Podcast Shakespeare

"Awake, awake, English nobility!"

In episode #12, we look at Shakespeare's early history play Henry VI, Part 1, which sets the tone for the Wars of the Roses. It's a rip-roaring, Hollywoodised tour of history. Come along to the Gates of Ruin, pick your favourite-coloured rose, and mercilessly mock the French. Why not? Everyone else here is doing it!

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected].The Patreon campaign is up and running, with bonus Sonnet episodes!

Links mentioned:

The bloody British history that inspired Game of Thrones (iNews)

Victoria (2016 TV series)

E.M.W Tillyard and the "Tudor Myth"

A genealogy of the English monarchs

A genealogy of the French monarchs

The fleur-de-lis, symbol of the French nobility

Key source: Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and Yorke (1548)

Key source: Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland ,and Ireland (1577)

Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc)

M.M. Mahood, Playing Bit Parts in Shakespeare's Plays (1998)

The Prophet Muhammad was alleged to have trained a dove - see Waleed Aly, People Like Us: How arrogance is dividing Islam and the West, 2007,p. 21 (Google Books)

Sybil of Cumae

The "Cardinal's Hat" (former brothel, Southwark)

The Parliament of Bats (1426)

John Barton and Peter Hall, The Wars of the Roses (Wikipedia)

Daedalus and Icarus

Michelangelo's Pietà 

Authorship of the play:

At Wikipedia

Christopher Marlowe as the new theory (Folger Shakespeare Library, 2017)

Audio:

Henry VI, Part 1 (LibriVox recording) with John Fricker (Sentinel) and peac (Charles the Dauphin)

The First Part of Henry the Sixt (BBC TV, 1983, d: Jane Howell) with Brenda Blethyn (Joan La Pucelle), Paul Chapman (Suffolk), Julia Foster (Margaret), Alex Guard (Young John Talbot), Trevor Peacock (Lord Talbot)

Henry VI, Part 1 (Arkangel Shakespeare) with Amanda Root (Joan of Arc), Trevor Martin (Edmund Mortimer), Anthony Jackson (Duke of Exeter), David Yelland (Charles, Dauphin of France), and Company

Music:

Sergei Prokofiev, "Montagues and Capulets", from Romeo and Juliet (ballet), 1935

Anthony Holborne, Galliard: The Tears of the Muses (c. 1600)

William Byrd, The Carman's Whistle (late 16th c.)

Tchaikovsky, The Maid of Orléans (excerpts), 1879

Henry Ley, A Prayer of King Henry VI (c. 1940)

Patrick Doyle, original soundtrack to Kenneth Branagh's Henry V

Paul Mealor, A Prayer of King Henry VI (2013)

Giuseppe Verdi, Overture from Giovanna d'Arco (Joan of Arc), 1845

"Life upon the wicked stage Ain't ever what a girl supposes..."

- from Show Boat

New episode! In episode #11, I explore what life was like on the Elizabethan stage, from its naive origins to the messy, democratic, bawdy theatre world Shakespeare inherited. Join me as I learn about the original hellmouth, why the Puritans were so opposed to the filthy theatre, some fun things to do with a donkey, and how many days it takes to dance your way from London to Norwich...

  You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. The Patreon campaign is up and running, with bonus Sonnet episodes! We also have a Spotify playlist, which will be updated as we work through the plays.

Key links below. You can also visit the bibliography page here, which is a work in progress.

Links mentioned:

Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point (2000);

Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville, The Tragedy of Gorboduc (1561-62);

Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World (2004);

Reverend John Northbrooke's allegations against the theatre (late 16th century);

Bill Bryson, Shakespeare: The World as Stage (2007);

Representation of the Globe Theatre, at the website of Saint Ignatius College, Geelong;

(New) Globe Theatre, DVD online store;

Slings and Arrows (2003-2006) - Season 1 trailer on Youtube;

Ned Alleyn (1566 - 1626);

Richard Burbage (1567 - 1619);

"Exit: Burbage";

