History plays were a prominent genre in the last decade of the 16th century. So it's absolutely bound up with the unspeakable, but a repressible question about the succession to Elizabeth. The Tudors come and bring peace to this war-torn land that comes out as such a powerful narrative when the Tudors themselves are just finishing. Do you think Shakespeare shaped the way we look at history of this country? Absolutely. I think there's any question about it.
In the first of two programmes marking In Our Time's 20th anniversary on 15th October, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's versions of history, starting with the English Plantagenets. His eight plays from Richard II to Richard III were written out of order, in the Elizabethan era, and have had a significant impact on the way we see those histories today. In the second programme, Melvyn discusses the Roman plays.
The image above is of Richard Burton (1925 - 1984) as Henry V in the Shakespeare play of the same name, from 1951
With
Emma Smith
Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford
Gordon McMullan
Professor of English at King’s College London and Director of the London Shakespeare Centre
And
Katherine Lewis
Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Huddersfield
Producer: Simon Tillotson