The TLS Podcast

This week, Peter Holland treads the boards in Elizabethan London in search of Shakespeare before the Globe; and Muriel Zagha on a captivating tale of cheese-making in the Jura.'The dream factory: London’s first playhouse and the making of William Shakespeare', by Daniel Swift'Holy Cow', a film by Louise CourvoisierProduced by Charlotte Pardy

This week, Margaret Drabble explores how Dickens drew on his love of the macabre and grotesque to create literary magic; and Norma Clarke takes a tour around the British coast.'Dickens the enchanter: Inside the explosive imagination of the great storyteller', by Peter Conrad'The restless coast: A journey around the edge of Britain', by Roger Morgan-Grenville'Seascape: Notes from a changing coastline', by Matthew Yeomans'The Shetland Way: Community and climate crisis on my father’s islands', by Marianne BrownProduced by Charlotte Pardy

Caroline Moorehead salutes the energetic brilliance of singer Josephine Baker; and Aaron Peck on the past, present and future of the avant-garde.'Fearless and free: A memoir', by Josephine Baker, translated by Anam Zafar and Sophie Lewis'Josephine Baker's secret war: The African American star who fought for France and freedom', by Hanna Diamond'What art does: An unfinished theory', by Brian Eno and Bette A.'How to be avant-garde: Modern artists and the quest to end art', by Morgan Falconer'The uncanny muse: Music, art, and machines from automata to AI', by David HajduProduced by Charlotte Pardy

This week, we're joined by Harriet Baker, winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award; and Helen Scales tunes into the sonic marvels beneath the surface of the sea.'Rural Hours: The country lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann', by Harriet Baker'Sing Like a Fish: How sound rules life under water', by Amorina KingdonProduced by Charlotte Pardy

This week, novelist Damon Galgut remembers the ground-breaking South African playwright Athol Fugard; and Michael Caines on two very different approaches to the Danish prince.'Grand Theft Hamlet', on Mubi'Hamlet', by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon- Avon, until March 29 Produced by Charlotte Pardy

This week, Larry Wolff immerses himself in a bold operatic vision of Melville's classic; and Travis Elborough on a boosterish attempt to rescue Croydon from its knockers.'Moby-Dick', composed by Jake Heggie, Metropolitan Opera House, New York, until March 29'Croydonopolis: A Journey to the Greatest City that Never Was', by Will NobleProduced by Charlotte Pardy