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The Political Jury

Is the jury system the bulwark of individual liberty? This lecture will look at the role of the so-called “perverse jury” in acquitting defendants where the law, or the charge itself, is deemed unjust.

Offensive Shakespeare

From The Merchant of Venice to The Taming of the Shrew, it’s easy to see how Shakespeare’s plays can cause offence to contemporary audiences. Is it harder to teach Shakespeare today than in the past? Have ideas about what is offensive in Shakespeare changed over time?

Prohibition: A Battle in America’s Last Culture War

The lecture will show how Prohibition animated combatants on both sides, generating two Americas that were barely comprehensible to each other, and how the truce declared during depression and war would not last.

How to be a Shakespearean Atheist

This lecture will explore how the sixteenth century found ways of distancing itself from religion.

The Theatre of Dionysus

This lecture outlines the origins of Greek drama in this historic setting, its architectural development and some of the greatest masterpieces.

What is Greek Theatre?

Prof. Edith Hall breaks down the tragedy from the comedy...

Shakespeare's Stages

Leading actor and Shakespeare scholar Michael Pennington discusses the direct effect on the dramatist's writing of the theatres he wrote for, so different from ours.

Shakespeare's Fame

This final lecture will show how Shakespeare helped to immortalize the famous figures of ancient Greece and Rome, and how he in turn became famous after his death.

Shakespeare's Ghosts and Spirits

In this lecture, Jonathan Bate will summon up the ghosts of Old Hamlet, the victims of Richard III and Julius Caesar, revealing their origins in the bloody plays of Seneca.

Shakespeare's Politics

It is well known that Shakespeare lived in an age of monarchy and wrote powerfully in his English history plays about the duties of the sovereign. In this lecture, Jonathan Bate will tell another, forgotten story: of how Shakespeare was also fascinated by Roman political models.

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