Robin Williams in Mork & Mindy (1978 - 1982);

Richard Tarleton (15?? - 1588);

Will Kempe (15?? - 1603);

Kemp's Nine Days Wonder;

Morris dancing;

Robert Armin (c. 1563 - 1615);

Philip Henslowe (c. 1550 - 1616);

Henslowe's diary... as a blog!;

Shakespeare in Love (1998, d: John Madden). Joseph Fiennes is Shakespeare, Geoffrey Rush is Philip Henslowe, Ben Affleck is Ned Alleyn, Judi Dench is Queen Elizabeth, Martin Clunes is Richard Burbage, Rupert Everett is Kit Marlowe, and Patrick Barlow plays Will Kempe.;

Music:

"We Open in Venice" and "Another Op'nin, Another Show" from Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate: 1999 production with Brent Barrett (Fred / Petruchio), Rachel York (Lili / Kate), Nancy Kathryn Anderson (Lois / Bianca), Michael Berresse (Bill / Lucentio), and Kaye Brown (Hattie);

Music in the Time of Shakespeare – Gigue;

Thomas Morley: Dances for Broken Consort;

Blossom Dearie: Life Upon the Wicked Stage (from Show Boat);

Judy Garland: No Business Like Show Business (from Annie Get Your Gun);

Jason Alexander: Comedy Tonight (from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, excerpted in Jerome Robbins' Broadway);

Original Broadway Cast: The Glamorous Life (from A Little Night Music)

"I'm a maid mad to marry And will take double-quick Any Tom, Dick or Harry, Any Tom, Harry or Dick!"

- Lois Lane / Bianca, in Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate

We're back with episode 10! Today I explore the critical and theatrical history of The Taming of the Shrew, from folk tales to musicals, from the Victorians to vaudeville, from an overacting Christopher Sly to Hollywood's take on the rebel. Come join me!

  You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn.

The Patreon campaign is up and running, with bonus Sonnet episodes! We also have a brand spanking new Spotify playlist, which will be updated as we work through the plays.

Key links below. You can also visit the bibliography page here, which is a work in progress.

Links mentioned:

BBC's Upstart Crow Aarne-Thompson classification system for folklore narratives. The story of "Ledasha" 1550s ballad: “A Merry Jest of a Shrewd and Curst Wife Lapped in Morel’s Skin for Her Good Behaviour” George Gascoigne, Supposes Ovid, Metamorphoses 1601 anecdote about William "the Conqueror" Shakespeare John Fletcher, The Woman's Prize, or the Tamer Tamed (1611) The Enid Blyton Society John Lacy, Sauny the Scot; or, The Taming of the Shrew: A Comedy David Garrick, Catharine and Petruchio 1976 American Conservatory Theatre production on Youtube, starring Marc Singer and Fredi Olster Kiss Me Petruchio (1978) on Youtube The Taming of the Shrew (2012), Globe Theatre production on DVD, starring Samantha Spiro (Kate) and Simon Paisley Day (Petruchio) The Taming of the Shrew (1929), d: Sam Taylor, starring Mary Pickford (Katharina) and Douglas Fairbanks (Petruchio) on Dailymotion The Taming of the Shrew (1967), d: Franco Zeffirelli, starring Elizabeth Taylor (Kate) and Richard Burton (Petruchio) The Taming of the Shrew (1980), BBC, d: Jonathan Miller, starring Sarah Badel (Kate) and John Cleese (Petruchio) Vermeer’s music lesson - copied in Miller's production Pieter Janssens Elinga - Interior with Painter, Woman Reading and Maid Sweeping [1668] The Taming of the Shrew (1994) from Shakespeare: The Animated Tales on Dailymotion 10 Things I Hate About You (1999; d: Gil Junger), starring Julia Stiles (Kat) and Heath Ledger (Patrick) Atomic Shakespeare from Moonlighting, with Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis - cropped version on Youtube ShakespeaRe-Told: The Taming of the Shrew (2005; d: David Richards) Shakespearean Whodunnits (1997): Murder Mysteries based on the Bard, including The Taming of Lord Thomas Vinegar Girl (2016) by Anne Tyler, adapted from The Taming of the Shrew as part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. Wolf-Ferrari, Sly (opera) - review of the 2002 Met Opera production starring Placido Domingo, at the New York Times Kiss Me Kate (1948) by Cole Porter - 1999 production on Youtube

