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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

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In Our Time: Is Shakespeare History? The Plantagenets

Factual

11/10/2018

Is Shakespeare History? The Plantagenets

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Is Shakespeare History? The Plantagenets

Melvyn Bragg discusses the impact of Shakespeare's approach to history (programme 1 of 2)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's treatment of English Plantagenet history from Richard II to Richard III and all the Henrys in between, written under Elizabeth I.

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.

The image above is of Richard Burton (1925 - 1984) as Henry V in the Shakespeare play of the same name, from 1951

With

Emma Smith
Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford

Gordon McMullan
Professor of English at King’s College London and Director of the London Shakespeare Centre

And 

Katherine Lewis
Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Huddersfield

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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