Shakespeare 400

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

Shakespeare 400: Shakespeare And The Suffragettes

20160425

Four centuries after the death of Shakespeare, five young scholars share new evaluations of his work - in a series of essays recorded in front of an audience in Shakespeare's old classroom at the Guildhall in Stratford-upon-Avon.

1.Sophie Duncan on Shakespeare and the Suffragettes

Sophie Duncan reveals how Shakespeare's heroines helped transform Victorian schoolgirls into Edwardian activists.

The 19th century actress Ellen Terry told the suffragettes that they had more in common with Shakespeare's female characters than with the fragile, domestic ladies of Victorian novels. Sohie Duncan's new research starts with the unanticipated results of a competition run in The Girls' Own Paper in 1888 to find its readers' favourite Shakespearean heroine. It moves into more conventional scholarly territory with an analysis of a Suffragist-led production of The Winter's Tale in 1914, and its impact on English Suffragettes as a depiction of violence against women and the transformative power of female friendship.

Sophie Duncan is Calleva Post-Doctoral Researcher at Magdalen College, Oxford

BBC Radio 3 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired.

Producer: Beaty Rubens.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Shakespeare 400: Undiscovered Countries - Shakespeare And The Nation

20160426

Four centuries after Shakespeare's death, young scholars share new evaluations of his work - in a series of essays recorded in front of an audience in Shakespeare's old classroom at the Guildhall in Stratford-upon-Avon.

2.James Loxley on Undiscovered Countries: Shakespeare and the Nation

At a time when relationships between the UK and the rest of Europe, and between the UK's own constituent nations, looks more unsettled than for many years, James Loxley explores what light Shakespeares plays might throw on tricky questions of national identity and the political debates that can grow up around them.

James starts by considering Henry V, for which Shakespeare is often depicted as a celebrant of untroubled Englishness, giong on to explain that during Shakespeare's most creative period, the very name and nature of the country was in dispute, with the concept of 'Great Britain' becoming a prospect for the first time.

And he concludes by wondering how Shakespeare's plays can help us understand our own national questions today.

James Loxley is Professor of Early Modern Literature in the University of Edinburgh

BBC Radio 3 is marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired.

Producer: Beaty Rubens.

James Loxley explores what Shakespeare's plays say about questions of national identity.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Shakespeare 400: Wolf All? - Shakespeare And Food In Renaissance England

20160427

3.Joan Fitzpatrick with 'Wolf All?- Shakespeare and Food in Renaissance England

Joan Fitzpatrick explains her new research on what people ate in Shakepeare's England, and what food and the consumption of food signifies in his plays.

She starts with details of enormously popular Dietary books, such as William Bullein's Government of Health, (first printed in 1542) and goes on to explore why eating is about far more than nourishment, shedding important new light on the old, the young, the thin, the fat, women, foreigners, the poor and social elites in Shakespeare's plays.

Joan Fitzpatrick is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Loughborough University

BBC Radio 3 is marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired.

Producer : Beaty Rubens.

Joan Fitzpatrick explains her new research on what people ate in Shakepeare's England.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Shakespeare 400: Freedom Of Speech Or 'nothing' - King Lear And Contemporary India

20160428

4.Preti Taneja: Freedom of Speech or 'Nothing': King Lear and Contemporary India

Preti recently undertook a wide-reaching trip to India in order to research her own new novel based on King Lear. In this Essay, she considers Shakespeare's great tragedy as a lens through which to explore some of the contradictions of freedom of speech and censorship, development and corruption, activism and violence facing the world's youngest, fastest growing democracy today.

Preti Taneja is a former Radio 3 New Generation Thinker and post-doctoral research fellow in Global Shakespeare at Queen Mary, University of London, and Warwick University.

BBC Radio 3 is marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired.

Producer: Beaty Rubens.

Preti Taneja considers Shakespeare's King Lear as a lens through which to view India today

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Shakespeare 400: Shakespeare Beyond London

20160429

5.Siobhan Keenan on Shakespeare Beyond London

The Globe Theatre on the South Bank gives us such a clear image of productions of Shakespeare's plays in his own day, that it's easy to forget they were also performed far beyond London. Siobhan sets out to explain how Shakespeare and his fellow actors regularly toured the country, performing in spaces ranging from town halls and churches to large country houses.

Siobhan sheds light on why most of Shakespeare's plays were designed so that they could be performed anywhere - with call for few props and little scenery - in order to reveal the importance of touring to his career, and the emergence of Shakespeare as a cultural icon in Elizabethan and Jacobean England - and beyond.

Siobhan Keenan is Reader in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at De Montfort University.

BBC Radio 3 is marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired.

Producer: Beaty Rubens.

