Taking Issue with Shakespeare

Might Shakespeare help resolve some challenging contemporary issues? To mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio, five major public figures in conversation with Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Oxford.

Across the week, Emma talks with senior British statesman Gordon Brown and Chair of the RSC Baroness Shriti Vadera on populism and Julius Caesar; Secretary of State Michael Gove on inequality, the “levelling up” agenda and King Lear;

Writer Will Self on toxic masculinity and Hamlet; actor Fiona Shaw on post-Covid decisions to move from city to countryside and As You Like It; and Mercy Muroki, former broadcaster and Policy Fellow to the Minister for Women and Equalities on whether the monarchy can unite the nation and Richard II.

Produced by Beaty Rubens
Broadcast:  22nd – 26th May 13.45 on BBC Radio 4