Juliet never existed. And yet, in Verona, she has a house, a balcony, a tomb, a statue — and even a postal address.

In this month’s first episode, I go to Verona to explore the extraordinary afterlife of Shakespeare’s most famous heroine, and to ask how a fictional character became so firmly embedded in the physical fabric of a real city.

We follow Juliet’s journey from the Italian stories that preceded Shakespeare through centuries of literary tourism, theatrical performance, art, cinema and heritage-making. Along the way, we visit Juliet’s supposed tomb, encounter nineteenth-century travellers searching for traces of Shakespeare’s lovers, and discover how the balcony we now think of as inseparable from Romeo and Juliet became part of the story.

We also meet Antonio Avena, whose twentieth-century transformation of Casa di Giulietta helped turn Shakespeare’s imagined Verona into architecture visitors could actually enter.

But Juliet’s afterlife doesn’t stop with houses, tombs and balconies. Every year, people from around the world write letters to Juliet about love, heartbreak, loneliness and hope — and in Verona, the Secretaries of Juliet write back.

So when does a fictional character begin to feel real? And what happens when readers love a story so much that the real world starts reshaping itself around it?

In this episode:

• The stories of Romeo and Juliet before Shakespeare
• Dante, the Montecchi and Cappelletti, and Verona’s medieval past
• The curious history of Juliet’s tomb and literary pilgrimage
• Why Shakespeare’s famous “balcony scene” didn’t originally require a balcony
• Antonio Avena and the reinvention of Casa di Giulietta
• Verona’s wells, legends and other stories of tragic lovers
• The Juliet Club and the Secretaries who answer letters addressed to Juliet
• Why Juliet — rather than Romeo — became the emotional centre of Verona’s Shakespearean identity
• Tourism, souvenirs, pilgrimage and our desire to make fictional worlds tangible

Because perhaps Verona didn’t simply turn Juliet into a tourist attraction. Perhaps generations of readers, travellers, artists, actors, filmmakers and visitors collectively helped to bring her into being.

Readers asked for Juliet. Verona answered.

What do Taylor Swift and William Shakespeare have in common?

In this interview episode of The Shakespop Podcast, I sit down with Shakespeare scholar and author Dr Elly McCausland to explore the surprising connections between one of the world's most influential playwrights and one of today's most discussed songwriters.

Together we discuss adaptation, close reading, literary fandom, and the enduring afterlives of characters like Juliet, Ophelia and Lady Macbeth. Rather than asking whether Taylor Swift simply "references" Shakespeare, we explore how both artists continue to shape the way we tell stories, create meaning and build communities around literature.

Whether you're a Shakespeare enthusiast, a Swiftie, or simply curious about why these cultural worlds keep colliding, this conversation offers fresh perspectives on literature, popular culture and the power of interpretation.

Guest
Dr Elly McCausland is a scholar of Shakespeare, adaptation and popular culture, and the author of Swifterature: A Love Story: English Literature and Taylor Swift, Meet Me in the Afterglow, Stars Around My Scars, and Bake It Off. She is also the creator of Literature (Taylor's Version), which explores the rich conversations between literature and Taylor Swift's songwriting.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow The Shakespop Podcast, leave a rating, and share it with a fellow Shakespeare lover—or a Swiftie.

What do Swifties and Shakespeare audiences have in common?

In this month's anchor episode, I explore how Taylor Swift fans decode lyrics, Easter eggs, and hidden meanings, and what that can teach us about the ways audiences have engaged with Shakespeare for over four centuries.

From Samuel Pepys' theatre diaries to TikTok theories, this episode examines fandom, interpretation, and the pleasure of searching for clues.

Featuring discussion of Taylor Swift, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's Sonnets, fan culture, and the Shakespeare multiverse.

🎧 Bonus content: Members of the Secret Shakespeare Society can unlock The Shakespeare Society Soundtrack, a curated Spotify playlist exploring Shakespeare's afterlives across popular music.

I'd love to hear from you: What Taylor Swift lyric feels most Shakespearean—and why?

In this episode of The Shakespop Podcast, I’m joined by theatre maker, writer, and director Samir Bhamra to discuss adapting Shakespeare through the lens of British Asian identity, language, music, and performance.

