Reading Revolution: Shakespeare on Robben Island

"Somehow, Shakespeare always seems to have something to say to us." —Nelson Mandela

The prison authorities on apartheid South Africa's Robben Island strictly censored the reading materials inmates received from the outside world. Yet, the prisoners cleverly managed to smuggle political literature disguised as religious texts, into their communal cells. The works of Shakespeare resonated deepest amongst the inmates for their anti-colonial and anti-apartheid inspirations, as much as for the po...