Siobhan Keenan on the importance of touring to Shakespeare and the actors in his plays.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Comments
01	Shakespeare 400: Shakespeare And The Suffragettes	20160425	Four centuries after the death of Shakespeare, five young scholars share new evaluations of his work - in a series of essays recorded in front of an audience in Shakespeare's old classroom at the Guildhall in Stratford-upon-Avon. 1.Sophie Duncan on Shakespeare and the Suffragettes Sophie Duncan reveals how Shakespeare's heroines helped transform Victorian schoolgirls into Edwardian activists. The 19th century actress Ellen Terry told the suffragettes that they had more in common with Shakespeare's female characters than with the fragile, domestic ladies of Victorian novels. Sohie Duncan's new research starts with the unanticipated results of a competition run in The Girls' Own Paper in 1888 to find its readers' favourite Shakespearean heroine. It moves into more conventional scholarly territory with an analysis of a Suffragist-led production of The Winter's Tale in 1914, and its impact on English Suffragettes as a depiction of violence against women and the transformative power of female friendship. Sophie Duncan is Calleva Post-Doctoral Researcher at Magdalen College, Oxford BBC Radio 3 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired. Producer: Beaty Rubens. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
02	Shakespeare 400: Undiscovered Countries - Shakespeare And The Nation	20160426	Four centuries after Shakespeare's death, young scholars share new evaluations of his work - in a series of essays recorded in front of an audience in Shakespeare's old classroom at the Guildhall in Stratford-upon-Avon. 2.James Loxley on Undiscovered Countries: Shakespeare and the Nation At a time when relationships between the UK and the rest of Europe, and between the UK's own constituent nations, looks more unsettled than for many years, James Loxley explores what light Shakespeares plays might throw on tricky questions of national identity and the political debates that can grow up around them. James starts by considering Henry V, for which Shakespeare is often depicted as a celebrant of untroubled Englishness, giong on to explain that during Shakespeare's most creative period, the very name and nature of the country was in dispute, with the concept of 'Great Britain' becoming a prospect for the first time. And he concludes by wondering how Shakespeare's plays can help us understand our own national questions today. James Loxley is Professor of Early Modern Literature in the University of Edinburgh BBC Radio 3 is marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired. Producer: Beaty Rubens. James Loxley explores what Shakespeare's plays say about questions of national identity. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
03	Shakespeare 400: Wolf All? - Shakespeare And Food In Renaissance England	20160427	Four centuries after Shakespeare's death, young scholars share new evaluations of his work - in a series of essays recorded in front of an audience in Shakespeare's old classroom at the Guildhall in Stratford-upon-Avon. 3.Joan Fitzpatrick with 'Wolf All?- Shakespeare and Food in Renaissance England Joan Fitzpatrick explains her new research on what people ate in Shakepeare's England, and what food and the consumption of food signifies in his plays. She starts with details of enormously popular Dietary books, such as William Bullein's Government of Health, (first printed in 1542) and goes on to explore why eating is about far more than nourishment, shedding important new light on the old, the young, the thin, the fat, women, foreigners, the poor and social elites in Shakespeare's plays. Joan Fitzpatrick is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Loughborough University BBC Radio 3 is marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired. Producer : Beaty Rubens. Joan Fitzpatrick explains her new research on what people ate in Shakepeare's England. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
04	Shakespeare 400: Freedom Of Speech Or 'nothing' - King Lear And Contemporary India	20160428	Four centuries after Shakespeare's death, young scholars share new evaluations of his work - in a series of essays recorded in front of an audience in Shakespeare's old classroom at the Guildhall in Stratford-upon-Avon. 4.Preti Taneja: Freedom of Speech or 'Nothing': King Lear and Contemporary India Preti recently undertook a wide-reaching trip to India in order to research her own new novel based on King Lear. In this Essay, she considers Shakespeare's great tragedy as a lens through which to explore some of the contradictions of freedom of speech and censorship, development and corruption, activism and violence facing the world's youngest, fastest growing democracy today. Preti Taneja is a former Radio 3 New Generation Thinker and post-doctoral research fellow in Global Shakespeare at Queen Mary, University of London, and Warwick University. BBC Radio 3 is marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired. Producer: Beaty Rubens. Preti Taneja considers Shakespeare's King Lear as a lens through which to view India today Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
05	Shakespeare 400: Shakespeare Beyond London	20160429	Four centuries after Shakespeare's death, young scholars share new evaluations of his work - in a series of essays recorded in front of an audience in Shakespeare's old classroom at the Guildhall in Stratford-upon-Avon. 5.Siobhan Keenan on Shakespeare Beyond London The Globe Theatre on the South Bank gives us such a clear image of productions of Shakespeare's plays in his own day, that it's easy to forget they were also performed far beyond London. Siobhan sets out to explain how Shakespeare and his fellow actors regularly toured the country, performing in spaces ranging from town halls and churches to large country houses. Siobhan sheds light on why most of Shakespeare's plays were designed so that they could be performed anywhere - with call for few props and little scenery - in order to reveal the importance of touring to his career, and the emergence of Shakespeare as a cultural icon in Elizabethan and Jacobean England - and beyond. Siobhan Keenan is Reader in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at De Montfort University. BBC Radio 3 is marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired. Producer: Beaty Rubens. Siobhan Keenan on the importance of touring to Shakespeare and the actors in his plays. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.