Voices

'I am not only designing what the audience can see on stage, but also the empty space that they can’t see'. Photo (c) Olya Dmytriv

Date: 27 April 2016 - 16:17

Minglu Wang explains how to design a theatre stage set

We spoke to Minglu Wang, who designed the stage set for the first Ukrainian adaptation of Shakespeare's The Winter’s Tale.

Tags: Shakespeare, Theatre, Arts

'The history play became a powerful place to ask questions such as what makes a good king, and what are the priorities of governance.'

Date: 21 April 2016 - 07:52

Shakespeare’s stories of power do more than retell history

What can Shakespeare's studies of power and politics tell us about the present? Dr Charlotte Scott explains why Shakespeare's history plays continue to fascinate.

Tags: Shakespeare, Arts, Theatre, Literature

David Garrick 'dedicated his extraordinarily successful career to promoting Shakespeare as the supreme symbol of British culture'. Image (c) British Council

Date: 19 April 2016 - 06:54

How one actor forever changed the way we see Shakespeare

Professor Richard Schoch explains how David Garrick, an 18th-century actor-manager and playwright, formed the popular attitudes towards Shakespeare that remain to this day.

Tags: Shakespeare, Arts, Theatre, Literature

Date: 12 April 2016 - 08:15

What can Shakespeare teach us about freedom?

Professor Ewan Fernie of the Shakespeare Institute explains how Shakespeare can help us understand who we are and what we might become.

Tags: Shakespeare, Arts, Theatre, Literature

Date: 06 April 2016 - 11:49

How have performances of Shakespeare changed over time?

Shakespeare's plays have inspired a variety of interpretations over the centuries. Shehrazade Zafar-Arif, who's completing her MA in Shakespeare Studies at King’s College London, explains.

Tags: Shakespeare

Hamlet (dir. Hay Plumb, UK, 1913) (C) British Film institute (BFI). Find out about our Shakespeare on Film on Tour programme with BFI

Date: 29 January 2016 - 07:47

Ideas for using Shakespeare on film to practise listening

Dr Christina Lima of the University of Leicester suggests five ways of using films of Shakespeare's plays to practise English language listening.

Tags: Shakespeare, English language, Teaching, Education

'The younger the learner, the more fearless they tend to be when working with Shakespeare.'

Date: 18 January 2016 - 11:51

Why not to fear teaching Shakespeare to young learners

Rae Seymour, who develops education resources at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), encourages primary school teachers to use Shakespeare and theatre when teaching young learners.

Tags: Education, Schools, Shakespeare, Theatre, Arts

‘Blood will have blood’ (from Macbeth). Still (c) FutureLearn / British Council.

Date: 29 December 2015 - 11:32

Five famous Shakespearean phrases explained

The British Council's Anthony Cosgrove shares lines from five of Shakespeare's greatest plays to show that they are more accessible to English language learners than you might think.

Tags: English language, Teaching, Literature, Arts, Shakespeare

'Poetry is, in some essential way, an acoustic form – it's a breath form.'

Date: 21 December 2015 - 16:56

Sir Andrew Motion on Shakespeare's legacy (podcast)

Sir Andrew Motion, former British Poet Laureate, talks to journalist Georgina Godwin about his native UK as a 'country of Shakespeare', and explains how the Bard has influenced his work.

Tags: Arts, Literature, Shakespeare

Sakha theater (Russia) perform Macbeth in Moscow in 2009. Photo by Sergey Petrov

Date: 16 September 2015 - 04:47

What makes Shakespeare endlessly adaptable?

Professor Michael Dobson explains how Shakespeare manages to be simultaneously historical and contemporary, ahead of his Smart Talks on this subject in China on 21-24 September.

Tags: Arts, Theatre, Literature, Shakespeare

British Council

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