Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited Podcast
1) Juliet, Then and Now, with Sophie Duncan
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 Fo...Show More
2) 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 ...Show More
3) 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 ...Show More
4) 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 ...Show More
5) 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...Show More
6) 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...Show More
7) 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 ...Show More
8) 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...Show More
9) 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 ...Show More
10) The Yorkist Pretender, with Jo Harkin
Who was Lambert Simnel—the boy who nearly claimed the Tudor throne? In late 15th-century England, identity wasn’t just a matter of birth—it could be a political weapon, a tool for rebellion, and somet...Show More