About the show

Ten years ago what is considered the world’s first Shakespeare-language narrative short form digital series was launched on the world.

Created, adapted and directed by Australian actor, Sally McLean, it is a female-led and culturally diverse anthology series, made up of individual, stand-alone episodes featuring a plethora of Shakespeare pieces set in the 21st Century.

The series was announced in April 2015 with the broadcast of a series of behind-the-scenes video interviews with it’s original cast: Michala Banas, Alan Fletcher, Rowena Hutson, Sally McLean, Billy Smedley and Ben Steel. The full first season launched on August 26, 2015, beginning with Episode 1 featuring Alan Fletcher playing “Macbeth”.

A decade and three seasons later, Shakespeare Republic is now one of the most awarded and critically acclaimed digital series globally.

Shakespeare Republic would go on to be named 2021’s most awarded anthology web series in the world, be acquired for the official curated collection of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, be officially selected and screened at over 110 international film festivals, nominated for over 100 awards and win over 60 film festival and industry awards.

It would spawn two more award-winning Shakespeare web series – Walking Shadows and Dark Arcadia, a short film – Speaking Daggers, and music video – O, Mistress Mine – all created and directed by McLean.

And now, in the year of Shakespeare Republic’s tenth anniversary, the podcast Musing on the Bard will delve deeper into Shakespeare’s place in the 21st Century, the art of performing Shakespeare – and the acting craft in general, as well as touching on the process behind the creation of these works, through interviews with a selection of the actors and creatives who have worked on Shakespeare Republic and related projects from 2015 to now.

Building on the original 2015 interview series, this new iteration of Musing on the Bard in the form of a podcast, supported by the British Shakespeare Association, gives listeners a chance to get to know these talented actors, their processes and their thoughts on Shakespeare in the modern age. We also discuss the concept of creativity and occasionally share some clips from the Shakespeare Republic universe – where the characters use his original text, but appear in a modern setting, reflected back to us through the lens of current events and the social issues of our time.

This podcast has been built for those who love Shakespeare, for those who are curious about how 21st century actors view and work with his text and for those who feel they should know more about Shakespeare, but don’t quite know how to start that quest. It is laid-back, irreverent, insightful, passionate and most of all – fun.

We look forward to you joining the conversation.