Bard Flies

Defined by repetitive battles, inappropriate romantic gestures, gratuitous insults to the Scots, and the murky question of who wrote most of its scenes, "Edward III" is a bad play that can teach us a good deal about collaborating on art, script doctoring for the stage and screen, and the questionable parenting practices of the Plantagenet dynasty. Will and James break down why some scholars believe Shakespeare wrote the one comedic part in an otherwise listless history play and the parallels between the theater business in the Bard’s day and Hollywood in our own. // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); Illustrative excerpt from: World Without End, dir. Michael Caton-Jones (2012)

Richard Loncraine’s brilliant 1995 film adaptation of "Richard III" takes Shakespeare’s classic and sets in the Europe of the 1930s amid the rise of fascism with a blackhearted Sir Ian McKellen in the title role. Will and James discuss what makes this movie so successful -- from its all-star cast and impeccable art direction to the insights it offers about totalitarianism and the breakdown of political order. // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous)

In Richard III, the conclusion to the War of the Roses tetralogy, Richard of York connives, lies, and murders his way to the top. In the process, he dispatches his brothers, nephews, and his own wife with aplomb, plenty of puns, a broken fourth wall that paved the way for House of Cards, and a plot that both Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth infamously loved. As the tyrannical anti-hero of Shakespeare’s early masterpiece, Richard III stands without peer. //WORKS REFERENCED // James Mann, The Great Rift: Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, and the Broken Friendship That Defined an Era (2020) // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); Illustrative excepts from: Richard III, dir. Richard Loncraine (1995) and Richard III, dir. Laurence Olivier (1955)

After defeating the Goths, Rome descends into chaos in Titus Andronicus -- or, Will and James prefer to call it, The Titus Chainsaw Massacre. In Shakespeare’s goriest play, which is larded with a dozen on-stage murders, wanton dismemberment, appalling cruelty, and, of course, questionable culinary choices baked in throughout. In this episode, Will and James explore the lines between tragedy, satire, and horror and why this play went from being one of the most popular of Shakespeare’s plays in his lifetime only to be discarded for two centuries until shortly after World War I. // WORKS REFERENCED // Mark Van Doren, Shakespeare (1939); Titus Andronicus, dir. Julie Taymor (1999); The Silence of the Lambs, dir. Jonathan Demme (1991); Night of the Living Dead, dir. George Romero (1968); Alien, dir. Ripley Scott (1979); American Psycho, dir. Mary Harron (2000); Hostel, dir. Eli Roth (2005); Saw, dir. James Wan (2004) // NON-SHAKESPEAREAN RECOMMENDATIONS // Will: Ross Macdonald, The Zebra-Striped Hearse (1962)' James: Orlando Figes, A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891–1924 (1996) // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); illustrative excepts from: Silence of the Lambs, dir. Jonathan Demme (1991) and Titus Andronicus, dir. Julie Taymor (1999)

With the Wars of the Roses now thoroughly underway between King Henry VI, Queen Margaret, and the Duke of York, we get to witness England descend into a state of barbarism -- ruled by a king who wonders why we can’t all just get along. Full of increasingly intense battle and betrayal, Henry VI, Part 3 brings the degradation of civil war to life -- and reveals Shakespeare’s first fully fleshed out character in the Machivellian Richard, Duke of Gloucester -- and soon to be King Richard III. // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous); illustrative excerpts from: A Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 3, “What is Dead May Never Die,” dir. Alik Sakharov; and from YouTube video "This Battle Fares...", performed by Ian McGarrett.

From 1592 to 1594, plague stalked London, leading authorities to close playhouses as a public health measure. Amid this mandatory social distancing, Shakespeare sharpened his quill at home and turned to narrative poetry with “Venus and Adonis,” a retelling of the famous Greek myth that recasts a young Adonis as a victim of the older Venus’s lustful aggression. In the first Bard Flies minisode, Will and James examine the enduring relevance of Shakespeare’s work in the era of self-quarantine amid COVID-19 and the #MeToo movement. // CREDITS // Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous)

Treachery! Necromancy! Pirates! Rebellion! Unmerciful executions! In Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2, England takes a turn for the worse as the pitiful Henry and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (the O.G. Ned Stark of our tale) get taken for a ride by just about everyone, as nobles orchestrate baroque conspiracies against one another, the leader of a popular revolt puts Robespierre to shame in London as heads roll, and the War of the Roses finally breaks out. Intro music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous); outro music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous). Illustrative excerpts were taken from: A Game of Thrones, Season 1, Episode 5, “A Golden Crown,” dir. Daniel Minahan; The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses - Henry VI, Part 2, dir. Dominic Cooke (2016); Mark Rylance as Jack Cade from the 2017 Shakespeare Authorship Trust Conference.

The first of Shakespeare’s history plays, "Henry VI, Part 1" is a gore-spattered prelude to his War of the Roses tetralogy, which ends with the early masterpiece "Richard III." England has a new, oblivious king who makes Tommen Baratheon look competent and is barely holding his kingdom together in the face of a war against the French armies of the demonic and wily Joan of Arc. Meanwhile, petty discord among the English aristocracy brings more drama than divorce proceedings in the House of Windsor. Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous). Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous). Illustrative excerpt from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," dir. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones (1975).

Famously adapted for the screen in the classic teen movie "10 Things I Hate About You", "The Taming of the Shrew" tells the story of a brutal battle of the sexes featuring unpleasant characters, unrepentant chauvinism, psychological torture, and some of the most controversial passages in Shakespeare… and yet, it is one of his best known and most widely performed comedies. Why is that? Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous). Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous). Illustrative excerpt from "10 Things I Hate About You," dir. Gil Junger (1999).

Shakespeare’s first play has everything: a love quadrangle, gender-swapping disguises, banditry, erroneous Italian geography, one beautiful soliloquy, and a bit with dog. Lamentably, Will and James conclude, beginner’s luck largely does not apply in “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” a decidedly unromantic comedy centered around two women who deserve better than the titular bros with whom they end up. Intro Music: Jon Sayles, "The Witches' Dance" (composed by anonymous). Outro Music: Jon Sayles, “Saltarello” (composed by anonymous). Illustrative excerpts featuring Geoffrey Rush and Gwyneth Paltrow from "Shakespeare in Love," dir. John Madden (1998).