Bard Flies

Can honor set a leg? Are gluttony and drunkenness ever virtues? And just how many capons and slain enemies will it take to settle the immortal question of who should be King of England? In this week’s episode, Will and James debate the relative merits and demerits of Sir John Falstaff and Sir Henry Hotspur, how wars evolve differently depending whether they are caused by fear, honor, and interest, and parallels between The Iliad, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Shakespeare’s canon. // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); Illustrative Excerpts: “The Hollow Crown: Henry IV, Part 1,” dir. Richard Eyre (2012); “Henry IV, Part 1,” dir. Dominic Dromgoole (2010); John Gielgud, "The Ages of Man" (1966); The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, "The First Part of King Henry IV," dir Richard Graham, Philip Hanson, and Angus Bowmer (1960)

In this week’s minisode, Will and James discuss Michael Radford’s 2004 adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, and Joseph Fiennes’ distinctive mullet. Despite its sumptuous costume and scenery that Pacino avoids chewing during the course of his humane performance as Shylock, the movie still doesn’t quite work. The guys break down why and discuss whether Merchant can work as a movie today. // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); Illustrative Excerpt: “The Merchant of Venice,” dir. Michael Radford (2004)

"Shylock." The very name of Shakespeare’s infamous Venetian moneylender overshadows the plot of this complex and twisted comedy about love, marriage, and the importance of always reading the fine print in your credit card agreement. Is he an anti-Semitic caricature? A representation of vengeful legalism run amok, contrasted with the concept of mercy and grace? An anti-hero who deserves sympathy? The voice of one of Shakespeare’s most humanistic and moving speeches? In this episode with discussions of everything from The Sopranos to capital markets in the Mediterranean to critiques of the merchant Antonio’s moronic business practices, Will and James argue that the answer is “all of the above.” // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); Illustrative Excerpts: “In Camelot,” The Sopranos, dir. Steve Buscemi (2004); “The Merchant of Venice,” dir. Michael Radford (2004)

In one of Shakespeare’s lesser known outings, a king better known for his role as a villain in countless retellings of the legend of Robin Hood is a flawed hero fighting against the hated French! Amid the endless twists and turns of the plot, Will and James dissect the politics of foreign wars, nationalism, the Catholic Church, historical memory, and, of course, the Magna Carta and Carl von Clausewitz. // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); Illustrative Excerpts: “Robin Hood,” dir. Wolfgang Reitherman (1973); “The Life and Death of King John,” Oregon Shakespeare Festival (1959)

In this trippy comedy featuring magic, hallucinogenic potions, spiteful gods, pickup artists, hybrid man-animal horrors, and worse wedding entertainment than a Nickelback cover band, the mischievous Puck holds sway over Athens and court of the Fairy King alike. James and Will try to make sense of the chaos of one of Shakespeare’s most original and zaniest plays. // Credits // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); Illustrative Excerpts: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” dir. Max Reinhardt (1935); “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” dir. Celia de Wolff (2018)

Written for the Earl of Southampton in 1594, Shakespeare’s “Lucrece” recounts the fall of Rome’s corrupt kings. The precipitating event is the sexual assault of the noblewoman Lucrece by King Tarquin’s son. Her decision to come forward and demand justice leads to the rise of the Roman Republic. In this Bard Flies minisode, Will and James discuss how the story of Lucrece relates to our world today and how it contrasts with Shakespeare's "Venus and Adonis." // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous)

Young love has a body count in "Romeo and Juliet," as packs of young scallywags, roustabouts, and jabronis from House Montague and House Capulet roam the streets of fair Verona - much to the chagrin of their parents and the local authorities. It also contains some of the most powerful love poetry in Shakespeare’s work, delivered by characters with verve, wit, and unique personalities. Will and James discuss why this play endures and resonates in so many different forms and cultures around the world, and speculate on whether it forms part of a wider Shakespeare expanded universe that includes "The Two Gentlemen of Verona." // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); Illustrative Excerpts: Shakespeare in Love, dir. John Madden (1998); West Side Story, dir. Robert Wise (1961); Romeo + Juliet, dir. Baz Luhrmann (1996); Romeo and Juliet, dir. Franco Zeffirelli (1968)

England is a “teeming womb of royal kings, fear’d by their breed, and famous by their birth” in Shakespeare’s Richard II, which features a philosopher-sovereign with a taste for the finer things in life whose arrogance, capriciousness, and cruelty is either a sign of disinterest, dictatorship, or insanity depending on one's interpretation. Following a botched trial by combat to settle a dispute between two nobles, Richard’s disinheritance of one of his chief rivals leads to predictable chaos and epic poetry that pits the divine right of kings against patriotism, legitimacy against practical politics, and high-handed arrogance against duplicitous skullduggery in the prelude to the epics of "Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2" and "Henry V." // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); illustrative excerpts from "The Hollow Crown: Richard II," dir. Rupert Goold (2012) and from "Game of Thrones," Season 3, Episode 10, "Mhysa," dir. David Nutter (2013)

What happens when four young noblemen take chastity pledges to focus on their academic studies only to have the Princess of France and her ladies-in-waiting camp outside their castle? Catfishing, verbal one-upmanship, and the pitching of woo while disguised in traditional Russian garb, naturally! In this episode of Bard Flies, Will and James discuss "Love’s Labour’s Lost," a charming comedy with a serious turn in the fifth act that transforms it from a showcase for Shakespeare’s linguistic prowess to a surprisingly deep commentary on love, commitment, and growing up. // CREDITS //. Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); illustrative excerpts from "Love’s Labour’s Lost," dir. Kenneth Branagh (2000) and "BBC Play of the Month: Love's Labour's Lost," dir. Basil Coleman (1975)

Mistaken identities, undeserved beatings, gaslighting, probable affairs, exorcisms, misplaced bags of gold, and two sets of twins amounts to double the trouble and double the fun as Shakespeare brings on the jokes after a spate of history plays. Will and James dissect the finer points of farce in The Comedy of Errors, a zany slapstick affair with insult comedy galore. // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); illustrative excerpts from: The Parent Trap, dir. Nancy Meyers (1998) and BBC Shakespeare: Comedy of Errors, dir. James Cellan Jones (1983); monologue from Act II, Scene 1 performed by Matthew Bohrer.