Daniel Hahn: If This Be Magic

Why is Hamlet longer in Italian? How do you land a Shakespearean joke in German? And why are Lady Macbeth’s pronouns such a headache? In If This Be Magic, seasoned translator Daniel Hahn dives gleefully into the seemingly impossible task of translating Shakespeare, revealing how English words stretch, fracture, and misbehave across languages.

Today Hahn celebrates close reading and linguistic absurdity to show how changing every word can bring Shakespeare thrillingly back to life.

Chaired by Adam Biles.