Is Shakespeare History? The Plantagenets

In the first of two programmes marking In Our Time’s 20th anniversary on 15th October, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare’s versions of history, starting with the English Plantagenets. His eight plays from Richard II to Richard III were written out of order, in the Elizabethan era, and have had a significant impact on the way we see those histories today. In the second programme, Melvyn discusses the Roman plays.

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Emma Smith 5 episodes
  Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford
• Gordon McMullan No other episodes
  Professor of English at King's College London and Director of the London Shakespeare Centre
• Katherine Lewis 5 episodes
  Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Huddersfield

Reading list

• The Wars of the Roses: Politics and the Constitution in England c. 1437-1509
  Christine Carpenter (Cambridge University Press, 2008) Google Books →
• Shakespeare: The Theatre of Our World
  Peter Conrad (Head of Zeus, 2018) Google Books →
• A Companion to Shakespeare's Works: Volume II: The Histories
  Richard Dutton and Jean E. Howard (eds) (Blackwell, 2003) Google Books →
• The Norton Shakespeare: Histories
  Stephen Greenblatt (ed.) (Norton & Co., 2016) Google Books →
• Tyrant: Shakespeare On Power
  Stephen Greenblatt (Bodley Head, 2018) Google Books →
• The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's History Plays
  Michael Hattaway (ed) (Cambridge University Press, 2002) Google Books →
• Engendering a Nation: A Feminist Account of Shakespeare's English Histories
  Jean E. Howard and Phyllis Rackin (Routledge, 1997) Google Books →
• The Drama of Memory in Shakespeare's History Plays
  Isabel Karremann (Cambridge University Press, 2015) Google Books →
• The Wars of the Roses
  A.J. Pollard (ed.) (Palgrave, 2001) Google Books →
• Shakespeare's English Kings: History, Chronicles and Drama
  Peter Saccio (Oxford University Press, 1977) Google Books →
• 1599: A Year in the Life of WIlliam Shakespeare
  James Shapiro (Faber & Faber, 2006) Google Books →

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Programme ID: m0000nd9

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000nd9

Auto-category: 822.33 (English drama)