, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from Ellen Rolfes in Washington, D.C. and Evan Marquart at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Artificial Intelligence Goes to English Class, with Jennifer Black, John Ladd, and Laura Turchi
28 februari 2023 · 37 min
The Folger: Hey ChatGPT! Could you write a six line Shakespearean monologue in iambic pentameter about an interview with Jennifer Black, Laura Turchi, and John Ladd about the challenges and opportunities that ChatGPT presents in the English classroom? Thank you! Lees meer
ChatGPT: Of course, I'd be happy to write a Shakespearean monologue on that topic! Here it is:
Oh, how ChatGPT may bring the bard to light,
And in the English classroom, set things right.
With Jennifer, Laura, John to lead the way,
They'll show the world what ChatGPT can convey.
For in its code, a wealth of knowledge lies,
And students learn, to their great teachers' surprise.Based on that monologue, Open AI's ChatGPT tool obviously believes that it can be a positive addition to the classroom. Should you share its optimistic outlook? Our host Barbara Bogaev talks with Jennifer Black of Boise State University, Laura Turchi of Arizona State University, and John Ladd of Washington and Jefferson College about the challenges and opportunities that artificial intelligence tools offer English teachers.
Check out this episode on our website to see a gallery of Shakespeare portraits "created" by Open AI's DALL-E tool, responding to prompts including "Shakespeare piloting a Shakespeare in the style of Cowboy Bebop," "Robot William Shakespeare in the style of John Singer Sargent," "Photorealistic image Shakespeare in cyberspace," and "Shakespeare sitting on a cliffside in a jungle working on a laptop."
Dr. Jennifer Black is a Lecturer in English Literature at Boise State University, where she teaches a broad range of undergraduate courses in literature and humanities. Her most recent publications focus on teaching Shakespeare online, leadership and ethics in Shakespeare’s plays, and flipping the college classroom.
Dr. John R. Ladd is an assistant professor in Computing and Information Studies at Washington & Jefferson College. His teaching and research focuses on the use of data across a wide variety of domains…
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Lucy Wooding on Tudor England: A History
31 januari 2023 · 32 min
We can’t seem to get enough of the Tudor dynasty and its soap-opera twists. But in her book Tudor England: A History, Lucy Wooding argues that to really know the Tudors you must look past the famous names and racy plotlines. While Wooding visits the period’s kings and queens—was Henry VIII the lusty man we imagine? How “bloody” was Mary? What about Henry VII?—she also leaves the court to roam England’s streets and fields. Lees meer
Wooding’s book is a beautifully written account of period's society, culture, and beliefs that the Times of London has called a “classic in the making.” She discusses the Tudors and our major misconceptions about them with host Barbara Bogaev.
Lucy Wooding is the Langford Fellow and Tutor in History at Lincoln College, Oxford University. Her book Tudor England: A History is out now from Yale University Press.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published January 31, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from Tiffany Cassidy in Oxford and from VoiceTrax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Debra Ann Byrd on Becoming Othello: A Black Girl's Journey
17 januari 2023 · 35 min
Theater-maker Debra Ann Byrd has played Othello in three different productions: first, in a staged reading in 2013, then again in 2015 and 2019. Each time, she learned a little bit more about Othello, and about herself. In her one-woman show Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey, Byrd recounts her experience discovering herself while playing Shakespeare’s tragic hero. The show reaches back to her childhood in Spanish Harlem, her mother’s tragic death, and her own struggles with depression. She also tells the story of how she was inspired to start the Harlem Shakespeare Festival after seeing how few opportunities there were for actors of color to work in classical theater. Byrd discusses her journey, and the play it inspired, with host Barbara Bogaev. Lees meer
Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey is onstage at Seattle Shakespeare Company through January 29, 2023.
Debra Ann Byrd is the founder of the Harlem Shakespeare Festival and Producing Artistic Director of Southwest Shakespeare Company. She is a former Folger Artistic Research Fellow.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published January 13, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from John Buroker at HEARby sound in Seattle, and Jenna McClellan at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
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Ian Smith on Black Shakespeare
3 januari 2023 · 40 min
In his new book, Black Shakespeare: Reading and Misreading Race, Dr. Ian Smith of Lafayette College argues that Shakespeare’s plays engage with questions of race and early modern encounters between Africans and Europeans in ways that the discipline of Shakespeare studies have been hesitant to acknowledge. Ian Smith returns to the podcast and talks with Barbara Bogaev about how we can develop our “racial literacy” and read race in plays like Othello, The Merchant of Venice, and Hamlet. Lees meer
Ian Smith's Black Shakespeare: Reading and Misreading Race is out now from Cambridge University Press.
From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published December 20, 2022. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from Jimmy Dixon at 64 Sound in Los Angeles, and Jenna McClellan at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.