Shakespeare needed to steal his stories from somewhere.

We just did All's Well That Ends Well, but did you know Shakespeare nicked the plot from Boccaccio's Decameron? The Decameron is foundational work of Italian and Renaissance literature. A set of short stories by turns savage, funny, and bawdy.

But it's not just men writing short stories in the Renaissance. Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, gave it a go with the Heptameron. And would you believe her tales are punchier, bloodier, and darker than Boccaccio's?

Join us to discuss the Decameron (Day 3, Tale 9) and two tales from the Heptameron.

Sources:

Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Penguin.

Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, The Heptameron, 

Helena loves Count Bertram, but fears he'll never love a commoner. She's right. 

We're in the Kingdom of France, and the King is dying of disease. None of his doctors can help, but Helena's dead doctor dad left her a special medicinal formula. In exchange for saving the King's life, the King will let her choose any man she likes for a husband. She chooses her childhood friend Count Bertram. Rather than marry a commoner, Bertram runs away to war. Can Helena snare her man?

Is all well in "All's Well"? Join Michael and Sophie to find out!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

Sources: 

The Oxford Shakespeare: All's Well That Ends Well (Oxford University Press)

Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)

Shakespeare's the boss of English literature. Homer's the boss of Western literature!

After the Trojan War, lying Odysseus is running a bit late to return home. But he has a good excuse! Gods and goddesses are getting in his way, throwing cyclopses, sea monsters, comely sorceresses at him.

Is the foundational text of Western literature a ripping yarn? Join Michael and Sophie to find out!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

Sources:

The Odyssey, Homer (trans. Emily Wilson), W. W. Norton & Company.

It's the Trojan War! And young love is in the air.

Shakespeare loves him a classical reference, so here's his love story set in the Trojan War. The Trojan nobles Troilus and Cressida love each other, and they manage to tie the knot. Unfortunately, Cressida's father defected to the Greek side, and he has Cressida brought to the Greek camp with him. Can Troilus and Cressida's love survive this? 

Is this play a tragedy, or more of a parody of the Greek myths? Join Michael and Sophie to find out!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

Sources: 

The Arden Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida

Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)

A bawdy sex farce Restoration style... by a woman!

Virginia Woolf said that, "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds." Does that raise your expectations a little too high for this sex comedy? Probably.

But anyway Aphra Behn gives us a fast-paced story of an Italian noblewoman who does not want to marry a prince, her sister who does not want to become a nun, and an Englishman who'll shag anything that moves. You've guessed it, we're bringing back the explicit tag for this one.

Join Michael and Sophie for Aphra Behn's The Rover!

Do Italians do it (Shakespeare) better? 

Giuseppe Verdi strips Shakespeare's bawdy farce down to basics, cutting characters, plots, scenes. And he makes the play... better? 

Join us to discuss Giuseppe Verdi's opera version of Shakespeare!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

Shakespeare's break out side-character Falstaff gets his own play! It worked so well for Jack Sparrow...

Falstaff returns to the stage. There are no wars or princes this time, only love, swindling, and funny accents. Falstaff needs money, so he's going to woo and hoodwink two married ladies. But these merry wives are more cunning that Falstaff expects.

Can Shakespeare's rotund philosopher-scoundrel hold a play by himself? Join Michael and Sophie to find out!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

Sources: 

The Oxford Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor (Oxford University Press)

Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)

What if Hamlet but girl... and silent movie?

Everything you know about Hamlet is a lie. Actually, Hamlet is a "she". She still needs to kill her uncle though.

Asta Nielsen's reinvention of Hamlet may lack some of the depth of the original,  but, hey, she gives us a Hamlet college life AU.

Does this 100 year old move stand the test of time? Join us to find out!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

Danish guy wants to... This doesn't need an introduction!

After many long years, we're here. Shakespeare's masterpiece, the masterpiece of English literature. As Gustave Flaubert said, the three finest things God ever made were Hamlet, Don Giovanni, and the sea.

Does Hamlet deserve the hype? Join us to find out!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

Sources: 

The Oxford Shakespeare: Twelfth Night (Oxford University Press)

Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)

Revenge is a dish best served... with lots of collateral damage...

Andrea's dead, but true haters take revenge from beyond the grave. He enlists the spirit of Revenge to kill his murderer, the Portuguese Prince Balthazar. This leads to Andrea's girlfriend falling in love with another man, that man getting murdered, that man's father murdering the murderers, and... so much other stuff...

The origin of the revenge tragedy. Without The Spanish Tragedy, there would be no Hamlet. Does the genre grand-daddy live up to Shakespeare's masterpiece? Join us to find out!

Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]