Shows / Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
A Shakespeare recap podcast, talking about them in the order he wrote them.We also do Shakespeare’s peers, influences and influencees
Episodes
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
056 The Newly Wed Game: Othello (1603)
Othello learns he should trust his wife more than his mustache-twirling sidekick. Othello is a black Venetian war hero, loved by everyone... Everyone except…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
055 Women be committing financial fraud: Henrik Ibsen's Doll's House (1879)
A 19th Century Norwegian naturalistic social drama... It's much more exciting than it sounds. Nora and Torvald seem to have the perfect middle-class marriage…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
054 The Problem(atic) Play: Measure for Measure (1604)
What price would you pay for your brother's life? Your life? Your body? The Duke's left town, leaving the puritanical Angelo in charge. Suddenly, pre-marital…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
053 Renaissance Reddit Tales: The Decameron and The Heptameron
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
052 Shotgun Marriages French Style: All's Well That Ends Well (1598)
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
051 You blind one cyclops! Homer's Odyssey (Books 5-12)
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
050 Trojans and Cheaters: Troilus and Cressida (1602)
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
049 Lads, Nuns and Courtesans: Aphra Behn's The Rover (1677)
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
048 Falstaff but Italian: Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff (1893)
Do Italians do it (Shakespeare) better? Giuseppe Verdi strips Shakespeare's bawdy farce down to basics, cutting characters, plots, scenes. And he makes the…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
047 Falstaff's Romance Scam: The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602)
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
046 Hamlette! Asta Nielsen's Hamlet (1921)
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
045 THE BIG ONE: Hamlet (1599)
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
044 Those Crazy Spaniards: Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy (1582-1592)
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
043 Love Triangles and Psychological Torture: Twelfth Night (1601)
We return to Shakespeare's true love: cross-dressers. When Viola gets washed up on the Illyrian coast, she simply has no choice but to dress up as a boy and…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
042 Ancient Step-Mums in Trouble: Jean Racine's Phedre (1677)
Phedre's been bit by the love-bug, and it's gonna get a lot of people killed. Athenian Prince Hippolyte thinks the worst thing is for his step-mum Phedre to…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
041 Cross-Dressing in the Great Outdoors! As You Like It (1599)
Boy loves girl. Boy gets banished, then girl gets banished, so boy and girl run to the forest where girl's father is also banished. And girl pretends to be boy…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
040 3 Years On! A Restrospective on the Podcast
This time the Shakespeare-thing is... Us! Three years on, we've decided to take a look back at the podcast. How our opinions of Shakespeare have changed, our…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
039 You're in a cult, dad! Molière's Le Tartuffe (1664)
The big question: Are the French funny? It wasn't just England that had Renaissance theatre. France had a crack at it, too, and their big-dog of classical…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
038 The Ides of March: Julius Caesar (1599)
The one where Brutus gets radicalised by anonymous commenters Conspiracy, assassination, sky-rending omens. Julius Caesar is dictator-for-life, and some people…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
037 Stabby Stabby: Plutarch's Life of Julius Caesar (100s AD)
We're traveling back in time to the inspiration for Shakespeare's Roman plays - Plutarch! Plutarch wrote compact, anecdote-filled, politically-astute…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
036 Take My Mistress, Please... AGAIN!: The Two Gentlemen of Verona REDUX (1589)
We're having a second chance at a first impression. Shakespeare's first play -- AGAIN! Just like Shakespeare got better, so have we. Sophie and Michael go back…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
035 The Elizabethan James Cameron: Henry V (1599)
Is Henry V great? Or propaganda? It's great propaganda! In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare invented the modern romantic comedy. Now he invents the modern…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
034 Put Away Your Sword: Aristophanes' Lysistrata (411 BCE)
Bringing back the explicit tag for this one! The ladies of Ancient Greece are fed up with the war. Well, you know what men love more than killing each other?…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
033 Listening to Your Evil Friend: Much Ado About Nothing (1598)
Believe Your Girlfriend: The Play Benedict likes Beatrice, and Beatrice likes Benedict, but Benedict and Beatrice don't like that they like each other, so…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
032 Keanu Reeves is Trust Fund Prince Hal: Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho (1991)
Gay Henry IV! Except not really... Except very much yes! Gus Van Sant's classic of queer cinema recontextualises Henry IV into the world of gay hustlers…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
031 Princely Hypocrite: King Henry IV, Part 2 (1597)
Shakespeare's only true sequel, a play that depends on its prequel. Does it work? Are the character arcs continued and deepened? Or does this basically redo…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
