Shakespeare's Restless World

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Shakespeare's Restless World: 9. New Science, Old Magic

9. New Science, Old Magic

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Shakespeare's Restless World, 9. New Science, Old Magic

A disc of black obsidian from Mexico reflects the Elizabethan fascination with astrology.

Neil MacGregor reveals how a black obsidian disc from Mexico reflects the Elizabethan fascination with astrology. From 2012.

Dr Dee's Mirror was actually a highly polished disk of black obsidian from Mexico but it reflects the Elizabethan fascination with the new sciences of cosmology and astrology. 

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.

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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.

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9. New Science, Old Magic

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