In Search of Shakespeare

Michael Wood (writer and presenter) 

Maya Vision International, 2004; 2DVDs, 220mins

Genres: audio-visual, biography, drama, history, literature

This comprehensive BBC series provides a fascinating and detailed biography of William Shakespeare, as well as allowing the viewer to develop a clear understanding of the time in which he lived.

In four episodes - A Time of Revolution, The Lost Years, The Duty of Poets, and For All Time -Michael Wood probes the political and religious context in which Shakespeare grew up by investigating maps, legal papers and other documents of the period.

Wood, an enthusiastic Shakespearian scholar, follows Shakespeare's journeys across country, from his childhood in Warwickshire to his move to London and the theatre that became his career. Members of the RSC bring to life the sense of novelty that was part of dramatic performances at the time, and give insight into the role of the theatre in Elizabethan England and the way in which it reflected the attitudes and events of the time.

All in all this is an outstanding series that gives the viewer a thorough understanding of the context which was the breeding ground for the Bard's work, but which recognises that we will never completely understand the life and choices of this complex man.