The Bicks Pod

“Shakespeare must be heard, not read.” It’s a common-enough refrain, spoken by scholars and fans alike, and for good reason. We were lucky enough to be joined by a panel of Shakespearean actors who proved that the act of performing Shakespeare is a living, breathing art. Join us and our guests -- Hillary Weintraub, Jennifer Hotchkiss, and Dakin Matthews -- for a conversation about performing that shows that all the world truly is a stage...

Prince Hal, Hotspur, and Falstaff make up three of Shakespeare's most memorable characters, and they're all found in the same play! Join us for an exploration of the themes, dynamics, and characters of this first part of the second Henriad Trilogy. If the tricky numerology won't get you, the play itself probably will, filled as it with hilarious scenes, beautiful language, and a straightforward, easy to follow story.

Notes:

• The IMDB entry on the BBC production solves many of our questions about actors' names, as usual.

Ancient Bickerings:

This episode we dive into Hal's true intentions towards Falstaff: attentive son (or son surrogate), or shifty elderly-abuser? While we don't frame it quite that way, the play has more than enough room for interpretation of Henry's role in Falstaff's inevitable downfall.

"Let's kill all the lawyers" is one of the most famous lines from Shakespeare, but what did the bard really think about the legal system? And more importantly, how is it presented in his plays?

This episode is all about examining that angle of Shakespeare's work, looking at how different plays and characters interact with, talk about, and interpret the law. We also discuss the questions of morality inherent in any discussion of justice, as well as provide a bit of background and information on the multiple different court systems in existence in Shakespeare's time.

Ancient Bickerings:

This episode the question was a simple one: "In Shakespeare, is the law a source of good?" Despite the simplicity of the question, the answer was anything but, as Lindsay grappled with the full nuance of how the law is presented in Shakespeare's plays.

Notes:

• Aidan called "New Place" the "New House" in his intro, because he's a dingus. He regrets the error. 

In our humble opinion (we both agree so we're calling it a singular thing here), this is one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, maybe even his single greatest. Love, debt, justice, prejudice, the law, and the competing desires for mercy and vengeance: it's a fantastic cocktail of themes, motives, and characters that Shakespeare has conjured and which audiences have been grappling with for hundreds of years. More than just the fantastic speeches given by some of its characters (though they are amazing), this play has remained relevant throughout the years for its nuanced exploration of these topics and the characters that provoke the viewer into exploring them.

We loved talking about this play so much there's nary a break in our conversation, as every element of the story is tightly entwined with the others, so that a discussion of one just naturally flows into another. So grab your ducats and prepare for a discussion of one of the bard's most humanistic, complicated, and mentally engaging plays.

Ancient Bickerings

This episode we tackled a rather sedate but still important topic for the play: is it truly a comedy? A tragedy? Something else entirely?

Other Notes

The Merchant of Venice (2004 Film - With Subtitles)

Thug Notes Summary & Analysis of Merchant of Venice

It goes without saying that William Shakespeare, that Sweet Swan of Avon, the upstart crow who turned the English language upside down, was an influential dude. But what many people gloss over in their Bardolatrous zeal is the central question of our show today: Who influenced Shakespeare?

Ancient Bickerings

- What Inspired Shakespeare?

If there's a contest for the least known of Shakespeare's plays, we feel King John would certainly be in the running. With a meandering plot and characters that don't exactly sizzle on the page or stage, it's a tough play to rank amongst the very best that Shakespeare wrote. However, we're well past Shakespeare's early dalliances with drama, and this play reveals a level of intellectual depth, nuance, and contradiction that makes for excellence podcast fodder.

We hope you'll join us for a discussion of the characters and themes of this play set in the high middle ages that nonetheless manages to focus on some very Elizabethan concerns. 

Ancient Bickerings:

This episode we discussed a topic that's always doomed to interpretation and mis-interpretation: authorial intention. We tried to answer the question, "Who did Shakespeare want to be the King from amidst the characters of the play?" 

Notes:

Shmoop Themes and Related Questions on King John: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/king-john/themes 

The Always Useful Wikipedia Entry on Magna Carta: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta

The Bastard may have loosely been based on Philip of Cognac, who was an illegitimate son of Richard I: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_of_Cognac

Looking at sex in Shakespeare’s time and works reveals a similar world stuck between two truths: the first that sex was always a many-splendoured, or at least multifaceted, thing; and the second that despite the crushing weight of legal, cultural, and religious dictates, in trying to police sex, Elizabethans wound up having a fairly free discourse on the subject.

Unfortunately for modern readers, that discourse is still much more obscure than our modern, ultra-liberal discussion of everything from kinks to polyamory; such talk, while still there in Elizabethan works, is far more layered and lacks a lot of the diction we take for granted...

Join The Bicks for a randy discussion about Shakespeare between the sheets!

Notes:

• Stanley Wells' Shakespeare, Sex & Love

• Some people insist this is not the case -- we'll let you be the judge!

• "Sex began 50 years ago, Larkin said. How has the Earth moved since 1963?"

Ancient Bickerings:

In lieu of a proper bickering sesh, Aidan asks Lindsay if the discussion today has changed the way she looks at Shakespeare's writing about sex, and whether she views him as more liberal now or not. What do you think?

Romeo and Juliet.  Sex and love. Family and religion. It's a story made up of pairings, from the two houses at war to the two lovers who bring the feud to an end. Your two hosts dive into this immortal classic this week to talk the different kinds of love present in the play, the language and poetry Shakespeare was bringing to full use by this time, and the generational gaps presented in the play. Not to mention the objectification of women, the role of fate or destiny, and some of the criticism the play faces (in our view most unjustly) from critics today.

Notes:

• A few thoughts about prologues:
  

• https://www.reddit.com/r/shakespeare/comments/3r9176/why_do_some_plays_have_prologues_but_others_dont/

Ancient Bickerings:

This week we answer the only question that really matters in this play: who is responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet?

This episode is all about the spooky, the spectral, and the supernatural. Join us for a discussion on ghosts, visions, and outright magic. We talk about the various works of Shakespeare and how the supernatural manifests itself in each, playing with both the characters' and the audience's emotions and expectations. We also touch on the context in which these plays and poems were written, where fate and the supernatural were simply accepted parts of the world - a world in which we as a Western audience are easily able to imagine ourselves as well.

From the witch appearance in Henry VI through to Shakespeare's final swan-song in The Tempest, we've got you covered with an analysis of all the major uses and themes of the supernatural.

Ancient Bickerings

This week's debate is less of a debate and more of a reflection on what supernatural forces we're still willing to admit some sort of belief in.

Shakespeare's original comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream follows young lovers and old lovers into the mystical, natural space of the forest, where the rules don't apply the way they do anywhere else. Continuing the increasing sophistication of his plays of late, Shakespeare comments on both the nature of love and the nature of the theatre. Join us as we discuss one of our favourite of the Bard's comedies!

Notes:

- The content of 1 Corinthians is partly mixed up by Nick Bottom after his sojourn in the woods; it's one of the most famous parts from the New Testament, and passages from it are routinely recited at weddings (much like Shakespeare's sonnets!)

- ...and if you don't know what Nanaimo Bars are, here's a recipe

Ancient Bickerings

Of all the pairings and couplings going on in A Midsummer Night's Dream, which couple is our favourite?