The tragedy of Coriolanus
The turmoil of war and political conflict sound the theme for the last of Shakespeare's tragedies. In this tragedy, Shakespeare studies the character of a soldier. Surrounded by war and political conflict, Coriolanus is a rock of strength, but a roc...
Transcript: of your good selves. O, that you could. What then, sir? Why, then you should discover a brace of unmeriting, proud, violent, testy magistrates, alias
Novel reflections on the American dream
This program draws on insightful commentary from literary scholars and authors to examine the characters, plots, and themes of seven American novels that deal with wealth, poverty, and the nature of success and failure in the U.S. In an exploration ...
Transcript: THE BRACE TO THE VALVE SLOT. HE LOOKED IN AMAZEMENT AT TOM. "LOOKING FOR WORK?" HE SAID. "SO YOU ARE LOOKING FOR WORK? "WHAT DO YOU THINK EVERYBODY
Glass Menagerie
After what producer David Susskind called "the longest wooing for a part in a lifetime of dealing with stars," four-time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn made her television dramatic debut as the indomitable, overbearing matriarch, Amanda Wingfield, i...
Margaret Sanger
Birth control advocate, self-styled libertarian, and ardent proponent of women’s rights—Margaret Sanger was all of these, as this balanced, probing documentary attests. Using rare archival footage, diary excerpts, and commentary from historians,...
Transcript: HAD TO BRACE HERSELF AGAINST A WALL TO KEEP FROM FALLING. MARGARET WANTED MORE OUT OF LIFE. WHEN SHE GRADUATED FROM THE EIGHTH GRADE, SHE CHOSE TO
The tempest
Television adaption of Shakespeare’s play that uses a framework of conspiracy to weave fancy and realism into a plot that speaks to audiences today. On an enchanted island, an exiled Duke and two young lovers encounter the occult, finding good and...
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Scholars agree that Shakespeare collaborated on this dramatic romance and not much is regarded to be his alone. The story, which first appeared in medieval literature, is of the Prince of Tyre, who flees upon discovering his King in an incestuous re...
Transcript: charge, even as he left his life, 'Keep it, my Pericles; it hath been a shield Twixt me and death;'--and pointed to this brace;-- 'For that it saved me
Othello:
"John Kani's Othello is a fine and masterful performance that should make every white actor think twice before blacking up for the Moor," wrote The Guardian of this raw and powerful interpretation of the play. The production marked the first time an...
Transcript: , I have a stoup of wine; and here without are a brace of Cyprus gallants that would fain have a measure to the health of black Othello. - Not tonight
The Skin of Our Teeth
Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize–winning play brings to life the fate and foibles of the celebrated Antrobus family—a bold and brassy embodiment of Wilder's vision of the American people. This eloquent comedy serves up an allegorical tale of one...
Transcript: right. Dinosaur, mammoth, Dalai, Frederick, we're going for a walk. It's cold. Oh, yes. But nice... nice, fresh, cold air. It'll be bracing. Come on
Love's labour's lost
A splendid satire directed against intellectual pride and pedantry, with some of Shakespeare's best early poetry with masterly scenes and excellent characterizations. The play tells how the King of Navarre and three of his lords vow to spend three y...
Cymbeline
Director Elijah Moshinsky does "an outstanding job," says the New York Times. Equally impressive is the cast. King Cymbeline's evil second queen forces the king to banish his daughter Imogen's husband, Posthumus. While the queen tries to force Imoge...
Transcript: wear her in title yours: but, you know, strange fowl light upon neighbouring ponds. Your ring may be stolen too: so your brace of unprizable estimations