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Wisconsin Public Radio

SHAKESPEARE: WHERE THERE'S A WILL

Program 09-03-15-B

Listen!

All the world's a stage! The Play's the thing. Fair is foul and foul is fair. Hardly a day goes by when the words that flowed so easily from Will Shakespeare's pen don't meet and greet us in the modern world. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, sweet William makes his way to the graphic novel and to the culture wars.

SEGMENT 1:

Marjorie Garber is one of the world's premier Shakespeare scholars and teaches at Harvard. Her latest book is "On Shakespeare and Modern Culture." She tells Anne Strainchamps how Shakespeare makes modern culture and modern culture makes Shakespeare, and we hear examples from the plays and film versions like "Shakespeare in Love."

SEGMENT 2:

Jess Winfield was one of the original members of "The Reduced Shakespeare Company." He's now a novelist and talks with Jim Fleming about "My Name is Will: a novel of sex, drugs and Shakespeare." also, Mark Anderson is the author of "Shakespeare by Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man Who Was Shakespeare." Anderson tells Steve Paulson that no single piece of evidence is conclusive, but all the funny coincidences "prove" his thesis. Shakespeare biographer Stephen Greenblatt isn't persuaded. He demolishes Anderson's theory during his conversation with Steve and insists that Shakespeare's genius is precisely that he wasn't a nobleman.

SEGMENT 3:

Karen Winborn tells Jim Fleming about Classical Comics which have published three versions of Shakespeare plays, pairing various versions of the texts with bright, action-packed, comic book style visuals. She explains the company's goals and their success, so far.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 09-02-15-B.

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Books & CDs:

Marjorie Garber, Shakespeare and Modern Culture (Pantheon)
Jess Winfield, My Name is Will: a novel of sex, drugs and Shakespeare (Twelve)
Mark Anderson, Shakespeare by Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man Who Was Shakespeare (Gotham)
Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World (Norton)
William Shakespeare, Macbeth: the graphic novel (Classical Comics)

Websites:

• Classical Comics
  http://www.classicalcomics.com

Clips:

• Shakespeare in Love: 1998
  Miramax Films/Universal Pictures/The Bedford Falls Company
• Hamlet: 2000
  Miramax Films
  Score by Cater Burwell (Track Name: "Hamlet Walks the Plane")
• MacBeth: 2003
  BBC Audiobooks America/Arkangel Complete Shakespeare
  Lady MacBeth: Harriet Walter
• The Merchant of Venice: 2003
  BBC AudiobooksAmerica/ Arkangel Complete Shakespeare
  Shylock: Trevor Peacock

Music:

• All music is from "Royal Brass: Music from the Renaissance and Baroque” by the Empire Brass Quintet, TELARC CD 80257.

Distribution dates: week of 02/28/2010 - hour 2 week of 03/15/2009 - hour 2 click HERE for timings and cues

Listen!

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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