Karen Ann Daniels | Red Bull Theater Podcast

Director of Programming and Performance at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and Artistic Director of Folger Theatre, KAREN ANN DANIELS joins host Nathan Winkelstein for a deeply personal conversation about William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. They delve into the play’s iconic “Kill Claudio” speech in Act 4, Scene 1, Daniels’ own “gateway drug” to Shakespeare, and her enduring connection to his work. Daniels and Winkelstein explore Shakespeare’s leading women, the ways they navigate — and push against — their societal roles, and the complicated realities of being a woman in the world. They discuss the friendship between Beatrice and Hero, the pressures of social status and relationships, and Daniels’ playful approach to Shakespeare. Along the way, they consider how theater can expand our sense of what is possible—and why Daniels saw so much possibility in Beatrice.