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Shakespeare Uncovered

Joely Richardson

Shakespeare Uncovered: Episode 1: Joely Richardson on Shakespeare's Women

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Joely Richardson on Shakespeare's Women

Episode 1

Episode 1: Joely Richardson on Shakespeare's Women

BBC Four - Shakespeare Uncovered, Joely Richardson on Shakespeare's Women

Joely Richardson looks at William Shakespeare's early career and his roles for women.

In Twelfth Night and As You Like It, Joely Richardson investigates the legacy of two comic heroines and how Shakespeare revealed an acute understanding and sympathy for women.

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

Shakespeare's comic heroines are well known to be some of his greatest creations and in this film Joely looks at Viola in Twelfth Night, washed up on a foreign shore, having (for her own safety) to disguise herself as a man and then falling in love with the man she is working for. Then there is the legendary Rosalind in As You Like It, who also spends much of the play disguised as a man but in the process torments and teases the man she loves in an effort to uncover how sincere he is. 

Joely investigates the reason why these heroines spend much of their time dressed as men - it was because they were originally created for young men to play. But at the same time we find that Shakespeare revealed an acute understanding and sympathy for women when he wrote these characters. 

A variety of film versions are studied alongside the most recent productions at Shakespeare's Globe, and with contributions from the world's greatest Shakespearean scholars like Jonathan Bate and Germaine Greer and from actors like Vanessa Redgrave and Helen Mirren, this film reveals the legacy of strong, sassy, witty women that we inherit from William Shakespeare's great comedies.

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

Shakespearean actors and directors reveal the stories behind some of his greatest plays

Six Shakespearean actors and directors go in search of the greatest dramatist who ever lived by revealing the stories behind and the wonders within some of his greatest plays

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Shakespeare Uncovered

Episode 1: Joely Richardson on Shakespeare's Women

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