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Much Ado About Shakespeare 8: Does Shakespeare silence women?

Sylvestra le Touzel as Lady Percy with Owen Teale as Hotspur in the 1991 production of The First Part of Henry IV at the RSC - Reg Wilson/RSC/Reg Wilson/RSC
Sylvestra le Touzel as Lady Percy with Owen Teale as Hotspur in the 1991 production of The First Part of Henry IV at the RSC - Reg Wilson/RSC/Reg Wilson/RSC

Welcome to the latest edition of Much ado about Shakespeare, a new podcast series from The Telegraph in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company

In this edition, Claire Allfree questions the role of women in Shakespeare and whether he gives them a voice. Certainly you could look at the agency of Portia of The Merchant of Venice or the sexual liberation of A Midsummer Night's Dream to argue that he does, but there are other instances where this is clearly not the case. 

Does descending into madness make victims of Ophelia and Lady Macbeth? Why do Queen Anne and Princess Katherine go silent as soon as they are married? And what on earth should 21st-century audiences make of Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew?

Joining Claire in the discussion are acclaimed actors Sylvestra le Touzel and Debbie Korley, and director Nancy Meckler. 

Sylvestra le Touzel as Lady Percy with Owen Teale as Hotspur in the 1991 production of The First Part of Henry IV at the RSC - Credit: Reg Wilson/RSC/Reg Wilson/RSC
Sylvestra le Touzel as Lady Percy with Owen Teale as Hotspur in the 1991 production of The First Part of Henry IV at the RSC Credit: Reg Wilson/RSC/Reg Wilson/RSC

Subscribe to the podcast and hear past episodes on Apple Podcasts or play the video at the top of this page to listen right now. Please remember to give us a review,

Next time, Ben Lawrence will go behind the scenes of the RSC's new production of The Merry Wives of Windsor in which Fiona Laird transports the high comedy of Shakespeare's only contemporary comedy to the nail bars of Essex. 

If you enjoyed this latest podcast, you can listen to previous episodes in the series.

1: Macbeth: Christopher Eccleston, Niamh Cusack, Polly Findlay. A behind-the-scenes look at the RSC's brand new production

2: Unsex Me Here: the Women of Macbeth: Director Polly Findlay and Oxford academic Emma Smith discuss the play's female characters

Much ado about Shakespeare podcast - Credit: Telegraph
Much ado about Shakespeare podcast Credit: Telegraph

3: Terry Deary on the Curse of the Scottish play

4: Shakespeare: 20th Century Playwright: a live debate from the RSC's Other Place with Gregory Doran, Tracy Chevalier and Iqbal Khan

5: Romeo and Juliet: behind the scenes of Erica Whyman's new RSC production

6: A plague on both your houses: director Erica Whyman and UCL's Emma Whipday on the violence of Romeo and Juliet

7: Baz Luhrmann's take on Romeo and Juliet

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