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Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

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Home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare materials. Advancing knowledge and the arts. Discover it all at www.folger.edu. Shakespeare turns up in the most interesting places—not just literature and the stage, but science and social history as well. Our "Shakespeare Unlimited" podcast explores the fascinating and varied connections between Shakespeare, his works, and the world around us.All rights reserved Arte Historia y Crítica Literaria
Episodios
  • Simon Russell Beale on Shakespeare, from Hamlet to Titus
    Jun 17 2025

    Called “the finest actor of his generation,” Sir Simon Russell Beale has played just about everyone in Shakespeare’s canon—Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Falstaff, Malvolio, Iago—and most recently, Titus Andronicus, for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In this episode, Beale reflects on the Shakespearean roles that have shaped his career and how his approach to them has evolved over time.

    He shares what drew him to Titus, and how he found surprising tenderness in Shakespeare’s brutal tragedy. The actor revisits past performances, exploring grief in Hamlet, aging and dementia in King Lear, and how time has deepened his connection to the plays and the characters.

    Beale’s memoir, A Piece of Work: Playing Shakespeare & Other Stories, is a moving and often humorous reflection on acting, Shakespeare, and the power of performance to reveal something essential about being human.

    Sir Simon Russell Beale studied at Cambridge before joining the RSC. Described by the Daily Telegraph as “the finest actor of his generation,” he has been lauded for both his stage and TV work, winning many awards including the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Evening Standard Best Actor Award, and the BAFTA Best Actor Award.

    From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published June 17, 2025. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

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    38 m
  • Shakespeare’s Boy Player Alexander Cooke
    Jun 3 2025

    In Shakespeare’s time, the actresses were boys—and for the most celebrated of them, fame came early but could end abruptly with a voice change. In this episode, author Nicole Galland joins us to talk about the world of boy players, young apprentices who performed women’s roles onstage in England before 1660.

    Galland’s novel, Boy, follows one of these real-life members of Shakespeare’s company, Alexander “Sander Cooke,” and his fictional best friend, Joan, a fiercely curious young woman who disguises herself as a boy to pursue knowledge. Drawing inspiration from Shakespeare’s cross-dressing heroines, Galland explores the freedoms and risks of reinventing gender roles in Elizabethan England.

    Figures like Francis Bacon appear in the novel as part of the broader web of power and political intrigue that shapes Joan and Sander’s world. Through these connections, Galland brings Shakespeare’s theatrical world to life and the people navigating its stage.

    Nicole Galland is the author of the historical novels I, Iago; Godiva; Crossed; Revenge of the Rose; and The Fool’s Tale; as well as the contemporary romantic comedies On the Same Page and Stepdog, and the New York Times bestselling near-future thriller The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (with Neal Stephenson).

    From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published June 3, 2025. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

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    37 m
  • King Lear and Mao’s China, with Nan Z. Da
    May 20 2025

    Nan Z. Da, in her book The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear, finds unsettling parallels between Shakespeare’s play and 20th-century China under Mao Zedong.

    Da, a literature professor at Johns Hopkins University, weaves together personal history and literary analysis to reveal how King Lear reflects—and even anticipates—the emotional and political horrors of authoritarian regimes. From public punishments to desperate displays of flattery, from state paranoia to family betrayal, she shows how Shakespeare’s tragedy resonates with the lived experiences of generations shaped by Maoism.

    She joins us to discuss the story of her family in Mao’s China and why Lear may be Shakespeare’s most “Chinese” play.

    Nan Z. Da is an associate professor of English at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to that, she taught for nine years at the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of Intransitive Encounters: Sino-US Literatures and the Limits of Exchange and co-editor of the Thinking Literature series.

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    31 m
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I just discovered this series of half-hour podcasts on Shakespeare and related topics from the Folger Shakespeare Library and have been binge-listening most of today. There is of course plenty here about Shakespeare and the plays from actors, directors, and scholars, but also about other writers and artists who have adapted elements of Shakespeare or who have expertise in translation, music, history, and much more . I just listened to "Marion Turner on The Wife of Bath: A Biography," for example, which is as it announces in the title about Turner's fictional biography of Chaucer's most famous character. The connection to Shakespeare is tangential but informative. In the last ten minutes or so Turner elaborates on Shakespeare's careful reading of Chaucer and the clear influences on his plays. But this is just one example. There are now eight years of programming archived in this series and I have found the seven or eight I have heard today all riveting. Shakespeare and the arts -- what's not to like?

Intelligent and Entertaining: Shakespeare Plus

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Excellent episode which provides much insight into the Broadway play FAT HAM and the process of the playwright. it moves along smoothly and hits on some key elements of the play and key moments. Enjoyed seeing the play this week and this discussion confirmed many of my thoughts about it.

Many insights into FAT HAM

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Each of these are master call presentations of so many looks and views of the Bard. Fun, witty and accessible to all.

Kudos!

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