Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius Season 1
Life imitates art as we follow William Shakespeare through the events that shaped him into the artist that we all know and love today.
Shakespeare waves goodbye to his family to follow his dream of becoming a playwright. He, enters a world of plague, rivalry and every possible kind of danger.
As Shakespeare achieves fame and fortune, a political scandal threatens his life and a family tragedy sees him question the cost of his success.
In the fallout of the Gunpowder Plot, a family scandal threatens Shakespeare’s reputation. Creating his most epic and tragic work yet, his legacy is at risk of being lost forever.
_Rialto Recommends: _ Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius. More than biography this is Shakespeare as you’ve never seen him. Told with cinematic flair and modern urgency, Rise of a Genius brings the Bard’s tumultuous life and times vividly to life. Featuring Britain’s finest actors and thinkers, it’s a thrilling deep dive into the mind that gave us Hamlet, Macbeth, and the language of humanity itself.
Cast
Daniel Boyarsky (William Shakespeare) , Juliet Stevenson (Self/Narrator) , Jessie Buckley (Self)
Director
Interview Director
Episodes
Episode 1
56mIn 1587, a young William Shakespeare leaves his quiet Stratford life behind to chase the thrill of the stage in London. The city is teeming with danger, disease, and opportunity, as public theatre explodes into the cultural heartbeat of England. Starting at the bottom, Shakespeare battles rival playwrights, restless crowds, and his own ambition setting the stage for an extraordinary rise to greatness.
Episode 2
52mA 30-year-old Shakespeare is at the top of his game: he’s got a job at England’s best theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and the money is rolling in. Determined to restore his family’s reputation, Shakespeare works harder than ever, producing hit after hit: Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry IV and Julius Caesar. But as his star rises, a series of tragedies strike. Shakespeare’s life, purpose and family is thrown into chaos, and he begins to question: is this new life worth the sacrifice?
Episode 3
51mShakespeare’s life and legacy is threatened when the Gunpowder Plot unearths a secret he has worked all his life to bury: his family are Catholics, traitors to the Crown. When his daughter is implicated in the fallout, Shakespeare unleashes his most epic work to date: Macbeth, which appeals to the new monarch, King James I. As Shakespeare teeters towards death, he reflects on his successes and failures, questioning family, forgiveness and mortality as his work is at risk of being lost forever.