Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

'Will,' the new series on TNT, tells stories derived from what we often call Shakespeare’s “lost years”—the time before he made a name for himself as a writer. The series takes advantage of that gaping hole in Shakespeare’s biography to weave an intricate and exciting tale of art, strife, death, love, poetry, and violence in Elizabethan England. Executive producer/writer Craig Pearce and executive producer/director Shekhar Kapur tell us about adapting Shakespeare's biography—or lack thereof—into a new television show with a punk rock aesthetic. Pearce and Kapur are interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published July 12, 2017. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, “We'll Tell Tales” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. Special thanks Martine Resnick, Scott Radloff, Heather Crawford, and Kristin Boos at TNT; Tony Ward, Sharon Bowe, Ruth Waites, Pete Smith, and Alison Atkey at the BBC in London; Melissa Kuypers and Peter Stenshoel at NPR-West in Culver City, California; as well as Shekhar Kapur’s assistant, Rhiannon Allen, and Craig Pearce’s assistant, Angus Wilkinson.

In 2012, the Donmar Warehouse presented an all-female production of "Julius Caesar," directed by Tony Award nominated director Phyllida Lloyd and starring Harriet Walter. The production was set in a womens' prison, and was the first of a trilogy of all-female productions that the Guardian would call “one of the most important theatrical events of the past 20 years.” Director Phyllida Lloyd tells us about the productions, from conception to production. She is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published June 27, 2016. ©Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, “We Are Governed With Our Mothers' Spirits” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had help from Chris Charles at the Sound Company in London.

Twenty-first-century wizardry meets the seventeenth-century kind in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of "The Tempest" with digital effects created by The Imaginarium, a performance-capture company that’s best known for movie and video game animations. RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran and Ben Lumsden, Imaginarium’s head of studio, are interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published June 13, 2017. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode, “My So Potent Art,” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had help from the RSC head of press, Philippa Harland; from Ed Walker at Sounding Sweet studios in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Marcia Caldwell and Melissa Kuypers at NPR-West in Los Angeles, and Chris Charles at The Sound Company in London. Enjoy the podcast? Please consider leaving a review.

Tracy Chevalier, author of "Girl With a Pearl Earring," takes on the tragedy of "Othello" in her latest novel, part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. But in a twist, she moves the action to a public elementary school playground in Washington, DC, in the early 1970s. The book, titled "New Boy," uses its distinctive setting to explore issues of discrimination, betrayal, alienation, and jealousy. In this episode, Tracy talks about the book, her inspirations, and the challenges of working with, and under the shadow of, Shakespeare. Tracy Chevalier was interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published May 31, 2017. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, "The Property of Youth and Maidhood," was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had help from Melissa Marquis as NPR in Washington and Angie Hamilton-Lowe at NPR-West in Culver City, California.

In 2014, Shakespeare’s Globe in London sent a group of actors on a two-year tour to perform "Hamlet" all around the world. They finished on the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016, after having traveled 193,000 miles and performed in 197 countries. Dominic Dromgoole, the Globe’s Artistic Director at the time, has written a book about the tour called "Hamlet Globe to Globe." Tom Bird is the Globe’s Executive Producer who managed the tour from London and also traveled to 19 of the countries that "Hamlet" visited. They are interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published May 16, 2017. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode, “So Many Journeys,” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had help from Cecily Meza-Martinez at NPR in Washington, Neal Roush at NPR in New York and Gareth Wood at The Sound Company in London.

What exactly counts as a Shakespeare adaptation? And why bother in the first place? In this podcast episode, we talk with three writers who have wrestled with these questions. Craig Wright is a TV writer and showrunner whose play, Melissa Arctic, a retelling of "The Winter’s Tale" set in rural Minnesota, premiered at Folger Theatre in 2004 and went on to play across the country. Chris Stezin’s play "Mac, Beth," which just ended a run at DC’s Keegan Theater, involves a businessman and his PR executive wife plotting to kill the CEO of Duncan Enterprises. Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri’s new play "Tell My Story" – Hamlet in the world of online fan fiction – opens this summer as the next work by the DC playwrights collaborative The Welders. They are interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published May 3, 2017. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode, “It Is A Copy Out Of Mine” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had help from Casey Vandeventer and from Cecily Meza-Martinez at NPR in Washington and Leo Delagula at NPR-West in Culver City, California.

To commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016, Chicago mobilized the city’s cultural and administrative resources in an unprecedented way. Barbara Gaines, founder and Artistic Director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, reflects on the "Shakespeare 400 Chicago" anniversary celebration. She was interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published April 18, 2017. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode, “In This City Will I Stay” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had help from Hannah Kennedy and Alida Szabo at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Collin Ashmead-Bobbitt at WBEZ in Chicago, and Jake Gorsky and Jeff Peters at the Marketplace studios in Los Angeles.

Shakespeare is famous today thanks in no small part to two members of his acting company, John Heminge and Henry Condell, who published a collection of his plays seven years after his death. Lauren Gunderson has written a new play called "The Book of Will" that portrays Heminge and Condell, along with their families and everyone involved in gathering and creating the First Folio. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published April 4, 2017. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode, “You That Survive, And You That Sleep In Fame,” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had help from Melissa Marquis at NPR in Washington and Monty Carlos at KQED in San Francisco.

You can find Shakespeare in all sorts of places, including the Fox TV series "Empire." From its very beginning, "Empire" has fashioned itself on the plot of "King Lear." And that's not the only Shakespeare connection to the program, as Ilene Chaiken, showrunner and executive producer for "Empire," explains. She was interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published March 22, 2017. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode, “The world in empire,” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had help from Jeff Peters at the Marketplace studios in Los Angeles.

In 2015, a new musical called "Something Rotten!" opened on Broadway. The plot: Two brothers living in England in 1595 have had their playwriting careers upended by the arrival of a new guy from Stratford upon Avon. Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick, brothers who co-wrote the music and lyrics for Something Rotten!, are our guests on this episode of Shakespeare Unlimited. They are interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published March 7, 2017. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode, “Play On,” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had help from Cameron Adkins at WPLN in Nashville and Brian Allison at the Marketplace studios in Los Angeles.