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Tina Packer's Women of Shakespeare

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We talk with Tina Packer about her new on-stage gathering of the Bard’s female roles — from Juliet to Lady Macbeth.

Tina Packer in "Women of Will" (Credit: Shakespeare & Company)
Tina Packer in "Women of Will" (Credit: Shakespeare & Company)

William Shakespeare took the English language and a shocking genius and opened up the human condition like no one else.

He did it with 770 male characters and 177 women.

In Shakespeare’s women, his female characters, his grasp of the feminine, lie some of the bard’s deepest insights, says my guest today.

Actor and director Tina Packer calls them “Women of Will." As in, of Will Shakespeare, and of willpower.  The will to ask:  What does it mean to be alive?  How must we act?  What must I do?

This Hour, On Point: Tina Packer and the women of Will Shakespeare.

Guest:

Tina Packer, Shakespearean actor, director and scholar. Her show at Shakespeare & Company, where she is artistic director, in Lenox, MA is "Women of Will." It opened May 28, and will run through July 24. She will also perform her full five-part series of plays about Shakespeare's women from August 25 to 27. 

More:

Read the Boston Globe profile of Tina Packer and her new work.

And here's another look at Packer in action in "Women of Will":

Tina Packer in her play "Women of Will" (Credit: Shakespeare & Company)
Tina Packer in her play "Women of Will" (Credit: Shakespeare & Company)

This program aired on June 1, 2010.

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