Approaching Shakespeare
Each lecture in this series focuses on a single play by Shakespeare, and employs a range of different approaches to try to understand a central critical question about it. Rather than providing overarching readings or interpretations, the series aims to show the variety of different ways we might understand Shakespeare, the kinds of evidence that might be used to strengthen our critical analysis, and, above all, the enjoyable and unavoidable fact that Shakespeare's plays tend to generate our questions rather than answer them.
Episodes
Love's Labour's Lost
Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on the play Love's Labour's Lost.
12/02/24•48m 6s
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Professor Emma Smith gives the last of her 2017 Shakespeare lectures on his early comedy, Two Gentlemen of Verona.
15/12/17•44m 47s
Henry VI, Part 2
Professor Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a 2017 lecture on the early history play, Henry VI, Part 2.
09/11/17•47m 48s
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Professor Emma Smith lectures on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor.
25/10/17•48m 29s
All's Well That Ends Well
Professor Emma Smith lectures on Shakespeare’s comedy All's Well That Ends Well.
25/10/17•48m 19s
Cymbeline
Professor Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on one of Shakespeare’s later plays, Cymbeline.
25/10/17•50m 28s
Timon of Athens
Emma Smith finishes her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on the play Timon of Athens.
23/06/15•54m 49s
Julius Caesar
This lecture on Julius Caesar discusses structure, tone, and politics by focusing on the cameo scene with Cinna the Poet.
18/05/15•49m 34s
Romeo and Juliet
This lecture on Romeo and Juliet tackles the issue of the spoiler-chorus, in an already-too-familiar play. This podcast is suitable for school and college students.
05/05/15•44m 15s
Coriolanus
This lecture takes up a detail from Shakespeare’s late Roman tragedy Coriolanus to ask about the representation of character, the use of sources and the genre of tragedy. This podcast is suitable for school and college students.
05/05/15•52m 32s
The Merchant of Venice
This lecture on The Merchant of Venice discusses the ways the play's personal relationships are shaped by models of financial transaction, using the casket scenes as a central example.
20/11/12•43m 34s
Taming of the Shrew
Emma Smith uses evidence of early reception and from more recent productions to discuss the question of whether Katherine is tamed at the end of the play.
09/11/12•43m 57s
A Midsummer Night's Dream
This lecture on A Midsummer Night's Dream uses modern and early modern understandings of dreams to uncover a play less concerned with marriage and more with sexual desire.
05/11/12•40m 37s
Much Ado About Nothing
Emma Smith asks why the characters are so quick to believe the self-proclaimed villain Don John, drawing on gender and performance criticism to think about male bonding, the genre of comedy, and the impulses of modern performance.
30/10/12•41m 58s
Hamlet
The fact that father and son share the same name in Hamlet is used to investigate the play's nostalgia, drawing on biographical criticism and the religious and political history of early modern England.
23/10/12•46m 8s
As You Like It
Asking 'what happens in As You Like It', this lecture considers the play's dramatic structure and its ambiguous use of pastoral, drawing on performance history, genre theory, and eco-critical approaches.
23/10/12•49m 6s
King Lear
Showing how generations of critics - and Shakespeare himself - have rewritten the ending of King Lear, this sixteenth Approaching Shakespeare lecture engages with the question of tragedy and why it gives pleasure.
22/02/12•47m 25s
King John
At the heart of King John is the death of his rival Arthur: this fifteenth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series looks at the ways history and legitimacy are complicated in this plotline.
10/02/12•45m 11s
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Pericles has been on the margins of the Shakespearean canon: this fourteenth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series shows some of its self-conscious artistry and contemporary popularity. This podcast has been re-recorded due to technical problems with the original recording. There is no accompanying eBook for this lecture as Pericles is not included in the First Folio.
01/02/12•40m 42s
Richard III
In this thirteenth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series the focus is on the inevitability of the ending of Richard III: does the play endorse Richmond's final victory?
25/01/12•45m 9s
The Comedy of Errors
Lecture 12 in the Approaching Shakespeare series asks how seriously we can take the farcical exploits of Comedy of Errors, drawing out the play's serious concerns with identity and selfhood.
23/01/12•46m 50s
Henry IV part 1
Like generations of theatre-goers, this lecture concentrates on the (large) figure of Sir John Falstaff and investigates his role in Henry IV part 1. Lecture 11 in the Approaching Shakespeare series.
16/11/11•50m 35s
The Tempest
That the character of Prospero is a Shakespearean self-portrait is a common reading of The Tempest: this tenth Approaching Shakespeare lecture asks whether that is a useful reading of the play.
14/11/11•48m 58s
Antony and Cleopatra
What kind of tragedy is this play, with its two central figures rather than a singular hero? The ninth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series tries to find out.
10/11/11•46m 50s
Richard II
Lecture eight in the Approaching Shakespeare series asks the question that structures Richard II: does the play suggest Henry Bolingbroke's overthrow of the king was justified?
01/11/11•45m 16s
Twelfth Night
The seventh Approaching Shakespeare lecture takes a minor character in Twelfth Night - Antonio - and uses his presence to open up questions of sexuality, desire and the nature of romantic comedy.
20/10/11•47m 16s
Titus Andronicus
Focusing in detail on one particular scene, and on critical responses to it, this sixth Approaching Shakespeare lecture on Titus Andronicus deals with violence, rhetoric, and the nature of dramatic sensationalism.
19/10/11•49m 44s
The Winter's Tale
How we can make sense of a play that veers from tragedy to comedy and stretches credulity in its conclusion? That's the topic for this fifth Approaching Shakespeare lecture on The Winter's Tale.
09/11/10•42m 58s
Macbeth
In this fourth Approaching Shakespeare lecture the question is one of agency: who or what makes happen the things that happen in Macbeth?
02/11/10•46m 0s
Measure for Measure
The third Approaching Shakespeare lecture, on Measure for Measure, focuses on the vexed question of this uncomic comedy's genre.
26/10/10•40m 47s
Henry V
The second lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series looks at King Henry V, and asks whether his presentation in the play is entirely positive.
20/10/10•46m 13s
Othello
First in Emma Smith's Approaching Shakespeare lecture series; looking at the central question of race and its significance in the play.
18/10/10•47m 2s
