Not Another Shakespeare Podcast!

We are back with a brand-new episode on Shakespeare’s weird little play ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL!! Today, we’re asking the important questions: Can your haemorrhoids give you a hernia? What rhymes with Nantucket? And do we really have to feel bad for Bertram? Diana, Roman goddess of rectums makes a surprise appearance in this, Shakespeare’s most morally grey comedy.

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Just a quick check in from Nora to explain where we've been.

It’s time for a dubious holiday (& world cup) special, a movie that has aged like pint of ice cream, our first Shakespeare film adaptation: SHE’S THE MAN!   

With apologies in advance to your early ‘aughts nostalgia, we dive into this Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum classic. As is tradition, the high school characters are played by actors clearly approaching 30, the Shakespeare appropriation is ham-fisted at best (Channers’ character is literally named “Duke Orsino.” First name Duke, last name Orsino), and the gay panic/transphobia is at an all-time high. What fun!   

CONTENT NOTE: As you might expect, this episode discusses gender dysphoria, transphobia, and homophobia. We also talk about body image and weight/weight loss.

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We kick off Season 3 with two households, both alike in dignity. That’s right friends, it’s ROMEO AND JULIET time! Follow along as we discuss Juliet’s concerning youth, Queen Mab’s nut wagon, and James’s sauce obsession.   

We’re changing our release schedule to one episode per month this season, to keep the podcast sustainable. Thanks for sticking with us!   

CONTENT NOTE: This play includes suicide and suicidal ideation in young people.

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Our Middleton Mid-Season (finally) concludes with our fan’s choice: WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN! 

Join us on this wild ride of infidelity, incest, murder, and mayhem, which of course is all the fault of the pesky women and nothing to do with the men involved. Not at all. Not even one little bit. Come for the naughty chess puns; stay for the…*checks notes*…burning gold??   

Content Note: this play discusses and depicts coercive sexual encounters, incest, and misogyny typical of the period (including an “inspection” of a female character by her prospective husband. This is non-penetrative but still absolutely gross). The final banquet scene has a high body count with several murders by various means taking place in quick succession.

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Hi! Did you miss us?   

We’re back with a bang, as our friend Dr Brandi K. Adam’s joins us to tackle Thomas Middleton’s iconic city comedy A CHASTE MAID IN CHEAPSIDE! It’s got secret marriages and escaping daughters; it’s got meat babies and Puritans; it’s got Timoetheus AND his tutor; it’s even got all the mountains in Wales! Brandi’s mastery of Latin and Nintendo baddies alike comes in very handy as we navigate this wacky romp of a play.

This marks the first of two bonus episodes - aka The Middleton Mid-Season - which were chosen in an audience poll tournament.

Brandi K. Adams is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Arizona State University and member of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Her interests include book history, history of reading, early modern English drama, and premodern critical race and gender studies. Having formerly served as an undergraduate program manager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she also researches the early history of artificial intelligence, early modern automata and how studying literature can have a significant and positive impact on computing.

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It’s our birthday!!! Not Another Shakespeare Podcast has been podding for a whole solar orbit, so in this episode we look back on season 2, rank our favourite plays so far, and preview some exciting future developments. Shoutouts for Brad Pitt’s butt in 2004, Disney princesses, sequels that are better than the original—and of course, James’s favourite characters, the lion and the bear. And towards the end of the episode, have a little request for you, our beloved listeners…

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We’re back!! After a brief hiatus, we’re returning with a bang to share our take on TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, featuring special guest Charlene V. Smith! Tune in for reminiscences about TROY (2004), bizarrely over-invested uncles, and objectively the weirdest ending in the canon.   

CONTENT NOTE: This play contains depictions of sexual assault and implied coercion, as well as wartime violence.   

Charlene V. Smith is an actor, director, and scholar, who has worked in the DC metropolitan area since 2006. She co-founded Brave Spirits Theatre in 2011 and became Artistic Director in 2014.  Sadly, Brave Spirits was forced to close during the pandemic. But at that time, they were mid-way through a historic project to stage 8 of Shakespeare’s history plays in rep. Shakespeare’s Histories will now be released as audio recordings: https://t.co/T9BLg8YeUN 

Charlene completed her BA in English & Theatre at the College of William and Mary and studied at the London Dramatic Academy. She has an MLitt & an MFA in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin College (now University) in partnership w/ the American Shakespeare Center.  She has written and published in a variety of venues, both academic and public-facing — you can see them all here: https://t.co/MJ7aPJljtt   And, important for our purposes, she recently taught Troilus and Cressida as part of a team-taught directing class at Mary Baldwin, so she is the perfect person to discuss this wacky play with us!

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We’re back for the second part of our holiday special, returning to TWELFTH NIGHT just in time for, well, Twelfth Night! Topsy-turvy twin shenanigans continue, with guest appearances by John Donne, the Backstreet Boys, and the Hallmark Christmas cinematic universe. Literally everyone gets married at the end. What’s more festive than that??

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In the first part of our epic Christmas special, James rejects the play title (again), we debate the merits of meat-flavoured crisps/chips, and a barrage of festive movie references are made. How many of these people will be married by the end? Let’s be honest—probably all of them.

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