Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Over the course of three summers in the 1950s, Arthur Lithgow, Meredith Dallas, and a troupe of actors they’d gathered performed every single one of Shakespeare plays, in rep, at the Antioch Shakespeare Festival, also known as Shakespeare Under the Stars, at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This podcast episode brings together the children of the festival’s founders to talk about their fathers’ work and its legacy: Tony Dallas, Robin Lithgow, and the Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning actor John Lithgow. John, Robin, and Tony are interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published June 12, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, "I Live to Speak My Father’s Words," was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer.

In 2012 the Royal Shakespeare Company staged the first-ever, high-profile, all-black British Shakespeare production, "Julius Caesar," set in Africa. The actor who played Brutus, Paterson Joseph, recently wrote a book about the experience called "Julius Caesar and Me: Exploring Shakespeare’s African Play." Paterson Joseph is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published May 29, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, "Bear It, As Our Roman Actors Do," was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer.

London in the time of William Shakespeare was a city in the midst of a phenomenal metamorphosis. During the course of Shakespeare’s professional life, the city experienced a meteoric transition, rocketing from the capital of the hinterlands to a cosmopolitan city on its way to becoming the capital of the western world. Stephen Alford, a professor of early modern British history at the University of Leeds and the author London's Triumph: Merchants, Adventurers, and Money in Shakespeare’s City, is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published May 15, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, Wander Up and Down to View the City, was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer.

Nearly 30 people were killed in May 1849 when fans of American actor Edwin Forrest rioted inside and outside New York’s Astor Place Opera House during a performance by Forrest’s rival, the British actor William Charles Macready. Barbara Bogaev interviews Heather Nathans and Karl Kippola about the riot. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published May 1, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, His Headstrong Riot Hath No Curb, was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer.

Hear Sir Ben Kingsley, Earle Hyman, Liev Schreiber, James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach, Estelle Parsons, and others open up about their experiences with Shakespeare’s plays. Actor/director Melinda Hall interviewed these actors (and others), as well as writers, directors, linguists, and even a Holocaust survivor for her web-video series "How Shakespeare Changed My Life." She is interviewed here by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published April 17, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, "Mine Honor, Yea, My Life Be Thine," was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer.

Antony Sher talks about his experiences with the Royal Shakespeare Company and his roles as Lear in 2016, Falstaff in 2013, and Richard III in 1984. In preparing for these roles, Sher kept meticulous diaries, which he later published as books— "Year of the King" for Richard, "Year of the Fat Knight" for Falstaff, and now "Year of the Mad King," which chronicles his experiences with the most grueling role Shakespeare ever wrote for an older actor. Sher is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published April 3, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, "Go Get It Ready," was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer.

Independent scholar Dennis McCarthy and Lafayette College English professor June Schlueter say they have discovered a major new source for Shakespeare’s Richard III, Henry V, Henry VI, Part II, and at least eight other plays. The scholarly world continues to investigate and debate these new claims, which, if proved true, would be a once-in-a-generation find. On this podcast episode, McCarthy and Schlueter discuss how they used plagiarism-detecting software to analyze a nearly-450-year-old unpublished manuscript called A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebels by a man named George North, finding multiple instances of matches with passages in Shakespeare plays. Published March 20, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, Put Your Discourse into Some Frame, was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer.

Actor Derek Jacobi talks about his remarkable career, including advice he received from Richard Burton, a disappointing rejection by the Royal Shakespeare Company, sharing the stage with Laurence Olivier, performing King Lear in 2010, his collaborations with Kenneth Branagh, and a struggle with paralyzing stage fright that drove him away from the theater for two years in the 1980s. He was interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. This is Part 2 of a two-part interview. Published March 6, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode “O, For A Muse Of Fire!”  was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer.

Renowned actor Derek Jacobi talks about the Shakespearean role for which he is best known, Hamlet. Beginning at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1957, Jacobi has acted this role on stage nearly 400 times, and as you can imagine, he’s devoted hours to thinking about Hamlet’s words, Hamlet’s motivations, and the best way to play the role. Derek Jacobi was interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. This is the first of a two-part interview. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published February 20, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, “Do not saw the air with your hands, thus,” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer.

Bernard Cornwell, a bestselling writer of historical fiction such as the Sharpe series, has turned to the world of the Elizabethan theater. His newest novel, Fools and Mortals, is a tale of love, intrigue, opulence, and violence, all narrated by William Shakespeare’s brother Richard. Bernard Cornwell was interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published February 6, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, “Masters, Here Are Your Parts” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer.