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Shakespeare For All

By: Maria Devlin McNair
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  • Summary

  • Shakespeare For All is an engaging, accessible introduction to the life and work of William Shakespeare, featuring world-class scholars and performers. You’ll learn who Shakespeare was and what historical events shaped his writing. You’ll be guided through his most popular poems and plays by leading scholars, actors, and interpreters of Shakespeare. And you’ll find the tools you need to become an interpreter of Shakespeare yourself and join in the ongoing global discussion his works have inspired. The first course offers a tour through Shakespeare’s moment in history and his life. You’ll also discover strategies for understanding Shakespeare’s stories, characters, and language across his plays. At the heart of the series are courses on Shakespeare’s most thought-provoking and beloved plays. Each begins with a detailed summary of the story. Then, a top Shakespeare scholar takes you on a deep dive into the play’s characters, language, and most important questions. Finally, you’ll hear Shakespeare’s language come to life, with original performances from professional Shakespearean actors. Shakespeare For All also features a course on Shakespeare's sonnets -- his sequence of 154 short poems that explore revolutionary new directions within the conventional poetry of love -- and a bonus course on Game of Thrones and Shakespeare, “The Wooden O and the Iron Throne." Except where otherwise noted, the texts used for this course are from Shakespeare’s Plays, Sonnets and Poems, from The Folger Shakespeare, ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library. Shakespeare For All is a Lyceum original production. Team: Zachary Davis (Executive Producer) Zachary Davis is the president of Lyceum and host of Ministry of Ideas and Writ Large. He has a graduate degree from Harvard Divinity School and is the founder and organizer of the Sound Education conference. Jemma Deer (Associate Producer and Narrator) Jemma Deer is a Researcher in Residence at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, currently working on a book on extinction. She also hosts and produces EcoCast, the official podcast of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE). Maria Devlin McNair (Course Creator and Managing Producer) Maria Devlin McNair received her PhD from Harvard University in English literature with a specialization in Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama. She is a writer and Managing Producer for the Harvard Divinity School podcast Ministry of Ideas. She is currently developing a book project on ethics and Renaissance comedy. Jack Pombriant (Composer and Sound Designer) Jack Pombriant is the associate producer of Writ Large. He received his BM from Berklee College of Music, where he studied music composition and production. He is also a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, where he studied radio and podcast production.
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Episodes
  • Antony and Cleopatra Part 3 - The Language

    Antony and Cleopatra Part 3 - The Language
    Jul 28 2022
    Part 3 features close-readings of three key scenes in which Antony and Cleopatra articulate their cosmic self-conceptions in language so transcendent that it helps transform their vision into reality. Speeches and Performers:  Enobarbus, Act 2, “The barge she sat in …” (Andrew Woddall) Antony, Act 4, “I will o’ertake thee, Cleopatra …” (Scott Ripley) Cleopatra, Act 5, “I dreamt there was an emperor Antony … ” (Dame Harriet Walter and Dame Janet Suzman)
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    35 mins
  • Antony and Cleopatra Part 2 - The Language

    Antony and Cleopatra Part 2 - The Language
    Jul 28 2022
    Part 2 explores the play’s varied and conflicting perspectives on its leading characters. From the Roman point of view, Antony and Cleopatra are figures who fall from greatness, and their story is a tragedy or even, at times, farce; but from other points of view, Antony and Cleopatra represent a kind of success that could scarcely be achieved or even conceived of in Rome. The episode analyzes the play’s characters, language, and mythic archetypes to ask how the play makes so many viewpoints compelling, and where these competing perspectives leave the audience when the play comes to its end.
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    27 mins
  • Antony and Cleopatra Part 1 - The Story

    Antony and Cleopatra Part 1 - The Story
    Jul 28 2022
    Antony and Cleopatra, the last of Shakespeare’s Roman plays, is an epic story that begins with the material of politics and history but expands into the realm of romance, poetry, and myth. Following the events of Julius Caesar – Caesar’s assassination and the triumph of Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar in the resulting civil wars – Antony and Caesar are now joint rulers of Roman Empire. But Antony has left behind Rome and his imperial duties to be with his beloved Cleopatra, the captivating queen of Egypt. Personal and political rivalries bring Antony and Cleopatra to war with Caesar, in a conflict in which “the greater cantle of the world” is at stake. In the end, the lovers are forced out of the field of politics, but enter the space of legend. In this course, you’ll learn the story of Antony and Cleopatra, study two of the most monumental personalities that Shakespeare ever created, and discover how these characters descend into and transcend tragedy In Part 1, you’ll be guided through a detailed account of the story with commentary by Joyce MacDonald, Professor of English at the University of Kentucky. This episode includes key background and context for the play’s historical source material. The summary is told using the language of the play itself, placing key quotations in context to help you understand where these lines come from and what they mean. 
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    26 mins
Art World Literary History & Criticism
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