Taking Issue with Shakespeare

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Taking Issue with Shakespeare: Episode 4

Episode 4

BBC Radio 4 - Taking Issue with Shakespeare, Episode 4

Shakespeare on contemporary issues, contemporary issues on Shakespeare.

Might Shakespeare help resolve some challenging contemporary issues? Today, Emma Smith in conversation with Mercy Muroki on whether the monarchy can unite the nation.

Major public figures, in conversation with Professor Emma Smith, explore whether Shakespeare might help us resolve some challenging contemporary issues. 

Mercy Muroki is a Policy Fellow for the Minister for Women and Equalities, Kemi Badenoch.  She is also a passionate royalist who believes in “full-fat” pageantry rather than a slimmed-down version. 

On the eve of the coronation of King Charles, Mercy discusses with Emma what kind of monarchy is most likely to unite the nation – a somewhat distant figure, such as Queen Elizabeth II, or a more contemporary hands-on monarch.  Might Shakespeare’s description in Macbeth of an ideal king or his depiction of Richard II when stripped of all regalia, help them decide? 
  
With contributions from Professor Paul Prescott 

Producer: Beaty Rubens  
A Just Radio production for 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.

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Marking the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio.

Professor Emma Smith, sharp, smart, witty and wise invites a guest or two to discuss Shakespeare, 400 years on from the publication of the First Folio

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Taking Issue with Shakespeare

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