Shakespeare Unlimited podcast
William Shakespeare and his works are woven throughout our global culture, from theater, music, and films to new scholarship, education, amazing discoveries, and more. In our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast, Shakespeare opens a window into topics ranging from the American West, to the real history of Elizabethan street fighting, to interviews with Shakespearean stars. As you’ll hear, he turns up in surprising places, too—including outer space. Join us for a “no limits” tour of the connections between Shakespeare, his works, and our world.
Shakespeare in Black and White
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 19 In the second of two episodes about Black Americans and Shakespeare, we talk with scholars Marvin MacAllister and Ayanna Thompson about the period between the end of the Civil War and the 1950s: from Reconstruction, through…
Rarely Performed Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 18 Every year, theaters across the United States and the world treat us to Shakespeare—which usually means such frequently produced plays as Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet. Some Shakespeare plays, however, are rarely performed today. Why…
A New First Folio Discovery
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 17 In the fall of 2014, the world learned of a remarkable discovery: An old book in a French library, acquired in the 1790s, was identified as an unknown copy of the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare—the…
Pronouncing English as Shakespeare Did
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 16 When Shakespeare wrote his lines, and actors first spoke them, how did they say the words—and what does that tell us? Rebecca Sheir, host of the Shakespeare Unlimited series, talks original pronunciation (OP) with Shakespearean actor…
The Shakespearean Moons of Uranus
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 15 Sometimes it seems you can hear or see traces of Shakespeare just about anywhere on Earth. But how about around the planet Uranus, which had not even been discovered in Shakespeare’s time? In this celestial edition,…
Codes and Ciphers from the Renaissance to Today
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 14 It’s a striking comment that occurs late in this podcast—and by the time you hear it, you may well agree: “Without Bacon and Shakespeare, we might not have won the war in the Pacific,” says Bill…
Charlotte Cushman: When Romeo Was a Woman
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 13 Actress Charlotte Cushman was a 19th-century theatrical icon, so famous and beloved that, like Madonna or Beyoncé today, newspapers called her by just her first name: she was “Our Charlotte.” But her fame was not for conventionally Victorian feminine…
Romeo and Juliet through the Ages
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 12 Though the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet is a perennial favorite, the world around the play has changed in the four centuries since it was first performed. Shifting attitudes about taboo love and marriage,…
Music in Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 11 Rebecca Sheir, host of our Shakespeare Unlimited series, interviews Ross W. Duffin, professor at Case Western University, about musical hints in Shakespeare that have been flying over the heads of most audiences and readers for 400…
Artistic Directors Talk Shakespeare
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 10 Shakespeare’s words and stories may be timeless, but what does that mean when you stage his plays for a modern American audience? That’s a challenge that artistic directors relish as they explore the plays’ many possibilities.…
Shakespeare and Insane Asylums
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 9 Plenty of people today consider Shakespeare a literary genius, a pillar of theater history, a gifted writer of timeless love poems, and more. But even the most over-the-top contemporary admirer of Shakespeare is unlikely to consider…
Why Shakespeare's Stories Still Resonate
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 8 Why do Shakespeare’s works, written so long ago, still speak to us today? Just as actors and directors strive to work out this question on the stage, the academy continues to find new meaning in Shakespeare,…