Speaking of Shakespeare

This is a public lecture by Christopher Highley of the Ohio State University on his book, 'Blackfriars in Early Modern London' (Oxford UP, 2022). Highley specializes in Early Modern literature, culture, and history. Along with his many publications, honors, grants, and awards, he is the author of Shakespeare, Spenser, and the Crisis in Ireland (Cambridge UP, 1997), Catholics Writing the Nation in Early Modern Britain and Ireland (Oxford UP, 2008). His well-received and most recent book is entitled Blackfriars in Early Modern London: Theater, Church, and Neighborhood. He is currently continuing his work on early modern London during the English Reformation period, as well as on the posthumous image of Henry VIII.

Thomas Dabbs again speaks with James Shapiro of Columbia University, this time about his recent book entitled: ‘The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War.’
[SEGMENTS]

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:20 - ‘The Playbook’ and Shakespeare in America

00:04:17 - The Federal Theater (1935-39)

00:07:22 - Hallie Flanagan and the Federal Theater

00:13:02 - Martin Dies and the conservative playbook

00:18:50 - The American culture war

00:20:05 - Beginnings of the Federal Theater

00:23:50 - A lost and found research archive

00:25:10 - Is Christopher Marlowe a communist?

00:31:35 - Race and Macbeth

00:36:50 - Criticism from the left of the left

00:39:25 - The death of innovation, the playbook redux

00:47:40 - The life of Othello in America

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Ian Smith, current president of the Shakespeare Association of America, about his new book, ‘Black Shakespeare: Reading and Misreading Race’ (Cambridge UP)

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Peter Holland of the University of Notre Dame about Peter’s recent book, ‘Shakespeare and Forgetting’.

This is a talk with Peter Herman of the University of California, San Diego about his new book, Early Modern Others and other elements of his research that focus on the relationship between literature and culture.