The Shakespeare Sessions

By BBC Radio 3

What's The Shakespeare Sessions about?

Your one-stop shop for all things Shakespeare. Catch A-List casts in brand new audio versions of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, plus documentaries from the brightest minds on the bard’s life and work.

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The Shakespeare Sessions episodes:

04.26.2020
Who is Falstaff?
Toby Jones on playing the boisterous and fun-loving knight Falstaff. Toby Jones stars as Falstaff in our full-length version of Henry IV Part 1, which you can find in your podcast feed.
04.26.2020
Full Length Play: Henry IV Part 1
Rebellion is brewing in Britain. King Henry must reunite his country but how when even his own family is divided? As Henry's rule is threatened his son Hal appears unconcerned, wasting his time in the company of the comically corrupt...
04.21.2020
Full Length Play: Othello
Khalid Abdalla, Matthew Needham and Cassie Layton star in Shakespeare's tragedy. This version is staged in an imagined near future, in which a power-hungry Turkish president attempts an attack on Cyprus. The western forces rush to Cyprus' defence, under the...
04.21.2020
Othello: What it means to be a Moor
Dr Islam Issa, Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University, gives us a rundown of events in the 1600s that influenced the character of Othello. You can listen to our full-length version of Othello, set in an imagined near future,...
05.23.2019
Full Length Play: The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Two Noble Kinsmen is one of Shakespeare's least-performed plays, and widely considered to be his last. Generally accepted to be co-written with John Fletcher, this Jacobean tragicomedy has its roots in Chaucer's The Knight's Tale. This audio version...
05.16.2019
Full Length Play: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Two Gentlemen of Verona is considered to be one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays and is paired next week with a production of The Two Noble Kinsmen which was his last play and widely considered to have been written with...
05.09.2019
Coriolanus: A tragic hero
A whistle-stop tour through Ancient Rome with writer and broadcaster Natalie Haynes.
05.09.2019
Full Length Play: Coriolanus
Shakespeare's penetrating portrayal of political turmoil in a society at war with itself. The Plot There's widespread famine in Rome, which is causing tension between the common people and the patricians (the aristocrats). The people particularly hate Caius Martius, the...
07.23.2018
Exit Burbage
Imagine where we'd be without Shakespeare's plays. It's difficult to contemplate now. But it was thanks to another man that many of them were brought to life. Today, Richard Burbage is a not a household name. But he should...
07.11.2018
My Own Shakespeare: Gareth Malone and Margaret Drabble
Gareth Malone and Margaret Drabble on strength and nature
07.09.2018
Full Length Play: The Winter's Tale
Eve Best, Danny Sapani and Shaun Dooley star in the magical product of the Bard's later years. Treading new dramatic ground The Winter's Tale embraces tragedy, poetry, folklore, magic realism, music, comedy and the infamous stage direction "exit pursued by...
07.04.2018
My Own Shakespeare: Zoe Wanamaker and Jim Al-Khalili
Zoe Wanamaker on the world of play and Jim Al-Khalili on staying rational.
07.02.2018
Looking For The Moor
Hugh Quarshie on Othello’s blackness. Is the character coherent? Is the play racist? Hugh Quarshie is a Ghanaian-born British actor. He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and played Othello in Iqbal Khan's production on the main stage...
06.27.2018
My Own Shakespeare: David Hare and Martha Kearney
David Hare and Martha Kearney on deviant psychology and fancy dress
06.25.2018
Full Length Play: A Midsummer Night's Dream
The play revolves around the adventures of four young lovers, a group of amateur actors and their interactions with the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The story takes place in Midsummer and is a complex farce featuring Hermia and...
06.20.2018
My Own Shakespeare: Jools Holland and Kwame Kwei-Armah
Jools Holland on Falstaff & Kwame Kwei-Armah on falling in love with someone’s story
06.18.2018
First Folio Road Trip
From London to Kent, Oxford, the Scottish borders, Suffolk, Nottinghamshire and across the channel to France, Emma Smith takes a road trip to learn more about how Shakespeare's First Folio helped create the Shakespeare we know and love today. We...
06.13.2018
My Own Shakespeare: Stephen Fry and Hilary Mantel
Stephen Fry and Hilary Mantel bring us the Shakespearean speeches closest to their hearts
06.11.2018
Full Length Play: King Lear
Lear is a very old king with a problem: three daughters and no sons. In dividing the kingdom between his children, Lear's reasoning is admirable: he wants to hand over the kingdom to his daughters so that "future strife /...
06.06.2018
Full Length Play: The Merchant of Venice
Andrew Scott, Ray Fearon, Hayley Atwell and Colin Morgan star in Shakespeare's ever-topical story of over-confident traders, a debt-ridden country dependent on credit, and a society suspicious of religious difference. This modern version is set in the City of London...
06.06.2018
Full Length Play: Measure for Measure
"Women? Help Heaven! men their creation mar In profiting by them." Shakespeare's last and perhaps strangest comedy - a play about religion, surveillance, coercion, sex and power. The Duke ..... Paul Higgins Isabella ..... Nicola Ferguson Angelo ..... Robert Jack Escalus ..... Maureen Beattie Lucio and Froth...
06.06.2018
My Own Shakespeare: Benjamin Zephaniah and Rowan Williams
Benjamin Zephaniah and Rowan Williams share their favourite Shakespearean moments
06.06.2018
The Art of Storytelling
Prof. Emma Smith takes a closer look at Shakespeare's skills as a storyteller and how his plots, where the outcome is often signposted from the beginning, still hold audiences enthralled.

What's The Shakespeare Sessions about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Shakespeare Sessions episodes:

Who is Falstaff?

Full Length Play: Henry IV Part 1

Full Length Play: Othello

Othello: What it means to be a Moor

Full Length Play: The Two Noble Kinsmen

Full Length Play: The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Coriolanus: A tragic hero

Full Length Play: Coriolanus

Exit Burbage

My Own Shakespeare: Gareth Malone and Margaret Drabble

Full Length Play: The Winter's Tale

My Own Shakespeare: Zoe Wanamaker and Jim Al-Khalili

Looking For The Moor

My Own Shakespeare: David Hare and Martha Kearney

Full Length Play: A Midsummer Night's Dream

My Own Shakespeare: Jools Holland and Kwame Kwei-Armah

First Folio Road Trip

My Own Shakespeare: Stephen Fry and Hilary Mantel

Full Length Play: King Lear

Full Length Play: The Merchant of Venice

Full Length Play: Measure for Measure

My Own Shakespeare: Benjamin Zephaniah and Rowan Williams

The Art of Storytelling