{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"The Shakespeare Ladies Club","description":"A century after Shakespeare\u2019s death, his words were in danger of being forgotten. While plays like King Lear and Othello still played to packed houses across England, audiences saw only the bowdlerized versions\u2014censored, rewritten, and stripped of anything that could be considered distasteful. How, then, did Shakespeare\u2019s original works re-emerge? Thank the Shakespeare Ladies Club, a group of influential women who rescued his reputation(and his double entendres) from obscurity.  In their book, The Shakespeare Ladies Club: The Forgotten Women Who Saved the Bawdy Bard, Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth uncover the club\u2019s unsung contributions to Shakespeare\u2019s legacy. Thanks to the Hainsworths, Westminster Abbey has now officially recognized the Shakespeare Ladies Club for their campaign to memorialize Shakespeare in Poets\u2019 Corner. But, they reveal, the club\u2019s influence goes even deeper than that. In this episode, Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth shine a light on this remarkable group of women and how they made Shakespeare the cultural icon he is today. _________________________________________ From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published May 5, 2026. \u00a9 Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Technical support was provided by Philip Bodger in Lewes, England and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Web production was handled by Megan Fraedrich. Transcripts are edited by Leonor Fernandez. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.    Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth have a passion for historical investigation and challenging the \u2018conventional wisdom\u2019 regarding famous historical subjects. The husband-and-wife team bring a wealth of life experience to the task. Christine gained insight into family dynamics, poverty and societal challenges while working for the Australian government on a program to re-connect lone parents with education and employment. Jonathan, educated in Britain and Australia has over three decades of experience as a high school teacher of Modern and Ancient History and English. He is a graduate of the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia.       Having chanced upon a book mentioning the obscure Shakespeare Ladies Club, the authors were driven to research their forgotten story. Texts, historical records and family letters, undisturbed for centuries, brought into focus a quartet of women whose intelligence, taste and tenacity rescued Shakespeare\u2019s original plays for all time.    ","author_name":"Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited","author_url":"http:\/\/www.folger.edu\/shakespeare-unlimited","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/41147650\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/88AA3C\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/item\/41147650"}