Mini: Performing Shakespeare on an Endangered Planet with Katherine Steele Brokaw and Elizabeth Freestone
In this mini episode, we sit down with Katherine Steele Brokaw and Elizabeth Freestone, authors of Performing Shakespeare on an Endangered Planet, to talk about their work producing ecological Shakespeare. We discuss what it means to approach Shakespeare's plays through an ecological lens, how that thinking shapes the choices theatremakers make in rehearsal and production, and what inspired them to write a book on the subject. We also explore how Shakespeare's plays can help us engage with the environmental challenges of our own moment.
About Katherine Steele Brokaw
Katherine Steele Brokaw is a Professor of English at University of Texas at Austin and the Director of Shakespeare at Winedale at UT. Her work focuses primarily on the production and study of Shakespearean performance, with a special interest in how modern productions can be used to highlight ecological issues. She is the author of Staging Harmony: Music and Religious Change in Late Medieval and Early English Drama and Shakespeare and Community Performance and she is co-author, with Elizabeth Freestone, of Performing Shakespeare on an Endangered Planet. She was the co-founding artistic director of Shakespeare in Yosemite, where she adapted and directed eight productions.
About Elizabeth Freestone
Elizabeth Freestone is a British theatre director. She is an Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company for whom she has directed The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors, The Rape of Lucrece, The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes, Crooked Dances and Here Lies Mary Spindler. Her next show for the RSC will be Coriolanus in Spring 2027. She has also directed Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, Queen Margaret at the Royal Exchange in Manchester and Romeo and Juliet for Shakespeare’s Globe. She has a PhD from the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford upon Avon and is the co-author (with Katie Brokaw) of Performing Shakespeare on an Endangered Planet and the co-author (with Jeanie O’Hare) of 100 Plays To Save The World.
Transcript to come.
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
For updates:
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod
Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
Support the podcast:
Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone
Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.
Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link.
Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.
