Professor Emma Smith's new radio series, Taking Issue with Shakespeare, is on BBC Radio 4 every day this week (Monday to Friday) at 1.45pm. Over the course of five episodes, Professor Smith invites major public figures to discuss Shakespeare, 400 years on from the publication of the First Folio, and asks whether his works can help resolve tricky contemporary issues.
Across the week, Professor Smith talks with Gordon Brown and Baroness Shriti Vadera on populism, Michael Gove on the “levelling up” agenda and King Lear, Will Self on toxic masculinity and Hamlet, Fiona Shaw on post-Covid decisions to move from city to countryside and As You Like It, and Mercy Muroki on whether the monarchy can unite the nation and Richard II.
You will be able to listen to all episodes on BBC Sounds after broadcast.
