Shakespeare at KS4 and KS5 with Drama & Theatre Magazine

The works of Shakespeare are central to Drama teaching, not only in the UK but across the Globe (pun intended…) No playwright in history has been the subject of such intense and widespread academic analysis and debate, or the creator of works performed so widely and so variously. As such, every major UK exam board offering GCSE and A Level in Drama has a Shakespeare work somewhere among its set-text lists.

As the Editor of Drama & Theatre magazine, a twice-termly print and online publication full of practical advice for Drama teachers, I set out to create a Secondary Drama teacher-targeted playlist of useful material available from the BBC Shakespeare Archive...

Ethan Hawke sets out to prepare himself for the possibility of playing the role by uncovering the true story behind the play, seeing some of the greatest productions and discovering the extraordinary insights into the criminal mind that Shakespeare reveals.

Shakespeare's tragedy play is updated to the present day. Set on the Ladywood council estate in Birmingham, it imagines a scenario where people survive by dealing drugs and shoplifting.

Royal Shakespeare Company director Trevor Nunn explores Shakespeare's final work, The Tempest.

Adaptation of Shakespeare's play: Prospera is banished from Milan by her brother and finds herself stranded on an island with her daughter, where she waits to take her revenge.

A wide-ranging interview with director Baz Luhrmann about the choices involved in transplanting Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers to the gun-obsessed energy of Verona Beach.

A programme for schools featuring television actors not usually associated with Shakespeare in scenes from Romeo and Juliet. They use contemporary settings, which aim to illustrate the relevance of Shakespeare’s ideas today. Discussion of the motivation of the major character is supported by clips from past television and film productions, and followed by a full performance of the chosen scene. This programme takes one scene from the play. Marcelle Duprey, who plays Juliet in this version, examines the character of Juliet and compares how she has been portrayed by different actresses.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company performs a revolutionary version of the famous love story, in under 15 minutes.

Autumn 1918: a group of soldiers return from the trenches, and the world-weary Benedick and his friend Claudio find themselves reacquainted with Beatrice and Hero. The drama is set amidst the brittle high spirits of a post-war house party, where youthful passions run riot, lovers are deceived and happiness is threatened - before peace ultimately wins out. Christopher Luscombe directs Michelle Terry and Edward Bennett as Beatrice and Benedick in this acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company production.

Retelling of Shakespeare plays: a romantic comedy set in a south coast regional TV newsroom, charting the relationship between ex-lovers and warring co-anchors Beatrice Evans and Benedick Taylor.

Alan Yentob follows Welsh actor Wayne Cater and three other Hamlet hopefuls as they prepare for a Shakespeare role that has become a rite of passage for all who have taken it on. With advice and support from ex-Hamlets Ralph Fiennes, Derek Jacobi, David Warner, Jonathan Pryce and Simon Russell Beale.

Richard Eyre interviews avant-garde director Peter Brook about the inspiration behind his production of Shakespeare's play at Theatre des Bouffes Du Nord, Paris. (Production also available in full from link below)

An exploration of Shakespeare's most famous character, Hamlet, with excerpts of various screen interpretations of the character. The programme includes clips from the 1964 Ghanaian film version Hamile and from the 1946 A Diary for Timothy.

Actors and key talent from the Royal Shakespeare Company discuss the choices they make when staging Hamlet.

Drama with David Tennant in the title role of the RSC's production of Shakespeare's tragedy.

A screen recording of Peter Brook’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, performed at the Bouffe du Nord Theatre in Paris. The production is staged on a rectangle of red-orange cloth with only a couple of benches and a scattering of multi-coloured cushions, accompanied by a haunting soundscape ranging from muffled bells to birds in flight. Speeches and scenes are reassigned and roles are frequently doubled or tripled.

A documentary about King Lear, which focuses on how, at its core, it is a play about family relationships.

Stage to screen film with specially shot introduction of the Talawa Royal Exchange co-production of King Lear directed for the stage by Michael Buffong (Artistic Director of the Talawa Royal Exchange, Manchester). Stars Don Warrington as King Lear.

King Lear divides his kingdom with tragic consequences, as chaos descends on family and state. (Contains some violence and some upsetting scenes).

MOBO winner Akala and 50 young Manchester-based MCs, musicians, dancers and visual artists attempt to script and perform a hip hop version of Othello in just two weeks.

With Hugh Quarshie as Othello and Joanna Vanderham as Desdemona, Iqbal Khan’s groundbreaking 2015 production was the first by the Royal Shakespeare Company to cast a black actor, Lucian Msamati, as Iago.

Modern interpretation of Shakespeare's tragedy Othello from 2001, starring Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles and Josh Hartnett. (Contains scenes of a sexual nature)

The story of a group of Afghan actors bringing a production of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors to an international festival at London's Globe Theatre.

A 1983 BBC television presentation of Shakespeare's early comedy play. This was broadcast as part of the 37-play BBC Television Shakespeare project.

From 1978, Janet Suzman gives a introducing As You Like It as part of a season of Shakespeare's plays on BBC2. "In most plays people are different at the end of the play from what they were at the beginning. None more so than in As You Like It. Not only do people undergo a huge emotional change in their hearts, they also change their clothes, and their status, and their homes, and their values."

Part 1 of a television production of Shakespeare's classic play As You Like It, filmed on location at Glamis Castle.

Part 2 of a television production of Shakespeare's classic play As You Like It, filmed on location at Glamis Castle.

Television programme for schools featuring television actors not usually associated with Shakespeare in scenes from Twelfth Night. They use contemporary settings, which aim to illustrate the relevance of Shakespeare’s ideas today. Discussion of the motivation of a major character is supported by clips from past television and film productions, and followed by a full performance of the chosen scene. This programme takes one scene from Twelfth Night – Act 3, Scene 2. Nigel Planer, who plays Molvolio, examines the character and compares how differently he has been played in previous versions. The scene is set on a 1930s country estate.

A BBC production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night with a Regency theme and set in the splendours of Castle Howard in Yorkshire.

Trevor Nunn's film version of William Shakespeare's mature comedy. Twins Viola and Sebastian are shipwrecked on different parts of the same coast, with each believing the other has died.