1. Julius Caesar and Populism

Major public figures in conversation with Professor Emma Smith explore whether Shakespeare might help us resolve some challenging contemporary issues.

In this opening episode she discusses the national and international challenges of populism with senior British statesman, Gordon Brown, and Chair of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Baroness Shriti Vadera.

In 1623, the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays was published – the so-called First Folio. Without the First Folio, many of the biggest plays – Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, The Tempest – would probably have been lost forever. More importantly, without the First Folio, we wouldn’t have that cast of characters, scenarios and quotations which reverberate across time and inform our thinking.

Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford and author of This Is Shakespeare. She brings to bear her deep knowledge of Shakespeare’s plays and of the era in which he wrote them – an era sometimes similar to our own and sometime very different – and her passionate interest in contemporary issues. Can Shakespeare help us grapple with these?

With contributions from Professor Paul Prescott.

Producer: Beaty Rubens

Made to mark the 400th anniversary of the First Folio.

A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2023.