In this weekly podcast, we ask the world's leading Shakespearean actors, directors, scholars and writers; what on earth is Hamlet talking about in his most famous and baffling soliloquy, "To be or not to be"? As we found out, no-one can agree on what it means - and our conversations often ended up in the most unexpected of places ....
PODCAST LINKS
You can find the podcast here: https://tobeornottobe.podbean.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2WQg3gLxsYiVrDTQW1Upk7?nd=1&nd=1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/to-be-or-not-to-be-lockdown-shakespeare/id1529922392 |
Actors:
Adrian Lester, Harriet Walter, Samuel West, Claire Price, Chukwudi Iwuji, Emma Fielding, Sir Mark Rylance, Paterson Joseph, Nicole Cooper, Joseph Millson, Michael Benz, Katy Stephens, Paul Chahidi, Emma Pallant, Jonathan Slinger, Simon Paisley Day, Jonathan Broadbent, Kristolyn Lloyd, Michael Pennington, Richard McCabe, Kimber Sprawl, Ben Crystal, Stephanie McGregor, John Harrell, Isabella Marshall, Giles Taylor, Naeem Hayat, Ladi Emeruwa, Jessica Boyle, Heron Kennedy, Katie West, Philip Bird, and the actors of the EGO Performance Company. Directors: Dominic Dromgoole, Patricia McGregor, Simon Godwin, Bill Buckhurst, Tonderai Munyevu and Natalia Kaliada of the Belarus Free Theatre. Scholars, writers, thinkers: Tiffany Stern, James Shapiro, Emma Smith, Ewan Fernie, Laurie Maguire, Rene Weiss, Kiernan Ryan, Simon Palfrey, Ayanna Thompson, Pascale Aebischer, Sonia Massai, Joshua Landy, Paul Kottman, Thea Buckley, Michael Dobson, Jessica Chiba, Ralph Alan Cohen, Christie Carson, Jillian Keenan, Philip Davis, Tess Dignan, Sarah Case, Zachary Lesser, Lukas Erne, Basharat Peer, Margaret Litvin, Mark Burnett, Nora J Williams, Paul Menzer, Regula Hohl Trillini, Will Tosh, Sayre Greenfield, Robert Miola, Jeffrey Robinson, Fay Bound Alberti, Giles Block, Jonathan Croall, David Crystal. Special thanks also to Emma Fielding and Simon Paisley Day, who agreed to record their versions of the speech from home, during lockdown Podcast Artwork: Hutch Films Twitter: Twitter: @Tobeornotcast |
THEATRE IN TROUBLE
This podcast series was started in the depths of the coronavirus lockdown, and the contributors all agreed to take part because they wanted to raise awareness for theatres and for actors, in a time of crisis, of pandemic, rolling lockdowns and social distancing.
If you want to help, theatres like the Globe have donations pages you can visit – and there are special funds set up during lockdown to help actors whose livelihoods have been devastated by theatre closures. Here are some links to learn more:
Emergency Funds:
Theatre Artists Fund: https://theatreartists.fund/donate/
Theatre Community Fund: https://www.theatrecommunityfund.com/
Actors Benevolent Fund: https://www.actorsbenevolentfund.co.uk/support
Theatres:
Shakespeare's Globe: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/join-and-support/donate
Royal Shakespeare Company: https://www.rsc.org.uk/support/make-a-donation/
Birmingham Rep: https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/support-us/
Royal Exchange Theatre: https://www.royalexchange.co.uk/support-us
Old Vic Theatre: https://www.oldvictheatre.com/support-us/donate
Young Vic Theatre: https://www.youngvic.org/support-us/donate-today
Belarus Free Theatre: https://www.belarusfreetheatre.com/
Northern Broadsides: https://www.northern-broadsides.co.uk/
Donmar: https://www.donmarwarehouse.com/
Theatre Royal Bath: https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/
National Theatre: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/
Everyman Playhouse: https://www.everymanplayhouse.com/
Bridge Theatre: https://bridgetheatre.co.uk/
Chichester Festival Theatre: https://www.cft.org.uk/
Crucible Theatre: https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/
Public Theatre, New York: https://publictheater.org/
American Shakespeare Centre: https://americanshakespearecenter.com/
Bard in the Botanics: https://www.bardinthebotanics.co.uk/
Ego Performance Company: http://www.egoperformance.co.uk/
Everything to Everybody: https://everythingtoeverybody.bham.ac.uk/
To Be Or Not To Be: Lockdown Shakespeare is an unfunded labour of love, and all the interviewees volunteered their time for free. To everyone who contributed, thank you!
Thanks also to Kris Dyer, Paul Sen and Hana Faouri, for their invaluable help and support.