The Robben Island Shakespeare, with David Schalkwyk (Rebroadcast)

The Robben Island Shakespeare, with David Schalkwyk (Rebroadcast)

While Nelson Mandela was incarcerated on South Africa's Robben Island, one of the other political prisoners, Sonny Venkatrathnam, managed to retain a copy of Shakespeare's complete works. Venkatrathnam secretly circulated the book to many of his fellow prisoners—including Mandela—asking them to sign their names next to their favorite passages. As South African Shakespeare scholar David Schalkwyk explains to interviewer Rebecca Sheir, there is something special about "a book that had passed through the hands of the people who had saved my country." Schalkwyk shares some personal history and reveals what Shakespeare might have meant to the men who signed the Robben Island Shakespeare. David Schalkwyk is a Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Queen Mary University of London. He previously served as director of research at the Folger Shakespeare Library and editor of Shakespeare Quarterly. He is the author of Speech and Performance in Shakespeare’s Sonnets; Plays, Literature and the Touch of the Real; and Shakespeare, Love and Service. His book about the Robben Island Shakespeare is titled Hamlet’s Dreams. It was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2013. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Originally published in 2013, and rebroadcast July 19, 2022. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, "Cowards Die Many Times before Their Deaths; The Valiant Never Taste of Death but Once," was produced under the supervision of Garland Scott, and is presented with permission of rlpaulproductions, LLC, which created it for the Folger. Esther French and Ben Lauer are the web producers.

Jaksot(296)

Hamnet, with Chloe Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell

Hamnet, with Chloe Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell

Hamnet, the acclaimed novel by Maggie O’Farrell, is now a major film. The story imagines the life and death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, whose loss would later echo through one of his most famous tra...

2 Joulu 202536min

London's First Playhouse and Shakespeare

London's First Playhouse and Shakespeare

Before Shakespeare became a literary icon, he was a working writer trying to earn a living in an emerging and often precarious new industry. In The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the Maki...

17 Marras 202536min

Mary, Queen of Scots, with Jade Scott

Mary, Queen of Scots, with Jade Scott

Imprisoned for nearly 20 years by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, fought her battles through words, sending and receiving coded letters hidden in books, garments, and even beer bar...

3 Marras 202536min

Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage

Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage

Long before Shakespeare became a household name, there was Richard Burbage. As the first actor to play Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, and King Lear, Burbage helped define what it meant to be a Shakespe...

21 Loka 202534min

Harriet Walter: New Words for Shakespeare's Women

Harriet Walter: New Words for Shakespeare's Women

Shakespeare’s plays are filled with unforgettable women—but too often, their voices are cut short. Ophelia never gets to defend herself. Gertrude never explains her choices. Lady Anne surrenders to Ri...

7 Loka 202535min

Stephen Greenblatt on Christopher Marlowe

Stephen Greenblatt on Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were both born in 1564, rising from working-class origins finding success in the new world of the theater. But before Shakespeare transformed English drama,...

23 Syys 202540min

Al Letson on his play Julius X

Al Letson on his play Julius X

You may know Al Letson as a journalist—he’s the host of the popular investigative podcast Reveal. Before that, he created and hosted the public radio show State of the Re:Union. But Letson is also an ...

8 Syys 202529min

Director Rosa Joshi on Julius Caesar Today

Director Rosa Joshi on Julius Caesar Today

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar feels urgently contemporary in Rosa Joshi’s new production at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival—one of America’s largest and longest-running theater festivals, now in its 90t...

26 Elo 202540min

Suosittua kategoriassa Premium

nikotellen
anni-jaajo
tuplakaak
antin-matka
olipa-kerran-otsikko
jaljilla
grekovit
hei-baby-3
maanantaimysteeri
i-dont-like-mondays
sita
terveisia-perheesta
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
palmujen-varjoissa
kaksi-aitia
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
the-harlin-show
murhan-anatomia
ihan-oikeesti
backmanholmavuo