Shakespeare's plays remind us of the thin partition that divides savagery and civilization. Shakespeare thwarts prejudice as only a poet can, not by speaking up for shylock’s human rights, but by rendering the raw man the prejudiced cannot see,. He cries when he is told that his daughter has olen the ring his wife gave him and sold it to buy a pet monkey. It was my turquoise. I had it of laye. When i was a bachelor, i would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys. Ask the impoverished working man what he has in common with the rich phoenician jew, and the answer is a human heart.
Created in partnership with Sotheby's, in a debate that spans the centuries, Peabody Award-winning spoken word performer George the Poet and Booker Prize-winning author Howard Jacobson go head-to-head over which form of cultural expression best resonates now and forever. Does hip-hop and slam poetry speak more to society than historical texts that require background knowledge to be fully understood? Or does the lasting appeal of Shakespeare and other great figures from the canon show that some works have a universal value that stands the test of time?
This event was recorded on the 9th of June 2022, at Sotheby's in London and produced by Executive Producer Hannah Kaye and Audience Development Producer Yosola Olorunshola
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