This page has links to the 63 teaching videos from Jonathan’s ten-module University of Warwick / Shakespeare Birthplace Trust / FutureLearn open online course on Shakespeare and his World (which is now no longer available for enrollment).
Each module has 6-7 short films. Each one begins from a book, manuscript or object in the collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Shakespeare’s childhood home in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, or just occasionally from elsewhere. None of the videos is more than about 10 minutes long. Module 1 offers a general introduction to his life, work and world; module 2 looks at rural Warwickshire, life in Stratford-upon-Avon and The Merry Wives of Windsor, his comedy of small-town English society; module 3 turns to the theatre and the process of putting on plays, focused via A Midsummer Night's Dream; module 4 reminds us that throughout the 1590s Shakespeare lived in a world at war - the focal play here is Henry V; module 5 looks at money, focusing on The Merchant of Venice; module 6 on witches and doctors in Macbeth; module 7 uses Othello to explore Venice, Islam and race; module 8 explores the formative influence on Shakespeare of ancient Rome, via Antony and Cleopatra; module 9 spins out into brave new worlds from The Tempest; and the closing module looks at the history of Shakespeare's posthumous reputation, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries.
1: AN INTRODUCTION TO SHAKESPEARE AND HIS WORLD
2: STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, WARWICKSHIRE, SMALL TOWN LIFE & THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
Christopher Saxton’s map of Warwickshire
John Shakespeare, Bailiff of Stratford
Dugdale’s Antiquities and the Coat of Arms
Ovid and The Merry Wives of Windsor
3: THE THEATRE, THE MAKING OF PLAYS & A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Shakespeare’s first experience of theatre
Public theatre and court theatre
4: A WORLD AT WAR - HENRY V
Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland
Preparing the troops for battle
Falstaff, Pistol and the varieties of weaponry
5: MONEY AND THE CITY - THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
The Quiney letter and the lending of money
6: WITCHES AND DOCTORS - MACBETH
Evil, Hell, Macbeth and Dr Faustus
7: THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS - OTHELLO
Turkish sophistication - the Iznik dish
Othello’s pre-history and Christian slaves
8: THE ROMAN EXAMPLE - ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
North’s Plutarch - Life of Mark Antony
9: O BRAVE NEW WORLD - THE TEMPEST
Voyages of discovery - the deed box
The Tempest in the First Folio
10: THE CULT OF SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare in print in the 18th century
Garrick’s Jubilee and the origins of Stratford tourism
Romanticism and Sir Walter Scott in Stratford
Global Shakespeare in the stacks
EPILOGUE: THE AUTHORSHIP QUESTION
After running the online course a couple of times, we decided that we had to address the elephant in the room, so the final run included an extra film in Module 1, addressing the anxieties provoked by the conspiracy theorists: