Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

• Nisha Sharma on Adapting Shakespeare for Modern Romances

  How do Shakespeare’s timeless themes translate to the South Asian diaspora? Could the man from Stratford himself be reimagined as a meddling auntie? Novelist Nisha Sharma’s If Shakespeare Were an Auntie trilogy takes on this challenge, taking inspiration from The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night to create contemporary romance novels set in the vibrant, close-knit world of the South Asian community. Sharma’s books explore love, identity, and social norms through characters navigating family expectations and community dynamics. These playful and poignant adaptations highlight Shakespeare’s enduring relevance while addressing modern issues like gender expectations and cultural identity. This episode explores Sharma’s creative process, her lifelong love for Shakespeare, and her approach to blending the playwright’s timeless themes with modern romance. From chaotic weddings to sharp banter, her novels reflect the humor and humanity of Shakespeare’s work while offering fresh perspectives for today’s readers. Nisha Sharma is the critically acclaimed author of YA and adult contemporary romances including My So-Called Bollywood Life, Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance, The Singh Family Trilogy, and the If Shakespeare was an Auntie series. Her books have been included in best-of lists by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, and more. She lives in Pennsylvania with her Alaskan husband, her cat Lizzie Bennett, and her dogs Nancey Drew and Madeline. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published January 28, 2025. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the Executive Producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

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• Olivia Hussey: The Girl on the Balcony (Rebroadcast)

  Olivia Hussey, whose spirited portrayal of Juliet when she was just a teenager herself became iconic for generations of people watching the 1968 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, died on December 27, 2024. In 2019, we were lucky enough to record an interview with Hussey. To honor her life and work, we’re bringing it to you again. Olivia Hussey was just fifteen when Franco Zeffirelli cast her in Romeo and Juliet. When the film was released in October 1968, it catapulted her and Leonard Whiting, the young actor playing Romeo, to global stardom. For many Shakespeare lovers, Zeffirelli’s film is still the definitive film adaptation of the play. Fifty years after the movie’s release, Hussey’s memoir, The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo and Juliet, told the story of the actress’s life before, during, and after Romeo and Juliet. We talked with Hussey and asked her how she felt about Shakespeare before making the movie (“very boring”), filming the balcony scene (“I’d bump my teeth into his chin”), the endless press tour, and whether she’d do it all again. Barbara Bogaev interviews Olivia Hussey. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Originally published on January 22, 2019, and rebroadcast on January 13, 2025 © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, “Speak Again, Bright Angel,” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the Associate Producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer; updated by Paola García Acuña. We had technical help from Andrew Feliciano and Paul Luke at VoiceTrax West in Studio City, California.

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• Shakespeare and his contemporaries, with Darren Freebury-Jones

  What does it mean to be called an “upstart crow”? In 1592, a pamphlet titled Greene’s groats-worth of witte described William Shakespeare, in the first allusion to him as a playwright, with this phrase, calling him “an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers.” This phrase sparked centuries of speculation. As Darren Freebury-Jones explores in his book, Shakespeare’s borrowed feathers: How early modern playwrights shaped the world’s greatest writer, Shakespeare’s so-called borrowing was neither unusual for the time nor a weakness—it was ultimately a testament to his genius. Exploring how Shakespeare navigated a competitive theatrical scene in early modern England, Freebury-Jones reveals the ways in which Shakespeare reshaped the works of contemporaries like John Lyly, Thomas Kyd, and Christopher Marlowe into something distinctly his own. By combining traditional literary analysis with cutting-edge digital tools, he uncovers echoes of Lyly’s witty comedies and gender-bending heroines, Kyd’s tragic revenge dramas, and Marlowe’s powerful verse in Shakespeare’s early plays. This episode sheds light on Shakespeare’s role as a responsive and innovative playwright deeply embedded in the early modern theatrical community. Listen in to learn more about the influences on the “upstart crow” as he created a canon of timeless works. Dr Darren Freebury-Jones is author of the monographs: Reading Robert Greene: Recovering Shakespeare’s Rival (Routledge), Shakespeare’s Tutor: The Influence of Thomas Kyd (Manchester University Press), and Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers (Manchester University Press). He is Associate Editor for the first critical edition of The Collected Works of Thomas Kyd since 1901 (Boydell and Brewer). He has also investigated the boundaries of John Marston’s dramatic corpus as part of the Oxford Marston project and is General Editor for The Collected Plays of Robert Greene (Edinburgh University Press). His findings on the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries have been discussed in national newspapers such as The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Observer, and The Independent as well as BBC Radio. His debut poetry collection, Rambling (Broken Sleep Books), was published in 2024. In 2023 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in recognition of his contributions to historical scholarship.

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• Directing Romeo and Juliet, with Sam Gold

  2024 has been the year of the iconic lovers Romeo and Juliet, and director Sam Gold has brought a bold new production of the timeless tragedy to Broadway. With a fresh, contemporary approach, Gold transforms Shakespeare’s classic love story into an immersive experience that features a dynamic young cast led by Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) and Kit Connor (Heartstopper) and an innovative score by Grammy-winning musician Jack Antonoff, blending live music seamlessly into the action. Gold discusses how he re-envisioned the play for today’s world, capturing the urgency and intensity of youth while staying true to the emotional heart of the original. He reflects on the challenges and joys of reinterpreting a well-known story and shares the creative process behind staging a Romeo and Juliet that feels relevant to a whole new generation of theatergoers, many of whom may be seeing their first Broadway. Sam Gold is a Tony Award-winning director with an extensive Broadway and theater resume. His Broadway credits include An Enemy of the People (this season) with Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli, Macbeth with Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, King Lear with Glenda Jackson, A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Tony Award Nomination), The Glass Menagerie, Fun Home (Tony Award), The Real Thing, The Realistic Joneses, and Seminar. Recent credits include Hamlet at The Public Theater, Othello at New York Theatre Workshop, The Flick (Lucille Lortel Award nomination) at Playwrights Horizons, Barrow Street Theatre, and the National Theatre, The Glass Menagerie (Toneelgroep, Amsterdam), John (Signature Theatre; Obie Award, Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations), The Village Bike (MCC Theatre), and Uncle Vanya (Soho Repertory Theatre; Drama Desk nomination), among many others. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published December 16, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

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• The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV, with Helen Castor

  What happens when a king believes he rules by divine right yet loses the trust of his people through his tyrannical actions? In this episode, acclaimed historian Helen Castor brings us into the world that inspired Shakespeare’s most celebrated history plays. Castor’s latest book, The Eagle and the Heart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV, peels back the layers of history to reveal the human drama behind a deadly royal rivalry. From Richard’s glittering but ill-fated reign to Henry’s reluctant haunted rule, this engaging discussion uncovers the timeless lessons behind the rise and fall of two kings. Packed with historical insight and fresh perspectives, this episode is a must-listen for history buffs, Shakespeare enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the delicate balance between power and duty. Helen Castor is an acclaimed medieval and Tudor historian. Her first book, Blood and Roses: The Paston Family in the Wars of the Roses, was longlisted for what is now known as the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction and won the English Association’s Beatrice White Prize. Her next two books, She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth and Joan of Arc: A History were both on numerous Best Books of the Year lists and made into documentaries for BBC television, and Joan of Arc was longlisted for the PEN America/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography. She has one son and lives in London. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published December 3, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

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