The Essay Episodes Available now
Professor Islam Issa on Julius Caesar—Reading the First Folio
Professor Islam Issa chooses a passage spoken by Julius Caesar in Act 2, Scene 2.
Michelle Terry on As You Like It—Reading the First Folio
Actor Michelle Terry chooses a speech by 'love doctor' Rosalind from Act 3, Scene 2.
Sir Richard Eyre on King Lear—Reading the First Folio
Director Richard Eyre chooses a speech by Lear to his daughter Cordelia - Act 5, Scene 3.
Fighting the colour bar—New Generation Thinkers 2022
Shirin Hirsch explores the way boxer Len Johnson fought a Manchester pub ban.
Land and soil politics—New Generation Thinkers 2022
Jim Scown on the links between Goethe, George Eliot and the storming of the US Capitol.
Stupid Victorians—New Generation Thinkers 2022
Louise Creechan looks at the impact of 19th-century ideas about intelligence.
Children of the Waters—New Generation Thinkers 2022
Sabina Dosani on the ritual of Mizuko Kuyo and modern ceremonies marking miscarriage.
Children of the Waters
Sabina Dosani looks at the ritual of Mizuko Kuyo and modern ceremonies marking miscarriage
The discordant tale of Thomas Weelkes—New Generation Thinkers 2022
Ellie Chan looks at the life and music of the Tudor composer who died 400 years ago.
Revolutionary free speech—New Generation Thinkers 2022
Clare Siviter looks at attempts to liberate and then censor expression in 1790s France.
