Actor interviews

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.

Legendary comedian and actor Eddie Izzard tells us about her one-actor performance of Hamlet.

We talk to Sir Patrick Stewart about his Yorkshire youth, auditioning for the RSC, and his most famous roles on the stage and screen.

Michael Patrick Thornton joins us on the podcast to talk about his experiences navigating the theater world in a wheelchair after recovering from a spinal stroke.

Read a few favorite quotes from actors who joined us on our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast, including the late Glenda Jackson, Adrian Lester, and Sir Ian McKellen.

Actor Adrian Lester walks us through big moments in his illustrious career, including Cheek by Jowl’s all-male “As You Like It” and Peter Brook’s “Hamlet.”

Patrick Page tells us how he gets inside the mind of Lear in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2023 production.

Theater-maker and past Folger Fellow Debra Ann Byrd tells us about her solo show.

Talene Monahon’s play Jane Anger was inspired by the pandemic and a radical 16th-century proto-feminist pamphlet.

Sir Ian McKellen tells us about some of his most famous roles: playing Macbeth opposite Dame Judi Dench, King Richard III with a screenplay he co-wrote, and Gandalf the Grey in The Lord of the Rings films.

Sir Ian McKellen played Hamlet in his thirties, and again in his eighties. He gives us his take on the Melancholy Dane.

We talk with Madeline Sayet about growing up Mohegan in Connecticut, her evolving relationship with Shakespeare today, and what it means to belong in a complicated world.