Hawke and Easton, Richardson and Redgrave

Shakespeare Uncovered begins Friday, 9 p.m., on NET Television.  The first episode, which explores Macbeth, is hosted by Ethan Hawke.  At one point, Hawke asks the advice of Richard Easton -- the two of them have worked together in plays by Tom Stoppard -- about Macbeth's great soliloquy encountering the vision of a dagger.  For Shakespeare fans, Easton is perhaps most revered for his Constable of France in Kenneth Branagh's Henry V.  But Easton was also part of the very first season of the Shakespeare Festival at Stratford, Ontario, back in 1953, as documented by this Grant MacDonald sketch, found in the commemorative book Renown at Stratford.

The second episode, which first airs at 10 p.m., is hosted by Joely Richardson and explores Shakespeare's comedic heroines, especially those in Twelfth Night and As You Like It.  In several sequences, Richardson interviews her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, about Rosalind -- her breakthrough role.  Stay tuned to PBS and this blog!

For broadcast and rebroadcast information visit: www.netnebraska.org/basic-page/television/television