Stephen Unwin

This practical guide uncovers the roots of Brecht’s lifelong obsession with Shakespeare and makes the case for reading the two together today. By connecting these two great playwrights, Stephen Unwin imagines new possibilities for Brechtian productions of Shakespeare and outlines practical suggestions for how to stage such productions. Drawing on directing and performance experience in over 60 productions, Unwin’s knowledge...

Was Shakespeare a snob? Poor Naked Wretches challenges the idea that our greatest writer despised working people, and shows that he portrayed them with as much insight, compassion, and purpose as the rich and powerful. Moreover, they play an important role in his dramatic method. Stephen Unwin reads Shakespeare anew, exploring the astonishing variety of working people in his plays,...

For much of history, people with learning disabilities have been regarded as unworthy of interest—often seen as a threat to the social order and sometimes dismissed as barely human. While recent years have seen an improvement, learning-disabled people are still treated as fundamentally different. Beautiful Lives is a personal and pragmatic account, told through the eyes of a father whose...