Shakespeare And Us

What influences of his time and situation led to the creation of Shakespeare's masterly plays? Simon Schama explores the history, political and religious intrigues and the tenor of the times that allowed a man from Stratford on Avon to write plays performed for the Queen -- that live on today.

Shakespeare lived in perilous times and his plays contain ideas dangerous in his time--and ours. Judi Dench, Tobias Menzies and others perform Shakespeare's most moving and profound soliloquies, as we look at Shakespeare's take on monarchy, power, corruption, madness and the human condition.