From Bard to Verse. Episode 1

Synopsis: Television eight-part series in which on consecutive evenings actors perform extracts from Shakespeare’s plays and poems. Episode 1 - Joe MacFadden reads sonnet 18 ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’. Alistair McGowan performs ‘But soft what light through yonder window breaks’ from Romeo and Juliet (II i), Lucy Gaskell performs ‘My lovely Aaron, wherefore lookest thou sad?' from Titus Andronicus (II iii), Lisa Riley performs ‘I am giddy, expectation whirls me round’ from Troilus and Cressida (III ii), Delroy Anderson, Ashley Campbell and Oliver Mason perform a rap version of ‘It was a lover and his lass’ from As You Like It (V iii), Fraser James performs ‘I did never think to marry...' from Much Ado About Nothing (II iii), Anthony Head performs ‘I seek a wife! A woman that is like a german clock...' from Love’s Labour’s Lost (III i), Meera Syal performs ‘Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper’ from The Taming of the Shrew (V ii), Mark Lamarr performs ‘She misused me past the endurance of a block..' from Much Ado About Nothing (II i), and Lemn Sissay recites Sonnet 138 ‘When my love swears that she’s made of truth, I do believe her...'
Series: From Bard to Verse
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Television
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Subjects: Drama; English language and literature
Keywords: Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Rap music

Cast