Art inspired by The Taming of the Shrew

Music clips:

Nino Rota, soundtrack to Zeffirelli's "The Taming of the Shrew", 1967 (Columbia Picutres, US / Italy) orchestra conducted by Carlo Savina

-Nocturne -In the House of Petruchio

Cole Porter, Kiss Me Kate, 2000 Broadway cast recording: Stanley Wayne Mathis (Paul) and company

"Come, Kiss Me Kate" from Ross W. Duffin's Shakespeare's Songbook

Luciano Michelini, ‘Frolic’, from Curb Your Enthusiasm, 2000 – present

Hans Werner Henze, Royal Winter Music: First Sonata on Shakespearean Characters (1975-76), movement based on Richard of Gloucester

Porter, Kiss Me Kate, 1999 London cast, Nancy Kathryn Anderson (Lois Lane / Bianca) and company

Letters to Cleo, I Want You to Want Me, from 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Porter, Kiss Me Kate, 2014 BBC Proms, Michael Jibson & James Doherty (Gangsters)

Reference:

Garner, Shirley Nelson. "The Taming of the Shrew: Inside or Outside the Joke?." "Bad" Shakespeare: Revaluations of the Shakespeare Canon. Ed. Maurice Charney. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1988. p105-19.

"From fairest creatures we desire increase...."

Hello, friends! This is a bonus episode to give you a taste of my new Patreon campaign. Subscribers to the Patreon can contribute a few dollars to the running of the podcast in exchange for bonus content.

I'll be recording Shakespeare's sonnets, with analysis and discussion, and posting them exclusively to Patreon. In the meantime, my standard episodes will always remain free via your favourite podcast app. You can visit the Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/podshakespeare.

And you can listen to this bonus episode, and previous public episodes,

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn.

William Shakespeare, Sonnet I

FROM fairest creatures we desire increase, That,  thereby,  beauty's rose might never die, But as the riper should by time decease, His tender heir might bear his memory: But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel, Making a famine where abundance lies, Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel. Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament And only herald to the gaudy spring, Within thine own bud buriest thy content And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding. Pity the world, or else this glutton be, To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.

Music clips:

Sergei Prokofiev, “Montagues and Capulets”, from Romeo and Juliet (ballet), 1935

Ralph Vaughan Williams, "Fantasia on Greensleeves", from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 (Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy)

Nino Rota, "Sarabande" from soundtrack to Zeffirelli’s “The Taming of the Shrew”, 1967 (Columbia Picutres, US / Italy) orchestra conducted by Carlo Savina

“He that is giddy thinks the world turns round” – The Widow

We’re back with episode 8! Despite some mid-episode audio issues, we’re commencing my look at The Taming of the Shrew, circa 1592, one of the Bard’s rougher early works. Join me for a journey through the plot’s highs and lows, Shakespeare’s first googlewhack, and a heckuva lot of male privilege.

  You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn.

Key links below. You can also visit the bibliography page here, which is a work in progress.

Links mentioned:

Patient Griselda Ovid, Heroides (Penelope to Ulysses) Dittography 10 Things I Hate About You (1999; d: Gil Junger) Deliver Us From Eva (2003; d: Gary Hardwick) ShakespeaRe-Told: The Taming of the Shrew (2005; d: David Richards) Marjorie Garber, Shakespeare After All (Penguin Random House, 2005) John Fletcher, The Woman’s Prize, or the Tamer Tamed (1611)

Music clips:

Nino Rota, soundtrack to Zeffirelli’s “The Taming of the Shrew”, 1967 (Columbia Picutres, US / Italy) orchestra conducted by Carlo Savina

