Shakespeare video collection

Othello: Behind the lines

This film looks at the military setting of the the National Theatre’s 2013 production of Othello and the role of Major-General Jonathan Shaw who helped to create this authentic environment on the Olivier stage.

Featured in this video: Nicholas Hytner (Director), Rory Kinnear (Actor), Adrian Lester (Actor), Major-General Jonathan Shaw (Military advisor) and Kate Waters (Fight director).

Hamlet: A character study

Actor Rory Kinnear, who played Hamlet in director Nicholas Hytner’s 2010 production at the National Theatre, explains some of the key aspects of Hamlet’s character.

Shakespeare and old age: Simon Russell Beale

Actor Simon Russell Beale, who played the title role in King Lear in 2014 at the National Theatre, and Simon Lovestone, Professor of Translational Neuroscience and Dementia Research at the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry, join Genista McIntosh.

Together, they look at how memory and ageing are explored in Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, and discuss how the situations experienced by the characters might be mirrored today.

Shakespeare and migration: Lenny Henry

Lenny Henry, who played the role of Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors in 2011 at the National Theatre, and George Alagiah, BBC journalist, author of A Home From Home and Friend of the Migration Museum Project, join Genista McIntosh.

They look at how migration and exile are explored in Shakespeare’s play, The Comedy or Errors.