Synopsis
This is the story of the English language in the age of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, and of how it was taken to the New World by the pioneering Elizabethans. A Muse of Fire explores Shakespeare's English in all its many colours: in the plays of the First Folio, on the lips of Shakespeare's contemporaries, and in the way that it influences people still. Filmed in some strange and isolated communities, both here and in North America, the programme shows how you can still find Shakespearian pronunciations in rural Warwickshire, and how the accents of the English West Country, still surviving on the east coast of the United States, provide the basis for American English today.
Digging for Britain | Shakespeare's First Theatre
Alice visits excavations at Shakespeare's first theatre in London's Shoreditch, where the Bard began his career and Romeo and Juliet was first performed.
Arena | The National Theatre - Learning Zone
Made especially for schools, this version of the BBC Four Arena programme examines the history and purpose of the National Theatre as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. Short films on Othello and Hamlet, using both rehearsal and performance footage, consider how the National Theatre takes a contemporary approach to Shakespeare's work.