-Overture -Student’s Masquerade -Sarabande -Married on Sunday

“Orchestral selections from Kiss Me, Kate” (Naxos), conducted by Richard Hayman

Excerpts:

“The Taming of the Shrew”, Shakespeare’s Globe (2011), d: Toby Frow; members of the company (Lord / Huntsmen), Simon Paisley Day (Petruchio), Samantha Spiro (Katharina), Pearce Quigley (Grumio)

“The Taming of the Shrew”, Shakespeare: The Animated Tales (1994), d: Aida Ziablikova, Malcolm Storry (Christopher Sly); John Warner (Servant), and Hilton McRae (Peter)

“Kiss Me Kate” by Cole Porter, and Sam and Bella Spewack, PBS: Great Performances (2003), d: Chris Hunt; Brent Barrett (Petruchio)

“The Taming of the Shrew”, BBC Television Shakespeare (1980), d: Jonathan Miller; John Cleese (Petruchio), Susan Penhaligon (Bianca), Simon Chandler (Lucentio), Jonathan Cecil (Hortensio), Harry Waters (Biondello), Anthony Pedley (Tranio), John Barron (Vincentio), Sarah Badel (Katharina)

“Kiss Me, Petruchio” (BBC2, 1979), d: Christopher Dixon, from Joseph Papp’s 1978 Taming of the Shrew (Delacorte Theatre, Central Park); Meryl Streep (Kate), Raul Julia (Petruchio)

“The Taming of the Shrew”, Arkangel Shakespeare (2005); Roger Allam (Petruchio), Frances Barber (Katharina), Charles Simpson (Hortensio)

“The Taming of the Shrew” (Pickford Corporation, 1929), d: Sam Taylor; Mary Pickford (Katherine)

Final speech (details above):

Meryl Streep (1979); Mary Pickford (1929); Frances Barber (2005); Samantha Spiro (2011); Sarah Badel (1980)

"Truly, the tree yields bad fruit."

Meet William McGonagall, the worst poet in the English language, and his exquisite Address to Shakespeare.

You can listen to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn.

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]. You can subscribe to our Spotify playlist, which will be updated each week as we work through the plays. And if you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a review at the iTunes store; it really does help bring new listeners!

The website for the podcast is https://podcastshakespeare.com/. On the website, you can find an evolving bibliography.

Links mentioned:

McGonagall Online: A one-stop shop for the life and poets of this second Bard"

• An Address to Shakespeare
• The Tay Bridge Disaster

The real Tay Bridge Disaster chronicled on Wikipedia

McGonagall on Twitter

Clips:

Sergei Prokofiev, "Montagues and Capulets", from Romeo and Juliet (ballet), 1935

Claude Debussy, Prélude #11 - La danse de Puck played by Daniel Barenboim

“The fraud of men was ever so / Since summer first was leafy”

— Balthasar’s song, Much Ado About Nothing

In episode six, we look at that vexing question of whether or not Will Shakespeare was a complete and utter conman. We’ll follow those who dug up rivers, cracked codes, turned to grave-robbing, or occasionally just wrote really, really long books to find the answer. We’ll hear from Mark Twain, Sigmund Freud, William Wordsworth, and learn some surprising theories as to why Queen Elizabeth I was the Virgin Queen (or was she…?). It’s a journey from the 1560s to our era and back again, and somehow I manage to bring up Golden Girls, England’s greatest treasure hunt, George W. Bush and Dame Agatha Christie!

Confused? You still will be after listening, but I hope you’ll enjoy this incredibly long investigation of the madness that is the authorship question.

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]. You can listen to the podcast at iTunes or download direct from Libsyn. We also have a Spotify playlist, which will be updated each week as we work through the plays.

The website for the podcast is https://podcastshakespeare.com/. On the website, you will find an evolving bibliography.

