Shakespeare
Ophelia Reimagined
Ophelia becomes a dramatic heroine rather than a tragic victim in film director Claire McCarthy's re-interpretation of the young woman doomed to die in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Audio
Elizabeth Winkler: Was Shakespeare a woman?
Journalist Elizabeth Winkler has questioned whether Shakespeare was actually a man. She explains the reasons why some scholars hear a woman's voice behind the most famous words in the English… Audio
Verdi and Shakespeare
Elric Hooper and Des Wilson discuss what it was about Shakespearean forms that so inspired Verdi. Audio
Anne Tenney: Pop-Up globe serenity
The name Anne Tenney might not ring bells, but when most see the Australian actor they remember her as Sal Kerrigan in The Castle, the cult Aussie movie loved on both sides of the Tasman. Others may… Audio, Gallery
If Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare - where's his library?
The so-called 'Authorship Question', the controversy over whether Shakespeare wrote the works in his name remains a remarkably popular dispute, and is closely bound up with one of the world's other… Audio
Professor Deanne Williams - Looking for Shakespeare's Girls
Deanne Williams is a professor of English at York University, Toronto, and a Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge. Prof Williams specialises in medieval and renaissance literatures, and is recognised… Audio
The Candlewasters
One of the great things about Shakespeare is there's always another generation coming along to re-invent him. Which is where this evening's guests come in: The Candle Wasters: who are launching a part… Audio
Pop-up globe founder on Shakespeare’s life changing theatre
Pop-up Globe founder and artistic director Dr Miles Gregory has recently been awarded a Sir Peter Blake Leadership award for his efforts as an arts pioneer and innovator. 450,000 have experienced the… Audio
A tragic love story @Twilight
Failing health, euthanasia and family trying to get their hands on inheritance permeate the retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Adapted by Geraldine Brophy, with a score composed by… Audio
Brains behind the Pop-Up Globe: Miles Gregory
The Pop-Up globe has been an extraordinary success in Auckland with people coming from all over the country to see Shakespeare in the city. Pop Up Globe director and founder Miles Gregory is brains… Audio
Review: Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Romeo & Juliet
The RNZB’s Romeo & Juliet choreographed by outgoing artistic director Francesco Ventriglia had its world premiere last night at the St James in Wellington before heading on a nationwide tour. Is it to… Audio
EXCLUSIVE ALBUM PREVIEW: our fave NZ musicians perform Shakespeare's soliloquies
Play On is a collection of songs written by Paul McLaney and performed by the likes of Julia Deans, Mara TK, Maisey Rika, Laughton Kora and Ria Hall. Video
Elizabethan Society was Riddled with Informers and Spies
Dr. Bill Angus, a lecturer at Massey University's School of English and Media Studies has been exploring the role of spies and informers in the scripts and society of the Bard and his contemporaries… Audio
Hamlet: The Video Game
Video games and Shakespearean text don’t often go together, but Hamlet: The Video Game stage show at the Court Theatre brings the story into today. It combines nerf guns, confetti blood and Angry… Audio
Wrapping your tongue around Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s turn of phrase has the ability to trip up even the most apt of linguists. But English actor, author and producer Ben Crystal is making Shakespeare’s words easier to understand and say… Audio
Shakespeare’s parallels with US politics
The author of Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? James Shapiro draws parallels between characters like Lear and Othello with today’s politicians. Shapiro is here for the Auckland Writers Festival… Audio
Peter Hambleton & David Carnegie: the bard in the capital
The 2017 season of Wellington Summer Shakespeare has kicked off with a performance of All's Well That Ends Well and a book has been published to commemorate 34 years of this event in the capital. Kim… Audio
Fortune lineup for 2017
Jonathan Hendry takes us through what to expect for 2017 at the southern theatre, including a company season of winter warmer musical, Sondheim’s Into The Woods & and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Audio
Sonnets in Song
William Dart celebrates the Shakespeare anniversary year by looking at two recent releases - one from Paul Kelly and one from Rufus Wainwright - with settings of the Bard's sonnets. Audio
Auckland Shakespeare Company going pro
The Auckland Shakespeare Company is taking a step in a new direction with their very first professional show Lucrece, based on Shakespeare’s darkest narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece. Director Rita… Audio