Gregory Doran: Why does Shakespeare still captivate us?
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2022
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Stephen Sackur is in Stratford-upon-Avon, interviewing Gregory Doran, artistic director emeritus of the Royal Shakespeare Company. More than 400 years after his death, Shakespeare’s words and stories live on, transcending languages and borders. Why do we continue to make much ado about Shakespeare?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker. My guest today has spent |
| 0:06.0 | most of his adult life immersed in the imaginative world created by arguably the greatest |
| 0:12.1 | English language writer of them all, William Shakespeare. Gregory Doran has just retired as |
| 0:18.8 | artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, |
| 0:22.3 | based in the playwright's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon in the middle of England. |
| 0:27.2 | Doran trained as an actor, but while still in his twenties, he realised directing was his forte. |
| 0:32.9 | And by then, his love of Shakespeare was well established. |
| 0:35.9 | He'd seen every one of Shakespeare's plays while |
| 0:39.7 | still a student. And once at the RSC, he promised himself he would stage every one of them too. |
| 0:47.7 | He's taken Shakespeare productions across the globe. He's innovated with live cinematic releases. |
| 0:53.5 | He's experimented with settings and casting. |
| 0:56.8 | And above all, he sought to make Shakespeare as accessible and intriguing as possible to as |
| 1:03.2 | diverse an audience as possible. Nonetheless, there are valid questions about our Shakespeare-centric artistic culture. |
| 1:12.6 | Is his dominance merited? |
| 1:14.3 | Is it healthy? |
| 1:15.0 | Is 21st century culture finally loosening the ties to the bard of Stratford? |
| 1:22.6 | Well, Gregory Doran joins me now here at the Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre in Stratford. |
| 1:29.2 | Welcome to Hard Talk. |
| 1:31.0 | Thank you. |
| 1:31.8 | Well, it's a real pleasure to be on your stage here at the Royal Shakespeare Company. |
| 1:36.6 | You first set foot on this stage 35 years ago. |
| 1:40.0 | I did. |
... |
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