Taking Up Arms

To Be Or Not To Be: Shakespeare Unlocked

Such is the uncanny power of "To Be Or Not To Be", it's been used by politicians and leaders for their own political purposes, from the current Chinese leader to Adolf Hitler; and as this episode reveals, it's also been a rallying cry for activists and protesters down the decades. We take a whistle-stop tour of the world, finding out how Hamlet's soliloquy is regularly used to evade censorship and speak truth to power. With Basharat Peer, investigative journalist, author and writer of Haider; Professor Margaret Litvin, and Professor Mark Burnett.

The speech readings are by Emma Fielding and Simon Paisley Day.

Haider (2014) was produced by VB Pictures, directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, and is showing on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/70303432

For more information on the podcast and how you can help theatres and actors during the COVID lockdown crisis: http://www.fleetingyearfilms.com/podcast.html#, or email [email protected]