Shakespeare Uncovered

Season 32012

Celebrity hosts guide viewers through William Shakespeare's plays in performance. Each episode serves as a primer for newcomers to Shakespeare while serving up enough historical and theatrical insights to enchant lifelong fans.

Overview Episodes Download

6 Episodes

E01 Joely Richardson on Shakespeare's Women

Shakespeare Uncovered: In Twelfth Night and As You Like It, Joely Richardson investigates (with a contribution from her mother Vanessa Redgrave) the great comic heroines created by Shakespeare in those hugely popular plays.

June 19, 2012

E02 Ethan Hawke on Macbeth

Ethan Hawke sets out to prepare himself for the possibility of playing the role of Macbeth by uncovering the true story behind the play, seeing some of the greatest productions and discovering the extraordinary insights into the criminal mind that Shakespeare reveals.

June 26, 2012

E03 Derek Jacobi on Richard II

Derek Jacobi looks at Richard II, a role he played 30 years ago. He reveals why the might have cost Shakespeare his life, and shares some of the extraordinary political parallels within the play that still resonate today.

June 30, 2012

E04 Trevor Nunn on The Tempest

Trevor Nunn looks at the magical and mysterious world created in Shakespeare's last complete play, The Tempest. Trevor finds out where Shakespeare got his material from and the strange personal insights hidden within it. It is a truly experimental work but sadly perhaps also Shakespeare's farewell to the theatre. The Tempest is peculiarly suitable to film - ambitious, experimental and full of magic. Not surprisingly, one of the very first silent film adaptations of a Shakespeare play was The Tempest in 1911.

July 3, 2012

E05 Jeremy Irons on the Henrys

Jeremy Irons uncovers the extraordinary appeal of Shakespeare's History Plays. He unravels the differences between the real history and the drama that Shakespeare creates.

July 7, 2012

E06 David Tennant on Hamlet

David Tennant, whose own RSC performance as Hamlet was a huge hit, meets other actors who have played the role and tries to unravel the meaning of the play.

July 17, 2012

Shakespeare Uncovered