Contents

00:00 - Introduction / searching for Shakespeare

09:33 - Delia Bacon / candidate Sir Francis Bacon

24:50 - Mark Twain / Ignatius Donnelly, codebreaker

35:05 - Dr. Owen's machine / Mrs. Gallup and Mr. Arensberg

41:45 - J. Thomas Looney / candidate Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford

1:04:40 - Other candidates / Christopher Marlowe

1:09:35 - Oxford gets another chance / "Anonymous"

1:13:41 - The "Masquerade" connection

1:18:49 - William Shakespeare

1:37:38 - The enduring appeal of theories / My theories

1:47:15 - The "Declaration of Reasonable Doubt" / hail and farewell

Links mentioned:

Due to the nature of the episode, I have done a separate permanent Authorship page at https://podcastshakespeare.com/further-reading/the-authorship-question/. Some links below.

SIR FRANCIS BACON (1561 – 1626)

• on Wikipedia
• John Aubrey’s biography and details of his death in Brief Lives (1693)
• The Francis Bacon Society (“Baconiana”)

Supporters of Bacon

Delia Salter Bacon (1811 – 1859):

• at Wikipedia
• “William Shakespeare and His Plays: An Enquiry Concerning Them” in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine of American literature, science and art, Issue 37, January 1856
• The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded, 1857
• Nina Baym, “Delia Bacon: Hawthorne’s Last Heroine“
• Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Recollections of a Gifted Woman” in The Atlantic Monthly, January 1863
• Ralph Waldo Emerson, unpublished letter to George P. Putnam regarding Delia Bacon, published by Vivian C. Hopkins in the New England Quarterly, vol 33 no 4, Dec 1960 (JSTOR access required)
• Catherine E. Beecher, Truth Stranger than Fiction (1850) comments on the Bacon/MacWhorter affair without using names

Walt Whitman,“Shakespeare Bacon’s Cipher”

Ignatius Donnelly, The Great Cryptogram (1888)

Elizabeth Ward Gallup:

• The Bi-Lateral Cypher (1910)
• The Tragedy of Anne Boleyn, being a discovery of the ciphered play of Sir Francis Bacon inside the Shakespeare First Folio (1911)
• [see also, this article on the play at Anne Boleyn Novels]

Dr. Orville Ward Owen, Sir Francis Bacon’s Cipher Story (1893-95)

Mark Twain, Is Shakespeare Dead? (1909)

Henry W. Fisher, Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field, Tales they told to a fellow correspondent, (1922) – see page 49 for Twain and Fisher’s anecdote Queen Elizabeth being a man.

Walter Conrad Arensberg:

• The Cryptography of Shakespeare -(1922)
• see also The Cryptography of Dante – (1921)

EDWARD DE VERE, 17TH EARL OF OXFORD (1550 – 1604)

• at Wikipedia
• Poems at Wikisource
• Family tree and the famous fart anecdote of James Aubrey
• “Renunciation” poem from Palgrave’s Golden Treasury, ed. Francis T. Palgrave, 1875

Supporters of Oxford

John Thomas Looney (1870 – 1944)

• at Wikipedia
• The Church of Humanity
• Shakespeare Identified in Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1920)

The De Vere Society of Great Britain

The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship

Why I Became an Oxfordian at the “Shakespeare Authorship Sourcebook”

Charlton Ogburn:

• The Mysterious William Shakespeare: The Myth and the Reality (1984)
• “The Man Who Shakespeare Was Not (and who he was)“, Harvard Magazine, November 1974

Michael Brame and Galina Propova, Shakespeare’s Fingerprints (2002), discussed in Washington University News, January 23, 2003

Percy Allen, Life Story of Edward De Vere (1932)

Trailer for Anonymous, directed by Roland Emmerich (2011)

GENERAL DOUBT

• The Declaration of Reasonable Doubt
• Hester Dowden, the medium who apparently confirmed both Bacon and Oxford had written the plays, at different times – at Wikipedia.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564 – 1616)

The First Folio at the Bodleian online

Shakespeare suing for minor debts – at ShakespeareDocumented.org

The Shakespeare Authorship Page – a vital resource

David Kathman:

