Shakespeare: Past Master | 2. Romeo and Julie...

He was barely a toddler when he was paraded as a captive in a Roman triumph in 46 BC, but young North African prince Juba went on to marry a daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, and rule an African kingdom. Andrew Kenrick, author of Rex Juba: 15 Glimpses of an African King, unravels ...  Show more

In 1665 the Portuguese Inquisition arrested Crispina Peres, a powerful slave trader in the west African port of Cacheu. The records of her case provide a remarkable window into everyday life in 17th-century west Africa, and form the basis of Toby Green's latest book, The Heretic ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss William Shakespeare's famous tragedy, written in the early 1590s after a series of histories and comedies. His audience already knew the story of the feuding Capulets and Montagues in Verona and the fate of the young lovers from their rival houses, ...  Show more

For Valentine's day, tonight’s storytelling is the tragic love story of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. This retelling by Edith Nesbit is a love story about two young teenagers who fall in love with each other the first time they meet. However, the many years ...

Recently, we marked the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio, a collection of plays by William Shakespeare. To celebrate this landmark in literary history, in today's Long Read, eight historical experts offer their takes on what the Bard's plays reveal about en ...  Show more

Writer and contributor Lauren Emily Whalen returns to the podcast to discuss her new novel, Take Her Down, a YA re-telling of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar! To commemorate it's release, she agreed to discuss two of our generation's most beloved Shakespeare adaptations; Rome ...  Show more