Radio 3 announces final line-up for Sounds of Shakespeare Season
BBC Radio 3 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a special season of programming celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired.
Published: 8 April 2016
William Shakespeare is the most influential British artist - in any art form. His works has spawned all kinds of artistic responses the world over.
- BBC Radio 3 to broadcast from pop-up studio in the RSC’s The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death (Friday 22 – Sunday 24 April)
- Ten new music commissions announced - eight BBC Commissions and two world premieres, including Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy’s new work set to music
- Eight new drama productions announced – including a riposte to The Merchant Of Venice, an all-Scottish King Lear, and performances by Maxine Peake, Robert Lindsey, Eve Best, Ian McDiarmid, Bill Patterson, Danny Sapani and Shaun Dooley
- Leading actors in conversation on Shakespeare’s influence, including Adrian Lester, Janet Suzman, Hugh Quarshie, Samuel West
- Live readings from Stratford-upon-Avon from Juliet Stevenson, Tim Pigott-Smith and Rory Kinnear
BBC Radio 3 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a special season of programming celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired.
From the great composers of the 18th and 19th centuries to contemporary creators, the season shows how generation after generation of musicians and writers have re-created his work for different times, styles and mediums.
Over the anniversary weekend, from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 April, Radio 3 will broadcast live from Stratford-upon-Avon, from a pop-up studio at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Other Place theatre and other historic venues across the town. The weekend marks the first major event at the RSC’s newly reopened The Other Place theatre.
Alan Davey, Controller of BBC Radio 3, says: "William Shakespeare is the most influential British artist - in any art form. His works has spawned all kinds of artistic responses the world over. Broadcasting a distinctive mixture of live music and discussion is at the heart of what BBC Radio 3 offers as a cultural institution, and we’re looking forward to offering audiences a chance to immerse themselves in the enormous range of artistic work he has influenced. And we’re delighted to be working with the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Other Place theatre, as part of the BBC’s Shakespeare Festival, to make the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death an unforgettable weekend of programmes."
You can view a full list of programmes here. Please visit bbc.co.uk/radio3 for further information.
KD
