Hello boys, I’m back!

The long-awaited 10 Things I Hate About You episode is here. Please enjoy listening to me and my brother probably defend this movie too hard. Honestly, for being a late ‘90s romcom, it’s doing a pretty good job of being a Shakespeare adaptation. And has the added advantage of being put against a Shakespeare play that is…more problematic than many of his other comedies.

While we are open to other people’s interpretations of thisfilm, we here at Something Shakespeare This Way Comes will not be allowing any Kat slander at this time. Thank you.

Warning: This episode has a higher swearing content than most episodes of this podcast (I was too tired to censor them). So please be aware that there will be some four-letter words flung about!

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠

It’s that time of year again to look back at what happened on the Ides of March many years ago and consider how badly the conspirators fumbled the ball.

While I will be celebrating March 15 my favorite way, by posting jokes on social media, I wanted to take the time to collect some general thoughts about the assassination of Julius Caesar and the relevance of Shakespeare’s play.

When I covered it last year, I thought that the action of play definitely felt relevant, but that the general reception of it seems to fall a little flat. Is there a way to make the play feel more immediate to a modern audience?

This year, as the events of the late Roman Republic feel more immediate than ever, I wanted to think about what we might take away from Julius Caesar, the conspirators, and the play Julius Caesar itself. What new takeaways can we draw from old material and how can we contend with those conclusions?

If you want to listen to my original episodes on the Ides of March and Julius Caesar:

Bonus Episode 4: Beware the Ides of March

Episode 14: Can Julius Caesar Still Feel Relevant?
Further Reading and Listening

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive view of Roman history as a whole, I cannot recommend Mike Duncan’s The History of Rome podcast highly enough. Or if you want to focus in on the late Roman Republic, Duncan wrote a book about it: The Storm Before the Storm

This episode is a true example of what happens when you don't make yourself stop falling down the research rabbit hole.

We're back with more The Taming of the Shrew and looking specifically the two main romantic leads. What is Petruchio's deal? What is Kate's? And why is everyone so obsessed with them?

I wade my way through a reading of the play, several books, and a number of articles to see what people have said about these two characters to get a better idea of why the conversation surrounding this play is so lively.

Initially, I thought this was something I could get through quickly. But it turns out, I had way more feelings about it than anticipated. So enjoy a discussion of a romantic male lead who might actually be the worst person ever and a romantic female lead who maybe makes no sense?

Enjoy, and gird your loins for an eventual part three!

Further Reading and Watching

⁠The Taming of the Shrew⁠ by William Shakespeare (I read the Arden edition, which always has lovely introductions)

Shakespeare and feminist performance: ideology on stageby Sarah Werner

"Performing Marriage with a Difference: Wooing, Wedding,and Bedding in 'The Taming of the Shrew" by Amy L. Smith

Shakespeare for Students: Book 2 by Catherine C Dominic

"Comic Structure the Humanizing of Kate in The Tamingof the Shrew" by John C. Bean, chapter in In The Women’s part: feminist criticism of Shakespeare, edited by Carolyn Lenz

"From Shrew to Subject: Petruchio's Humanist Education ofKatherine in 'The Taming of the Shrew'" by Elizabeth Hutcheon

"The Taming of the Shrew" with Morgan Freeman, episode of Shakespeare Uncovered from PBS

Further Listening

Episode 35: The Taming of the Shrew, Context and Confusion

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg

Our long-awaited Shrew series has begun! And I have discovered that I committed myself to doing three episodes surrounding a play that maybe I don’t like?

But regardless of whether I’m going to banish Petruchio to my rejected list, there are still interesting things to talk about concerning The Taming of the Shrew, because of course there are! It’s Shakespeare. There’s always something to talk about.

So let’s do that. In this episode we’re talking the plot ofthe play, why so much of it involves men putting on disguises and pretending to be someone else, what is up with the Christopher Sly setup that seemingly goes nowhere, and the play’s complicated relationship with another play that hasalmost exactly the same title.

As always, I did discover a couple things to appreciateabout this play after doing some intensive reading. It never fails to delight me how research can make my experience of a Shakespeare play better. Enough to redeem this particular play? Time will tell.

Join me for an introduction to this complicated play that has proved to be tricky for modern audiences. Then, next episode, we’ll really get into the controversy surrounding this one.

