Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard

You up for some epic fantasy that somehow moves faster and slower than The Lord of the Rings? You up for an allegory where Pride is an ogre, Deception is a woman in makeup, and Queen Elizabeth is an elf? Edmund Spenser spins a tale of conflicted knights in a dark world, filled with Soulsborne-esque monsters.

Sources

Edmund Spenser, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by Andrew Hadfield

The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser (Penguin)

Please forgive Michael's audio.... Something was wrong with the mic setup

Struggling for cash during a plague, Shakespeare whipped up this risque mythological mini-epic. Venus and Adonis tells the relatable tale of a strapping young man hounded by the Lust God.

How does Shakespeare expand a five page story from Ovid's Metamorphoses into a 100 page poem? Tune in the find out!

Sources

The Life of the Author, William Shakespeare by Anna Beer (John Wiley & Sons)

The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Sonnets and Poems (Oxford University Press)

Ovid's Metamorphoses, trans. Charles Martin (Norton)

Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

An excursion away from Shakespeare to the next generation of English drama. Considered one of the greatest dramatists of the English language, John Webster's masterpiece is a dark tragedy about love, prejudice, gender and resilience.

Sources

The Works of John Webster Vol 1, edited by David Gunby, David Carnegie, and Antony Hammond (Cambridge University Press)

Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

Well, we had to do this one eventually...

Michael, Sophie, and Greg take you through Shakespeare's early comedy The Taming of the Shrew. We will meet young lovers, old gender roles, and a middling farce. Does the play hold up artistically or morally -- tune in to find out!

Sources

The Life of the Author, William Shakespeare by Anna Beer (John Wiley & Sons)

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

The Taming of the Shrew, The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series edited by Barbara Hodgdon

Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

**19/12/2024 Update: This is a new version of the first episode because the first version made in 2022 was... not good. Enjoy our second first impression.**

In our first episode, Michael and Sophie take you through Shakespeare's first play The Two Gentlemen of Verona. We will meet women who should have higher standards, Robin Hood wannabes, and some truly bonkers conflict resolution.

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

Sources: 

The Oxford Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona (Oxford University Press)

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