Not Shakespeare

Next year is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, which will see a year-long celebration of the Bard’s work. But it was only in 2012 that Shakespeare was the centrepiece of the cultural Olympiad. Does our focus on just one writer mean we’re overlooking other great playwrights of the Renaissance? Andrew will take an in-depth look at some of the key players of the period and their own individual genius. He travels to Deptford to discuss Christopher Marlowe, who confronted the greatest taboos of his age and whose own life was as dramatic as his plays. Andrew also looks at Ben Jonson, a ruthless satirist, whose work brilliantly speaks to the modern age. The programme will also consider the wealth of powerful female roles available in this period, as we hear from the great actress Frances de la Tour. Andrew will speak to the director Trevor Nunn in the RSC’s Swan Theatre. This is a dedicated home to plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries, and the brainchild of Nunn himself, when he led the RSC in the 1980s. He will also meet the recent director of Marlowe’s Jew Of Malta, Justin Audibert; and viewers will be invited behind the scenes for rehearsals of John Ford’s The Queen at the Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse – which goes from a read-through to full performance in just one day. Lily Cole on the ‘Pram In The Hall’