Further Reading

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (I read the Arden edition, which always has lovely introductions)

Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber, the “The Taming of the Shrew” chapter

“‘I Will Be Master of What Is Mine Own’: Fortune Hunters and Shrews in Early Modern London" by Eleanor Hubbard (This is the article that talks about a real divorce case in early modern England)

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠

The Academy recently announced its Best Picture nominees,and while there’s been plenty of discussion over how good those nominees are, not even enough people are discussing how Shakespeare these movies are.

I’m here to the change that by starting with the only nominee I’ve seen so far: Conclave. How Shakespeare is this movie about electing the pope?

Well, seems like it has the potential to be pretty Shakespeare, doesn’t it. Join me on my first foray into a little series I’m calling “How Shakespeare Is It” as I look at this interesting little Best Picture nominee and the parts of it that are Shakespeare (or not) and then rate it.

Then, give me some suggestions for what else I rate based onhow Shakespeare it is! Or which Best Picture nom I should tackle next.

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠

This episode is brought to you by the newsletters about books

Do you find it true that in the modern books you read, there’s

We love books for how close they bring us to characters and

Some fun musings abound this episode. Thinking about

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠

How often have you seen a quote on a beautifully colored background with the claim that the words are from William Shakespeare himself?

If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet, then probably at least a handful of times.

But there are pitfalls when it comes to taking what seems to

Join me as I consider why it’s helpful to more thoughtfully

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠

Do you consider something to be a Shakespeare adaptation if it

That is the central question concerning the 1985 teen comedy

In this episode we consider the elements of Just One of the Guys that make the case for it being a Twelfth Night adaptation, how it deals with gender presentation in a more serious way than you’d expect from a goofy comedy, and whether teen comedies lend themselves in general to Shakespearean adaptation.

Happy new year, everyone!

Further Listening

Ep. 25: Shakespeare in Adaptation

Ep. 10: Twelfth Night and Gender Exploration

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠

It has come to my attention that I recently uploaded this with the wrong audio attached. Cool! It's about T.S. Eliot now, I promise.

This episode we are discussing my man T.S. Eliot, who wrote era defining poetry but also penned probably the most famous one-star review of the Hamlet that exists. What was his problem with Hamlet (the play) and Hamlet (the character), exactly?

We’ll be looking at that notorious essay and the argument that Eliot crafts in it. Then we will also consider some other factors that play into this Hamlet opinion, including why Eliot’s real ire might lie with an entirely different group of poets, and his Shakespeare opinions in other critical essays that he wrote throughout his life.

Did I end up reading more critical essays than I expected to when putting this episode together? Yes. Did I feel like I gained new insight into the squabbles that happen in the land of literary criticism? You bet. And we love literary-based petty squabbles.

Listen to find out why T.S. Eliot called Hamlet an “artistic failure,” what play he hated more than Hamlet, and how relatable Eliot is for finding his younger self cringe.

Further Reading

“Hamlet” by T.S. Eliot (Also known as “Hamlet and His Problems.” The essay that started it all.)

“T. S. Eliot's Impudence: "Hamlet", Objective Correlative, and Formulation" by Bradley Greenburg (This is the article that talks about Eliot’s real target of his Hamlet essay.)

“T. S. Eliot and Shakespeare” by Phillip L. Marcus (This article walks through multiple references to Shakespeare throughout Eliot’s works.)

“Soiled in the Working: Hamlet and Eliot” by Theodore Weiss (A rebuttal of Eliot’s essay.)

“Seneca in Elizabethan Translation” by T.S. Eliot (Read Eliot diss Titus Andronicus for yourself.)

“Ben Jonson” by T.S. Eliot (A defense of Ben Jonson, but he also has some nice things to say about Shakespeare.)

Further ListeningEpisode 16: One-Star Shakespeare, Hamlet Edition with Guest Ben Roman

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠

Happy long weekend surprise episode drop! We are having fun this time with various tales of Shakespeare lore that I've stumbled across in my reading over the last year of doing the show but haven't included because most of these stories have been judged to be dubious in some way.

But just because something isn't true doesn't mean it isn't also a fun story or bit of gossip. And honestly who isn't interested in a story who shows off Shakespeare as maybe a bit of a saucy fellow?

When it comes to Shakespeare as with many other famous figures from hundreds of years ago, sometimes it can be hard to distinguish fact from fiction and you have to consider a whole series of factors before you can place a story in the "probably true" or "probably not true" column. In the case of a couple of these stories, I'm willing to be swayed!

Enjoy some Shakespeare myths, as a little treat.

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