Reading Jane Austen in the 21st Century with Patricia A. Matthew
250 years after her birth, Jane Austen is more popular than ever, with the publication of new editions of her novels and numerous new film adaptations in production. But what does it mean to read and ...
12 Aug 202532min
Inside Hamlet’s Head with Jeremy McCarter
What if, instead of just watching Hamlet, you could step inside the prince’s mind? A revelatory new audio production reimagines Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy as a first-person experience told through ...
29 Jul 202541min
Shakespeare, Money, and Meaning-Making
Can reading King Lear help us rethink economic policy? Can Measure for Measure shape how we talk about justice, or Hamlet help us face grief? That’s the idea behind an ambitious project at Montreal’s ...
14 Jul 202531min
Staging Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto
When live performance shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen weren’t sure when—or if—they’d ever be onstage again. So, they turned to an unexpected venue: Grand T...
1 Jul 202539min
Simon Russell Beale on Shakespeare, from Hamlet to Titus
Called “the finest actor of his generation,” Sir Simon Russell Beale has played just about everyone in Shakespeare’s canon—Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Falstaff, Malvolio, Iago—and most recently, Titus Andr...
17 Jun 202537min
Shakespeare’s Boy Player Alexander Cooke
In Shakespeare’s time, the actresses were boys—and for the most celebrated of them, fame came early but could end abruptly with a voice change. In this episode, author Nicole Galland joins us to talk ...
3 Jun 202537min
King Lear and Mao’s China, with Nan Z. Da
Nan Z. Da, in her book The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear, finds unsettling parallels between Shakespeare’s play and 20th-century China under Mao Zedong. Da, a literature professor at Johns Hopkins Uni...
19 Mai 202531min
Top Pop Songs of the 1600s
What were the top musical hits of Shakespeare’s England? What lyrics were stuck in people’s heads? What stories did they sing on repeat? The 100 Ballads project is a deep dive into the hits of early ...
6 Mai 202539min