• “Why I Am Not An Oxfordian“, originally published in The Elizabethan Review, at the Shakespeare Authorship Page
• “Shakespeare’s Eulogies“ at the Shakespeare Authorship Page
• “Dating the Tempest“
• “How We Know That Shakespeare Wrote Shakespeare: The Historical Facts“ with Tom Reedy

James Shapiro, Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? (2010)

Irvin Leigh Matus, “The Case for Shakespeare“, The Atlantic, October 1991

Samuel Schoenbaum, Shakespeare’s Lives, 1970

William F. Friedman & Elizebeth Smith Friedman:

• Wikipedia: He | She
• The Shakespeare Ciphers Examined, Cambridge, 1957

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Representative Men – chapter 6 “Shakespeare or the Poet” (1850)

Terry Ross, “The Code that Failed: Testing a Bacon-Shakespeare Cipher“ at The Shakespeare Authorship Page

Don Foster:

• Elegy for WS, reviewed in The Observer, June 2002

The moot trials of Shakespeare:

• 1987 trial – at PBS
• 1987 trial – the New York Times
• A 1993 trial at the Boston American Bar Association – at PBS

Giles Dawson and Laetitia Kennedy-Skipton, The Survival of Manuscripts, from Elizabethan Handwriting, 1500-1650: A Manual, W.W. Norton & Co, 1966 at The Shakespeare Authorship Site

Muriel St Clare Byrne, “The Social Background“, in A Companion to Shakespeare Studies, page 190, edited by Harley Granville Barker and G.B Harrison (1934)

William Wordsworth, Scorn not the Sonnet (c. 1807)

Robert Browning, House (1876)

Robert Bell Wheler:

• Historical Account of the Birth Place of Shakespeare (1806)

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1564 – 1593)

Marlovian theory of authorship

MISCELLANEOUS CANDIDATES

Wikipedia’s list of 87 (at July 2018)

Robert Frazer, Silent Shakespeare (1915) PDF

Gilbert Slater, The Seven Shakespeares (1913)

Michaelangelo Florio, aka Crollalanza

Roger Manners, Earl of Rutland, in Claud Walter Skyes’ Alias William Shakespeare, Aldor, 1947

Henry Neville, a very peculiar theory – with Tom Veal’s response

OTHER LINKS QUOTED

Catullus, Poem 5

Kit Williams’ Masquerade

John Keats’ Lamia

Aeschylus’ Eumenides

Clips:

Sergei Prokofiev, “Montagues and Capulets”, from Romeo and Juliet (ballet), 1935

Franz Schubert, Im Fruhling, D.882 performed by Barbara Hendricks

Gerald Finzi, Love’s Labour’s Lost, op. 28: Dance, Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon

Gaetano Donizetti, Overture to Roberto Devereux (feat. God Save the Queen), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras

John Dowland, Galliard for the Queen and Robert Dudley

Hakan Parkman, “Take, O Take These Lips Away” (Madrigal) from 3 Shakespeare Songs, sung by Singer Pur choir

“Bonny Peggy Ramsey” (traditional) performed by Tom Kines on Songs from Shakespeare’s Plays and Popular Songs of Shakespeare’s Time

Ambroise Thomas, Hamlet (1868), 1994 recording, London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Antonio de Almeida:

• Thomas Hampson (Hamlet) – singing part of his “Doubt not that I love” letter
• June Anderson (Ophélie) – Ophélie’s mad scene and death, Act IV

"Thou hadst small Latin and lesse Greek..."

In episode five, we explore William Shakespeare's family background, his childhood in Stratford-upon-Avon, and follow him from school to wedlock to the open road. Along the way, we learn what to do in Stratford in the 1500s, how many Annes there were, and why you should never burn historical books just to boil your kettle.

