Shakespeare’s Happy Endings
A comic take on Shakespeare: Professor Simon Starkman has been given a chance to present a new take on Shakespeare, including Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending, Othello without sex and violence and a musical version of Macbeth. A comic account, part documentary, part staged performance, of some of the bowdlerisations of Shakespeare’s plays in the history of the theatre. Presenter Patrick Barlow talks of a 1681 production of King Lear in which the Fool is removed and Cordelia is married off to Edgar, and a production of Romeo and Juliet in which the lovers live happily ever after, a version which played on alternate nights with the original tragedy.
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This Cultural Life | Judi Dench: Shakespeare Special
Dame Judi Dench talks to John Wilson about her biggest cultural influence: William Shakespeare.
The Queen's Realm | England
An aerial anthology of film, poetry and music with commentary by Sir John Betjeman. For his commentary, Sir John Betjeman has chosen verse from the English poets, ranging from Shakespeare to Philip Larkin.