Toby Jones on playing the boisterous and fun-loving knight Falstaff. Toby Jones stars as Falstaff in our full-length version of Henry IV Part 1, which you can find in your podcast feed.

Full Length Play: Henry IV Part 1

Apr 26th, 2020 1h 57m

Rebellion is brewing in Britain.King Henry must reunite his country but how when even his own family is divided?As Henry's rule is threatened his son Hal appears unconcerned, wasting his time in the company of the comically corrupt Falstaff and

Full Length Play: Othello

Apr 21st, 2020 2h 1m

Khalid Abdalla, Matthew Needham and Cassie Layton star in Shakespeare's tragedy. This version is staged in an imagined near future, in which a power-hungry Turkish president attempts an attack on Cyprus. The western forces rush to Cyprus' defen

Othello: What it means to be a Moor

Apr 21st, 2020 4m 7s

Dr Islam Issa, Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University, gives us a rundown of events in the 1600s that influenced the character of Othello.You can listen to our full-length version of Othello, set in an imagined near future, in your podc

Full Length Play: The Two Noble Kinsmen

May 23rd, 2019 1h 52m

The Two Noble Kinsmen is one of Shakespeare's least-performed plays, and widely considered to be his last. Generally accepted to be co-written with John Fletcher, this Jacobean tragicomedy has its roots in Chaucer's The Knight's Tale. This audi

Full Length Play: The Two Gentlemen of Verona

May 16th, 2019 1h 42m

The Two Gentlemen of Verona is considered to be one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays and is paired next week with a production of The Two Noble Kinsmen which was his last play and widely considered to have been written with the up and coming wri

Coriolanus: A tragic hero

May 9th, 2019 4m 1s

A whistle-stop tour through Ancient Rome with writer and broadcaster Natalie Haynes.

Full Length Play: Coriolanus

May 9th, 2019 2h 27m

Shakespeare's penetrating portrayal of political turmoil in a society at war with itself. The PlotThere's widespread famine in Rome, which is causing tension between the common people and the patricians (the aristocrats). The people particular

Full Length Play: Julius Caesar

Jul 30th, 2018 2h 9m

The original political thriller that re-imagines Brutus's betrayal of Caesar.Caesar - Tim Pigott-SmithBrutus, - Robert GlenisterCassius - Sam TroughtonMark Antony - Jamie ParkerCasca - Philip FoxPortia - Fenella WoolgarOctavius - Wil

Exit Burbage

Jul 23rd, 2018 44m 31s

Imagine where we'd be without Shakespeare's plays. It's difficult to contemplate now. But it was thanks to another man that many of them were brought to life. Today, Richard Burbage is a not a household name. But he should be. He's the man for

Shakespeare: For And Against

Jul 16th, 2018 44m 29s

Playwright Mark Ravenhill challenges our adulation of the Bard and asks: Is Shakespeare's genius beyond question? Casting a sceptical eye over centuries of bardolatry, Ravenhill calls for a new approach to the plays.Exploring the intellectual

My Own Shakespeare: Gareth Malone and Margaret Drabble

Jul 11th, 2018 5m 38s

Gareth Malone and Margaret Drabble on strength and nature

Full Length Play: The Winter's Tale

Jul 9th, 2018 2h 30m

Eve Best, Danny Sapani and Shaun Dooley star in the magical product of the Bard's later years. Treading new dramatic ground The Winter's Tale embraces tragedy, poetry, folklore, magic realism, music, comedy and the infamous stage direction "exi

My Own Shakespeare: Zoe Wanamaker and Jim Al-Khalili

Jul 4th, 2018 6m 15s

Zoe Wanamaker on the world of play and Jim Al-Khalili on staying rational.

Looking For The Moor

Jul 2nd, 2018 45m 5s

Hugh Quarshie on Othello’s blackness. Is the character coherent? Is the play racist?Hugh Quarshie is a Ghanaian-born British actor. He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and played Othello in Iqbal Khan's production on the main stage

My Own Shakespeare: David Hare and Martha Kearney

Jun 27th, 2018 5m 31s

David Hare and Martha Kearney on deviant psychology and fancy dress

Full Length Play: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Jun 25th, 2018 2h

The play revolves around the adventures of four young lovers, a group of amateur actors and their interactions with the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The story takes place in Midsummer and is a complex farce featuring Hermia and Lysande

My Own Shakespeare: Jools Holland and Kwame Kwei-Armah

Jun 20th, 2018 5m 28s

Jools Holland on Falstaff & Kwame Kwei-Armah on falling in love with someone’s story

First Folio Road Trip

Jun 18th, 2018 44m 21s

From London to Kent, Oxford, the Scottish borders, Suffolk, Nottinghamshire and across the channel to France, Emma Smith takes a road trip to learn more about how Shakespeare's First Folio helped create the Shakespeare we know and love today.We

My Own Shakespeare: Stephen Fry and Hilary Mantel

Jun 13th, 2018 5m 55s

Stephen Fry and Hilary Mantel bring us the Shakespearean speeches closest to their hearts

Full Length Play: King Lear

Jun 11th, 2018 2h 31m

Lear is a very old king with a problem: three daughters and no sons. In dividing the kingdom between his children, Lear's reasoning is admirable: he wants to hand over the kingdom to his daughters so that "future strife / May be prevented now.

Full Length Play: The Merchant of Venice

Jun 6th, 2018 1h 59m

Andrew Scott, Ray Fearon, Hayley Atwell and Colin Morgan star in Shakespeare's ever-topical story of over-confident traders, a debt-ridden country dependent on credit, and a society suspicious of religious difference. This modern version is set

The Art of Storytelling

Jun 6th, 2018 14m 48s

Prof. Emma Smith takes a closer look at Shakespeare's skills as a storyteller and how his plots, where the outcome is often signposted from the beginning, still hold audiences enthralled.

My Own Shakespeare: Benjamin Zephaniah and Rowan Williams

Jun 6th, 2018 5m 16s

Benjamin Zephaniah and Rowan Williams share their favourite Shakespearean moments

Full Length Play: Measure for Measure

Jun 6th, 2018 2h 4m

"Women? Help Heaven! men their creation marIn profiting by them."Shakespeare's last and perhaps strangest comedy - a play about religion, surveillance, coercion, sex and power.The Duke ..... Paul HigginsIsabella ..... Nicola FergusonAnge