We explore the creative and political possibilities of reimagining Shakespeare for contemporary multicultural Britain, from questions of audience and belonging to the legacy of British Asian theatre and the pressures of representation. Samir reflects on his career adapting Shakespeare across stage and musical forms, the role of humour and hybridity in his work, and what it means to inherit — and transform — Shakespeare today.

The conversation also marks ten years since Indian Shakespeare Cinemas on Screen at the BFI Southbank, the landmark event co-created with Varsha Panjwani, Preti Taneja, and Thea Buckley — a reminder of how conversations around global and British Asian Shakespeare continue to evolve across theatre, film, and popular culture.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing, leaving a rating or review, and sharing the podcast with fellow Shakespeare fans, theatre lovers, and adaptation enthusiasts.

Follow the wider Shakespop project for essays, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes material via the Secret Shakespeare Society on Substack.

Short clip from Epsiode 18: Interview with British Asian Theatremaker Samir Bhamra

Who owns Shakespeare—and who gets to speak him without explanation?

In this episode of The Shakespop Podcast, Dr Koel Chatterjee marks the 10-year anniversary of the 2016 “Indian Shakespeares on Screen” event at BFI Southbank and Asia House, co-organised with Varsha Panjwani, Thea Buckley, and Preti Taneja.

Reflecting on that moment a decade later, this episode traces a major shift in Shakespeare studies—from introduction to authority, from translation to assertion.

Moving beyond ideas of “adaptation” or “representation,” the episode explores British Asian Shakespeare as a site of cultural negotiation, where questions of legitimacy, performance, and ownership are actively contested.

Follow & Connect

Instagram | TikTok | Substack: @Shakespop

⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, follow, rate, and review—it helps others find the showListen Next

🎭 Interview with Sameer Bhamra — British Asian theatre in practice📖 Shakesfic: Deep dive into We That Are Young

What happens when Shakespeare becomes the framework for telling a true crime story?

In this episode of The Shakespop Podcast, I’m joined by journalist and podcaster Jennifer Miller to discuss her limited series Blood Will Tell — a case centred on identical twins, contested identity, and the unsettling question of who gets believed.

From episode titles like “Fortune’s Fool” and “Readiness Is All,” Miller’s series doesn’t just reference Shakespeare — it uses him as a narrative blueprint. Together, we explore how Shakespearean tragedy continues to shape the way we understand crime, from ideas of fate and motive to performance, doubling, and moral ambiguity.

Drawing on concepts from narrative criminology, this episode asks:
Do we interpret crime through evidence — or through story?

What does Shakespeare have to do with true crime?

In this episode, we explore how Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Macbeth continue to shape the way we understand real-world violence — from “star-crossed lovers” to “crimes of passion” and the enduring myth of Lady Macbeth.

Drawing on narrative criminology, this episode examines how Shakespeare provides a cultural script for jealousy, ambition, and murder — one that still appears in media headlines, courtrooms, and public imagination.

Part of the Shakespeare & True Crime series this March on Shakespop .

Was Shakespeare an original genius—or an expert remixer?

In this episode of The Shakespop Podcast, I’m joined by Darren Freebury-Jones to talk about his book Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers, which challenges the myth of Shakespeare as a solitary, self-generating author. Instead, we explore Shakespeare as a writer shaped by influence, imitation, and creative borrowing—working inside a competitive early modern literary marketplace.

Drawing on attribution studies, close reading, and literary history, Darren shows how Shakespeare absorbed and transformed the language of his contemporaries, particularly Marlowe, in ways that feel strikingly modern. This conversation reframes Shakespeare not as an untouchable monument, but as part of a shared cultural ecosystem—closer to sampling, remix culture, and collaborative authorship than we might expect.

We also talk about why the lone-genius myth persists, what we lose by clinging to it, and how letting it go opens up new, more inclusive ways of thinking about authorship, creativity, and popular culture—then and now.

Was Shakespeare the solitary genius he is frequently portrayed to be, or is he more of a showrunner working within a collaborative Early Modern theatre making space? Find out by listening to Episode 13: The Collaborative Bard: Stylometry, Scripts, and Shakespeare.