"Under the greenwood tree / Who loves to lie with me / And turn his merry note / Unto the sweet bird’s throat, / Come hither, come hither, come hither. / Here shall he see / No enemy / But winter and rough weather." (As You Like It, 2.5.1-8)

Pack the picnic basket. Grab a blanket. Don't forget the bug spray.

Shakespeare under the stars is a long-standing tradition in America—and elsewhere in the English-speaking world and beyond.

Rebecca Sheir, host of our Shakespeare Unlimited series, talks with scholars and theater artists about the social and cultural forces that came together to create outdoor Shakepeare festivals. (Hint: The tradition starts a lot sooner than you might think!)

Among those featured in this podcast:

- Libby Appel is former Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

- Charlotte Canning is a professor in the theater and dance department of the University of Texas at Austin.

- Michael Dobson is director of the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham in England.

- Frank Hildy is a professor of theater at the University of Maryland.

- Scott Kaiser is the head of voice and text at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

-----------------------

From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. Produced for the Folger Shakespeare Library by Richard Paul; Garland Scott, associate producer. Edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. We had help gathering material for this Shakespeare Unlimited episode from Esther French. Thanks to Nick Moorbath at Evolution Studios in Oxford England and Eddie Wallace at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The music was composed and arranged by Lenny Williams.