Links mentioned:

Giles Fletcher, Licia, Poem 28

The Sweating Sickness

Bill Bryson, "Shakespeare: The World as Stage" 

Anthony Burgess, "Shakespeare"

Peter Levi, "The Life and Times of William Shakespeare"

Shakespeare’s birthplace

Lady Jane Grey

Peter Ackroyd, "Shakespeare "

George Peele, "His Golden Locks Time hath to Silver Turn'd" from Polyhymnia

Shakespeare's baptism recorded at Stratford

Gregorian Calendar

The Queen and "Palamon and Arcite"

Greer, "Shakespeare's Wife"

Stanley Wells on Twitter re: our connection to older eras

The school at Stratford

Shakespeare's "small Latin and lesse Greek"

Stephen Greenblatt, "Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare"

Erasmus: 150 ways to say "Thankyou for your letter" in Latin

Edmund Spenser, Sonnet 54

Kenilworth Castle, site of Queen Elizabeth's progress

Samuel Butler, Erewhon

Chidiock Tichborne, Elegy

Shakespeare's marriage license

Anne Whateley at Wikipedia

Anthony Burgess, "Nothing Like the Sun"

Robert Nye, "Mrs. Shakespeare: The Complete Works"

Commonplace book

Don Paterson, "Reading Shakespeare's Sonnets"

Sonnet 145

Queen Elizabeth's speech to the troops at Tillsbury  

William Beeston, son of Christopher

Alexander Houghton's will

Duff Cooper, "Sergeant Shakespeare"

Shakespeare poaching deer

Samuel Schoenbaum, "Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life"

The 2017 "Will" series

The death of William Knell

Katherine Duncan-Jones, "Ungentle Shakespeare"

The first flush toilet in England

Clips:

Sergei Prokofiev, "Montagues and Capulets", from Romeo and Juliet (ballet), 1935

John Dowland, Galliard for the Queen and Robert Dudley

The Baltimore Consort performing Greensleeves (trad.)

Music in the Time of Shakespeare - Teares of the Muses

 -  The Earl of Essex Galliard

The King's Singers performing Greensleeves

William Byrd's The Carman's Whistle

The Early Music Consort of London performing:

- John Dowland, Flow My Tears (Lachrimae)

- Dowland, Michill's Galliard

- The Jew's Dance

The Choir of New College Oxford performing Thomas Tallis' Spem in alium

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. We also have a brand spanking new Spotify playlist, which will be updated each week as we work through the plays.

The website for the podcast is https://podcastshakespeare.com/. On the website, you can find an evolving bibliography.

"Love me / Not your idea of me! / Release me / From your fantasy."

- Silvia in the 1971 rock musical 'Two Gentlemen of Verona'

We explore the critical and popular history of 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona' from the Elizabethan age to the 1970s counter-culture, by way of light opera, Machiavelli, and the British Invasion!

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. We also have a brand spanking new Spotify playlist, which will be updated each week as we work through the plays.

The website for the podcast is https://podcastshakespeare.com/. On the website, you can find an evolving bibliography,

Contents:

00:00 The play in Shakespeare's time

18:40 A critical history

40:05 Some literary moments

44:03 A stage history

1:07:23 Staging the final scene

1:13:48 Two Gentlemen: The Musical

1:22:36 A screen history

1:28:04 Music and art

Links mentioned:

Diana, pastoral romance by Jorge de Montemayor

Ovid, Metamorphoses

David Bergeron, "Wherefore Verona in ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’?", Comparative Drama vol. 41 (JSTOR access required)

Two Gentlemen in the film Shakespeare in Love

Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the Nurse (Imelda Staunton) discussing the play in Shakespeare in Love

Elizabeth Rivlin, "Mimetic Service in The Two Gentlemen of Verona", ELH vol. 72 (Project Muse access required)

W.E. Stephenson, "The Adolescent Dream-World of the Two Gentlemen of Verona", Shakespeare Quarterly vol. 17 (JSTOR access required)

Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth in Mildred Pierce, 1945

Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood in Mildred Pierce, 2011

Charles and Mary Lamb, Tales from Shakespeare, 1807

Machiavelli on wolves and lions

Henry Rowley Bishop's gorgeous music for Frederick Reynolds’ 1821 operatic version

Stanley Wells’ 'Shakespeare For All Time', since I’m going to quote this super legend so often

Peter Hall's 1960 RSC production

Robin Phillips' 1970 RSC production

David Thacker's 1991 RSC production

Joe Dowling's 2009 Guthrie Theatre production

Simon Godwin's 2014 RSC production on DVD

A fantastic website on the 1971 rock musical

China's A Spray of Plum Blossoms, 1931

The BBC production at the fantastic BBC Shakespeare blog

Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?

