Podcasts and recordings
Explore Shakespeare and his world with our podcasts and recordings.
Shakespeare Unlimited
When British radio listeners voted William Shakespeare their “British Person of the Millennium,” the honor was entirely understandable. Shakespeare and his works are woven throughout not only English-speaking culture, but global culture. As you’ll hear in this podcast, Shakespeare turns up in the most interesting places—not just literature and the stage, but science and social history as well. Join us for this “no limits” podcast tour of the fascinating and varied connections between Shakespeare, his works, and the world around us.
Find Shakespeare Unlimited on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Full Episode List
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Recent episodes
Mary Zimmerman on Adapting Ovid and Directing Shakespeare
Theater-maker Mary Zimmerman joins us on our podcast to talk about creating her award-winning adaptation of Metamorphoses.
Dame Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea on Seven Decades of Shakespeare
Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea talk about Dench’s experiences playing Ophelia, Gertrude, Lady Macbeth and Titania. Plus, parrots, Polonius, dirty words, hijinks with Sir Ian McKellen, and more.
Shakespeare and the Enviroment, with Todd Andrew Borlik
Todd Andrew Borlik’s book explores the ways that the ecological concerns of Jacobean England appear in Shakespeare’s plays.
Ramie Targoff on Shakespeare's Sisters
Ramie Targoff explores the lives and works of Mary Sidney, Aemelia Lanyer, Anne Clifford, and Elizabeth Cary in her new book, Shakespeare’s Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance.
Michelle Ephraim on Discovering Shakespeare and Reevaluating The Merchant of Venice
Michelle Ephraim’s memoir Green World refracts The Merchant of Venice through the changing dynamics of her own family, as her Holocaust-survivor parents age and she becomes a mother herself.
Eddie Izzard on Performing Hamlet Solo
Legendary comedian and actor Eddie Izzard tells us about her one-actor performance of Hamlet.
Shakespeare and Disgust, with Bradley J. Irish
Bradley J. Irish explains why disgust is one of the key thematic emotions in Shakespeare’s works.
Rita Dove on Shakespeare and Her Poem of Welcome for the Folger
Poet Rita Dove tells us about how she wrote her poem of welcome for the Folger’s west garden. Plus, we discuss how she discovered Shakespeare… and the snack that goes best with each of his plays.
David and Ben Crystal Share Shakespeare Quotations for Everyday Life
Ben and David Crystal’s new book offers daily Shakespeare quotes you can apply to your everyday existence.
What Happened to the Princes in the Tower, with Philippa Langley
Philippa Langley’s new book explores evidence that Richard III was framed for the murder of his nephews.
More Podcasts and Recordings
Shakespeare in American Life
Explore Shakespeare’s influence on American performance, politics, and popular culture in this radio documentary narrated by Sam Waterston.
The Folger Shakespeare Audio Editions
Listen to full-cast dramatizations of the unabridged texts of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, available from Simon & Schuster Audio.
Shakespeare's Birthday Lectures
Every year, the Folger celebrates Shakespeare birthday with a public lecture from a Shakespearean. Listen to recordings of recent talks from scholars including Julia Reinhard Lupton, Wendy Wall, Jonathan Bate, Stephen Greenblatt, and others.
Shakespeare Anniversary Lecture Series
In 2016, the Folger Institute’s Center for Shakespeare Studies commemorated the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death with a series of public lectures. Listen to talks by Michael Witmore, Tiffany Stern, Kim Hall, and others.
Men of Letters: Shakespeare's Influence on Abraham Lincoln
Three books sat on Abraham Lincoln’s White House desk. One of them was the works of Shakespeare—a writer Lincoln cherished throughout his life. Learn about Shakespeare’s enduring influence on Lincoln and on Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, as well as why Shakespeare continues to occupy a special place in the hearts of political leaders.
'Now Thrive the Armorers": Arms and Armor in Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s plays dramatize a military culture in transition, as Richard II’s knights on horseback give way to Othello’s career army men. Featuring Jeffrey Forgeng of the Higgins Armory Museum and Barbara Mowat, Co-Editor of The Folger Shakespeare.
Line by Line
Listen to select recordings from the Folger’s archive of poetry readings.
Lend me your ears.
–Julius Caesar, 3.2