Shakespeare In Perspective | The Merchant of Venice

Shakespeare In Perspective | A Midsummer Night's Dream

Dr Roy Strong gives his personal view of A Midsummer Night's Dream. He visits Hatfield House to introduce the play whi...

Shakespeare In Perspective | All's Well That Ends Well

Barry Took offers a personal view of Shakespeare's play All's Well That Ends Well.

Shakespeare In Perspective | Antony and Cleopatra

Anna Raeburn offers her personal view of this epic love story in which everything is sacrificed to an obsessive passion. An...

Shakespeare In Perspective | As You Like It

Brigid Brophy offers a personal view of the comedy As You Like It which was originally an Elizabethan 'best seller'.

Shakespeare In Perspective | Coriolanus

General Sir John Hackett gives an introduction to Shakespeare's Coriolanus which portrays a soldier hero who is destroyed by his unyi...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Cymbeline

In his 'personal view' playwright Dennis Potter sees the world of Cymbeline as 'the extravagant imperious, improbable, tender shocking...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Hamlet

Clive James offers a personal view of Shakespeare's play, 'the greatest in the English language', whose hero 'incarnates the dignity of h...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Henry IV Part I

George Melly offers a personal view of the play Henry IV Part I, and introduces Sir John Falstaff whom he regards as Shakespeare...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Henry IV Part II

Fred Emery offers a personal view of the play Henry IV Part II. He regards Shakespeare as 'the master of all political journali...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Henry V

Lord Chalfont offers a personal view of the play Henry V; he describes the epic military campaign on which the play is based and assesse...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Henry VI Part I

Michael Wood sets the scene for the first play in this historical trilogy telling of the death of heroes, loss of Empire and the...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Henry VI Part II

Michael Wood presents a personal view of Henry VI Part II. He questions the portrayal of Henry as 'a naive, weak but moral man ...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Henry VI Part III

Michael Wood presents a personal view of Henry VI Part III. He traces the background to the play which ends with the depositio...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Henry VIII

Anthony Burgess sets Shakespeare in perspective by looking at the circumstances which surrounded the first public performance of Shak...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Julius Caesar

Jonathan Dimbleby places Shakespeare in Perspective with a personal view of the play he describes as a 'chillingly precise metapho...

Shakespeare In Perspective | King John

Sir Peter Parker visits the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall to present his personal view of the play which he describes as a 'blood-curdl...

Shakespeare In Perspective | King Lear

In his personal view, Professor Frank Kermode suggests that 'one purpose of tragedy may be to make us look steadily at things we prefe...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Love's Labour's Lost

Novelist Emma Tennant gives her personal view of Love's Labour's Lost which centres on four studious young men and their at...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Macbeth

Crime writer Julian Symons offers his personal view of the play which he believes illustrates a classic case of the psychological condit...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Measure for Measure

John Mortimer offers a personal view of the play as he visits the Inns of Court to place Shakespeare in Perspective and disc...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Much Ado about Nothing

Writer Eleanor Bron gives her personal view of Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing. In her introduction to the play...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Othello

Novelist Susan Hill offers her personal view of a play which illustrates one of Shakespeare's most obsessive themes: the conflict betwee...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Pericles

Poet P J Kavanagh offers his personal view of Shakespeare's play, which tells the story of a good man whose patient acceptance of life'...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Richard II

Paul Johnson offers a personal view of the play which, when produced in 1601, threatened the throne of England. The programme include...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Romeo and Juliet

Germaine Greer sets the scene for the televised production of Romeo and Juliet. To place Shakespeare In Perspective she travels...

Shakespeare In Perspective | A Comedy of Errors

Comedian Roy Hudd illustrates some of the timeless gags and comic routines that sharpen this comedy of mistaken identities. ...

Shakespeare In Perspective | The Merchant of Venice

Wolf Mankowitz gives a personal view of The Merchant of Venice which, 'more than any other in the English language, estab...

Shakespeare In Perspective | The Merry Wives of Windsor

Journalist Jilly Cooper presents a personal view of the play The Merry Wives of Windsor which she regards as 'a sort ...

Shakespeare In Perspective | The Taming of the Shrew

Penelope Mortimer, author of bestselling novel 'The Pumpkin Eater' offers her personal view of the 'wittie and pleasant ...

Shakespeare In Perspective | The Tempest

Laurens van der Post offers a personal view of the play The Tempest which he describes as profoundly autobiographical - an explorati...

Shakespeare In Perspective | The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Broadcaster Russell Davies introduces the production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, a comedy of young love which of...

Shakespeare In Perspective | The Winter's Tale

Stephen Spender offers a personal view of Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale'.

Shakespeare In Perspective | Timon of Athens

Malcolm Muggeridge presents his personal view of Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens.

Shakespeare In Perspective | Titus Andronicus

Anthony Clare offers his personal view of the play which portrays the family as 'the source of all our strengths, the genesis o...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Troilus and Cressida

Sir David Hunt offers his personal view of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida which he sees as a savage satire on war and a...

Shakespeare In Perspective | Twelfth Night, Or What You Will

David Jones offers a personal view of the play Twelfth Night, which he describes as 'full of fun and high spirit...