"A sad tale's best for winter" asserts Mamillius, the doomed prince of Bohemia, and rarely has a Shakespearian character summarized his own story so well. His words are proved true as we watch The Winter's Tale, a bittersweet bit of theatre that is one of the most unique Shakespeare ever devised.

Shakespeare Unbard, Episode 34: Exits Hurriedly, Pursued by The Winter's Tale

a podcast in which joel fishbane explores each of Shakespeare's plays, offering tidbits, trivia, and revisionist interpretations of all those plays they made you read in school.

Performing Arts

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There's a pleasing symmetry to the fact that the Bard opened his career with "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" and closed it , so far as we know, with "The Two Noble Kinsmen".  In this last episode of "Shakespeare Unbard", Joel discusses Shakespeare's last known work and leaves you with some parting thoughts.

Shakespeare Unbard, Episode 38. We, and all our might, rest at your service and bid you good night!

Just as King Lear isn't about King Lear and Julius Caesar isn't about Julius Caesar, Henry VIII isn't about Henry VIII. Its central figures are Wolsey and Katharine, each of whom emerge as the protagonists in what amounts to an uneven historical epic.

Shakespeare Unbard, Episode 37: All is not necessarily true when discussing Henry VIII

Beloved among Shakespeare fans, The Tempest holds a regal place in the canon, mostly  because of the popular belief that Prospero is a stand-in for the Bard himself. In Episode 36, Joel discusses the last play Shakespeare wrote by himself.

Shakespeare Unbard, Episode 36: O Brave New World That Has The Tempest In It

Mixing history, comedy, and tragedy, Cymbeline is a grab-bag, the equivalent of a Shakespearian mix-tape. There's no way around it: Cymbeline is Shakespeare's craziest play, a wild theatrical experiment that mashes so many different genres, plots, and styles that it's astonishing the thing makes any sense.

Shakespeare Unbard, Episode 34: Exits Hurriedly, Pursued by The Winter's Tale

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