To Be Or Not To Be: Shakespeare Unlocked
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
How Hamlet’s speech saved my life
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, American military veteran Stephan Wolfert relates the story of how Hamlet’s soliloquy saved his life when he was at his lowest poin...
To Make Oppression Bitter: Shakespeare Scholars on the Frontline in Ukraine
07 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Shakespeare scholars of Ukraine have found themselves on the frontline of a brutal war, and have launched an urgent appeal in conjunction with col...
The Globe Returns
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode of the podcast, we celebrate the return of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre after 14 months of lockdown and cancelled performances....
Whose Common Theme
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the podcast, we talk to people who have found meaning and a sense of shared experience in Hamlet’s famous soliloquy at the most d...
Pray, Love, Remember
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talk to some of Britain's leading stage actresses - Dame Harriet Walter, Mariah Gale, Sian Brooke, Katie West, Kellie Shirley and ...
Bad Weather Between Humans
21 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What can psychoanalysis tell us about Hamlet’s great speech? And what does it mean for our own divided, self-sabotaging personalities? Why do we oft...
The Strange History of a Radical Speech (Part 2)
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we look at the distinguished history of women playing Hamlet on the professional stage, a tradition which goes back almost 300 years....
A Thousand Natural Shocks
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we visit the EGO Performance Company, actors with physical disabilities or learning difficulties, who perform and rehearse on Zoom du...
Taking Up Arms
20 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Such is the uncanny power of "To Be Or Not To Be", it's been used by politicians and leaders for their own political purposes, from the current Chines...
What We May Be
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster and philosopher Simon Critchley try to unlock the mysteries of Hamlet's tortured consciousness, highli...
The Strange History of a Radical Speech (Part 1)
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we uncover the radical roots of Hamlet’s soliloquy by tracing how it sounded in the mouths of the famous actors who played the role...
The Verse Doctors
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we speak to the “verse doctors”, experts on the hidden rhythms of Hamlet's famous soliloquy, who uncover how Shakespeare laid a t...
What’s It All About?
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we ask the BIG questions - what does "To Be Or Not To Be" mean? Is there an answer? And can we relate Hamlet's famous soliloquy to th...
Black Lives Matter
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we follow a remarkable Black Lives Matter themed production which took Hamlet into New York's maximum security prisons, women's refug...
The Time Machine
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What would it have been like to be an audience member at the very first performance of Hamlet, four centuries ago? And what might the extraordinary pl...
Speaking The Speech
06 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the first episode of To Be Or Not To Be, we ask some of our leading actors who've played Hamlet - how did they approach the most famous lines in al...