5. Antony and Cleopatra

Available for over a year

In Antony and Cleopatra, power is one of Cleopatra's most dominant character traits and the main theme of the play. She represents the lure of the East. In the Queen of Egypt - who oscillates between being a astute political leader and a manipulative seductress - Shakespeare has penned perhaps his most complex and most dazzling of female characters. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores the last of five Shakespeare plays which cross the racial divide. No one has ever captured the joy and lunacy and power of love better than William Shakespeare. His transgressive depictions of love remain unsurpassed. Othello, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream - in these five plays there's so much more to love than love. These are not tidy tragedies. Shakespeare apparently never left England except through his plays, yet he embraced interracial relationships and supernatural relationships and turned them into thrilling, dangerous drama. We bring together scholars, directors and actors to explore how the compulsions and fears, joys and sorrows, very much part of everyday life for many in Britain today, were so brilliantly showcased by Shakespeare more than 400 years ago. Producer: Mohini Patel First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2016.