Sophie Duncan delves into the playwright’s world-famous tragedy to reveal what it tells us about youth in the Tudor era
The doomed romance of young lovers Romeo and Juliet has captured imaginations across the centuries – but what does William Shakespeare’s play tell us about the real experiences of youth at the time he was writing? Sophie Duncan offers her ... Show More
Yesterday
An African king in the Roman empire
He was barely a toddler when he was paraded as a captive in a Roman triumph in 46 BC, but young North African prince Juba went on to marry a daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, and rule an African kingdom. Andrew Kenrick, author of Rex Juba: 15 Glimpses of an African King, unravels ... Show More
36m 38s
Oct 18
Everyday life in a slave trading town
In 1665 the Portuguese Inquisition arrested Crispina Peres, a powerful slave trader in the west African port of Cacheu. The records of her case provide a remarkable window into everyday life in 17th-century west Africa, and form the basis of Toby Green's latest book, The Heretic ... Show More
30 m
Feb 2024
Shakespeare: playing with the past
Recently, we marked the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio, a collection of plays by William Shakespeare. To celebrate this landmark in literary history, in today's Long Read, eight historical experts offer their takes on what the Bard's plays reveal about en ... Show More
24m 32s
May 2022
Romeo + Juliet & 10 Things I Hate About You
Writer and contributor Lauren Emily Whalen returns to the podcast to discuss her new novel, Take Her Down, a YA re-telling of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar! To commemorate it's release, she agreed to discuss two of our generation's most beloved Shakespeare adaptations; Rome ... Show More
1h 40m
Oct 2018
Is Shakespeare History? The Plantagenets
In the first of two programmes marking In Our Time's 20th anniversary on 15th October, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's versions of history, starting with the English Plantagenets. His eight plays from Richard II to Richard III were written out of order, in the Eliza ... Show More
51m 27s