Nashe on Screen (after a fashion)

You’ve seen the plays: now watch the playwright do some gardening. In the new film All is True (trailer), director Kenneth Branagh and screenwriter Ben Elton adopt the contemporary title of William Shakespeare’s last play, Henry VIII, in order to tell the story of the Swan of Avon (not portayed, sadly, by an actual swan, but by Branagh himself) returning to Stratford at the end of his career, after the burning of the Globe Theatre. Far from his successes in London, Shakespeare has to reckon with the hostility of his long-abandoned wife (Judi Dench) and daughters Susanna (Lydia Wilson) and Judith (Kathryn Wilder), as well as the snark and accusations of neighbours, and his long-held grief for the death of his son Hamnet. I was lucky enough to see the film courtesy of the lovely Viral History team (check out their work, it’s brilliant), and joined them and Dr Joanne Paul from the Sussex History department for a chat on their new podcast. You can listen to our episode via iTunes, Spotify, Audioboom, or wherever you like to source your listening material.