Shakespeare on the Radio

A Century of BBC Plays

Andrea Smith

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Edinburgh University Press
31 May 2025

Radio scripts; Shakespeare plays; Literary studies: general; Literary studies: plays & playwrights; Shakespeare studies & criticism

Taking you inside Shakespeare's plays on the radio

how they sound and how they change and evolve

Andrea Smith provides an innovative history of Shakespearean performance. Based on meticulous new research using documentary evidence and archive audio recordings, Smith explores what it means to present Shakespeare as audio and how this can help us to gain a greater understanding of the plays themselves and the art of performing them. The BBC's remit to 'inform, educate and entertain' has led to assumptions that these plays were presented as scholarly works rather than showbiz. Wrong! They feature all the careful crafting of any other production of Shakespeare's work. This book puts these audio productions on a par with other forms of Shakespearean performance and offers detailed case studies to further the readers' understanding of Shakespeare's texts on air.

By: Andrea Smith
Imprint: Edinburgh University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781399547284
ISBN 10: 1399547283
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 31 May 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Andrea Smith is Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of Suffolk. Her research focuses on audio interpretations of early modern plays, listening to how they transform something for the stage into something for the ear. She brings her research into her teaching and outreach work, using audio clips to help people understand Shakespeare's texts and inspire their own creative work. Her research has been published in Shakespeare Survey, Shakespeare, Women's History Today and Radio Journal. She has also discussed her research in the short documentary series, The Beeb and the Bard on BBC Radio 3, as well as participating in the network's discussion programme, Free Thinking.

Reviews for Shakespeare on the Radio: A Century of BBC Plays

An indispensable guide to the huge (and largely free) treasures of our greatest writer. It's often said that radio plays have the best scenery; this book proves that they have the best words as well.--Samuel West, actor and director Forget the old chestnut that if Shakespeare were alive now, he'd be writing for Hollywood: Andrea Smith makes clear that he'd be writing for the verbal, imaginative medium of radio. This revelatory book opens a fascinating new field of study.--Emma Smith, University of Oxford