Language Arts; Grades 9-12. Four episodes.

"In Search of Shakespeare" is a four-part series exploring the life of the world's greatest and most famous writer. The series is presenter-led, mixing travel, adventure, interviews and specially shot documentary and live action sequences with the RSC on the road. The series takes the form of a detective story, a documentary search, and a journey. The four shows follow Shakespeare's life from cradle to grave in a way never hitherto thought possible. In them we see how his life and work were shaped by his times; how he created some of the greatest literature in the world, and why we still love him: Decent, humane, open minded, tolerant, witty, bawdy, sexy, diffident, guarded, skeptical, wary of any political system, identifying himself with the "Other" - in his great portrayals of black people, women, the poor, Jews, - and even evil people - Shakespeare is an artist born out of turbulent times.

"He was not of an age, but for all time."

101. A Time of Revolution. The first episode sets Shakespeare's life in the early years of Elizabeth's reign, at the beginning of Elizabeth's Cultural Revolution.

102. The Lost Years. Apart from the birth of his three children, absolutely nothing is known about Shakespeare's life between the ages of 18 and 28, but there are some intriguing clues.

103. The Duty of Poets. Shakespeare's rise to fame and fortune in Elizabethan London, and the disasters in life and love which marked his path to greatness.

104. For All Time. The story of Shakespeare's life in the "New Age" of King James I.