Original version

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

BBC Radio 4 LW

r4shakespeare

Shakespeare's Restless World

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Shakespeare's Restless World: 7. Ireland: Failures in the Present

7. Ireland: Failures in the Present

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Shakespeare's Restless World, 7. Ireland: Failures in the Present

A rare woodcut offers an insight into the troubles and tragedies of Elizabethan Ireland.

Neil MacGregor explains how a rare woodcut reveals the troubles and tragedies of Elizabethan Ireland. From 2012.

A rare woodcut offers a equally rare visual impression of the troubles and tragedies of Elizabethan Ireland.

Object-based history series presented by Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum.

Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.

With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed.

He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.

Producer: Paul Kobrak

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2012.

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Factual: History

Neil MacGregor uncovers the stories 20 objects tell us about Shakespeare's world.

Making a selection of objects from the British Museum and collections across the UK, Neil MacGregor uncovers the stories they tell about Shakespeare's world.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Shakespeare's Restless World

7. Ireland: Failures in the Present

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4