The Uses of Empire / The Uses of Shakespeare

“Shakespeare: Drama’s DNA.” Perf. Richard Eyre, Peter Brook, and Judy Dench. Dir. Roger Parsons. Changing Stages. Episode 1. BBC. 5 November 2000. Videocassette. Films for the Humanities, 2001.

---

Much modern criticism of The Tempest is post-colonial in nature. This clip demonstrates something of an a-colonial (as opposed to a pre-colonial or post-colonial) use of Shakespeare.

I know it's brief, but it shows a bit of the uses to which the British Empire put Shakespeare.

Please note that Henry V is the play in question—not The Tempest (but note, too, that the announcer begins with a quote from that play in his introduction):

---