Barbra Streisand - An Silvia

A history of Sir Eglamour

William Holman Hunt's Valentine Rescuing Silvia

Miscellaneous artworks at Wikimedia

Clips:

The Honeycombs, Who is Sylvia, 1966

Fionnuala Ward, Who is Sylvia (from 5 Shakespeare Songs), Les Sirènes Female Chamber Choir 

Mark Stone / Stephen Barlowe, performing Roger Quilter's Who is Silvia 

Nino Rota's "Love theme from Romeo and Juliet"

C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective performing Jaakko Mäntyjärvi's Who is Sylvia from More Shakespeare Songs (1997)  

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf performing Schubert’s An Silvia

The 1971 rock musical with Raúl Julia (Proteus), Jonelle Allen (Sylvia), Clifton Davis (Valentine), Diana Davila (Julia), Sheila Gibbs, Signa Joy, Kenneth Lowry, Sakinah Mahammud (Quartet)

"He after honour hunts, I after love" - Proteus We begin our three-episode investigation of 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona', arguably the Bard's first play, circa 1589. Join me for a journey through the highs and lows of the plot, by way of Greek mythology, why the Ancients liked green honey, and our first casual bigotry alerts! You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. We also have a brand spanking new Spotify playlist, which will be updated each week as we work through the plays.

The website for the podcast is https://podcastshakespeare.com/. On the website, you can find an evolving bibliography. Links mentioned: The Grand Tour of Europe

Don Quixote

The Hellespont

Hero and Leander (excerpts) by Christopher Marlowe

Isaac Asimov, Guide to Shakespeare

Harold Bloom, The Invention of the Human

Mythological Proteus

Stephen Greenblatt, Shakespeare's Cure for Xenophobia, The New Yorker, June 2017

The senex iratus

Unseen characters on television

Medieval and Renaissance manuals on chivalry

Saint Sebastian

Derek Jarman's 'Sebastiane'

'Who is Silvia?' text

Dame Janet Baker singing 'Who is Silvia?' by Franz Schubert, with Murray Perahia on piano

And also Barbra Streisand for some reason...?

Thou, thee, and so on

Augustus Leopold Egg, 'Launce's Substitute for Proteus' Dog', oil on canvas, 1849

Ancient Greek colour vision

Harold Goddard's The Meaning of Shakespeare Clips: Opening and closing: Henry Rowley Bishop, "Who is Sylvia?", for the Frederic Reynolds production, Covent Garden, 1821 - Philip Pickett, Susan Gritton et al

Arkangel Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 2006, d: Clive Brill with Damian Lewis (Valentine), Michael Maloney (Proteus), Saskia Wickham (Silvia)

Royal Shakespeare Company, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 2014, d: Simon Godwin with Mark Arends (Proteus), Michael Marcus (Valentine), Martin Bassindale (Speed)\

Marlowe Society, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1959, d: George Rylands with Olive Gregg (Julia)

Oregon Shakespeare Company, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1957, d: James Sandoe with William Oyler (Valentine), Doris Viola (Julia), Nagle Jackson (Speed), Marcia Thayer (Lucetta), Jim Sheldon (Thurio)

BBC Complete Works, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1983, d: Don Taylor, p: Shaun Sutton with Tony Haygarth (Launce), Tyler Butterworth (Proteus), Paul Daneman (Duke of Milan), Andrew Burt (Third Outlaw)

Gerald Finzi, "Who is Sylvia?" from 'Let Us Garlands Bring' (1942) with Martin Vögerl - singer, Mira Teofilova - piano