030 The Only Good Man in Literature: Orson Welles' The Chimes At Midnight (1966)
What if the comic relief was the main character? The Chimes and Midnight reframes the whole story around Prince Hal's buddy Falstaff. No longer a coming of age…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
029 Notice Me, Dad! King Henry IV, Part 1 (1597)
You ever have to choose between your King dad and your thief dad? King Henry IV's got two problems - rebelling nobles and a rebellious son. Prince Hal spends…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
028 A Girl in Trousers!? Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker’s “The Roaring Girl” (1611)
Boy loves girl. Boy’s father thinks the girl isn’t rich enough. Boy pretends to be in love with a drag king. We’re bringing back the “explicit” tag just for…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
027 Neither A Borrower Nor A Lender Be: The Merchant of Venice (1598)
One of Shakespeare’s great… comedies???? Bassanio needs some cash to impress the wealthy heiress Portia. This couldn’t possibly lead to his best friend getting…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
026 Neo-Verona is about to EXPLODE: Studio Gonzo’s “Romeo X Juliet” Eps. 1-3 (2007)
It’s Romeo and Juliet as an anime! What more do you want? It’s Shakespeare’s tale, but not as we know it. Verona is a far future city in the sky, and all the…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
025 The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Kings: King John (1596)
The one that you forgot Shakespeare did. King John just can’t catch a break. He’s got challengers to the throne, war with France, and now the Pope’s getting on…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
024 Mr Sandman, Bring Me a Midsummer Nights' Dream: Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman #19 and #75
Shakespeare stole all his ideas… from the god of Dreams One of the greatest comic book series of all time, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman plays with almost all…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
023 This is a comedy!?: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1596)
It’s the one with the donkey-headed tradie! An Athenian hero with his Amazon war-bride condemns a young girl to death or nunnery, so young lovers flee into the…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
022 “A pound of your fair flesh, Astro Boy!”: Osamu Tezuka’s ベニスの商人/Merchant of Venice (1959)
The Walt Disney of Japan took a break from Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. Did you know Osamu Tezuka adapted The Merchant of Venice? It’s like if Walt…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
021 Disaster Gays: Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II (1593)
Gayer than Shakespeare – Got your attention? Finding queer subtext in renaissance plays usually takes digging. Not here though. Marlowe has his King and boytoy…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
020 The Prequels Were Better: Richard II (1595)
The Prequel Tetralogy begins! Before the Richard III, before Henry VI, before the War of the Roses, there was unmanly, luxurious Richard II. Under his…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
019 Five Tudor Sonnets and Us Being Idiots
Turns out we’re publishing this one… We’re going on an unstructured ramble about the most structured poetic form. This month, we’re looking at five Tudor…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
018 Onii-san~!!: John Ford’s ”’Tis Pity She’s a W****” (1629)
We really have been trying to make this podcast more family friendly... Here we have an edgy take on Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet’s problem was there…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
017 Boy Meets Girl, Boy and Girl Die: Romeo and Juliet
Here’s a hot-take: Romeo and Juliet is a love story. Shakespeare’s tragic love story is so iconic I don’t even need to say anything about it. You’ve Romeo and…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
016 Carry On College Princes: Love’s Labour’s Lost
You have no idea what this one’s about, do you? Great title though. Would you believe this romantic comedy about four nobles trying to become celibate scholars…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
015 Shakespeare’s Edgelord Phase: Titus Andronicus
This one gets all the trigger warnings: rape, murder, racism, amputation, cannibalism, questionable anachronisms, and probably a few others I’ve forgotten…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
014 Atrocities Roman Style: Seneca’s “Medea” and “Thyestes”
We’re forced to read “Hamlet” at school. Shakespeare was forced to read “Thyestes”. Family squabbles turning hyperviolent has a long history, nowhere more…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
013 Poor Artists Imitate, Great Artists Steal: The Comedy of Errors
How does a 400-year-old play feel more old-fashioned than a 2000-year-old one? Shakespeare brings family values, civic virtue, and basic human decency to…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
012 2000-Years-Old But Feeling 60: Plautus’ The Brothers Menaechmus
You know how you were forced to read Shakespeare in school? Shakespeare was forced to read Plautus. Any Renaissance writer worth his salt riffed on this Roman…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
011 The First Masterpiece: Richard III
Finally! We’re getting to the masterpieces. If Shakespeare had died before this one, do you think this podcast would exist? No! You wouldn’t even have heard of…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
010 Joan of Arc’s in This One! Henry VI, Part 1
When you get to the end of the story, where do you go? The beginning! At the end of Henry VI, Part 3, Henry was dead and Richard III was ascendant. Now…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
009 Roman Psycho: The Rape of Lucrece
If the title isn’t content warning enough… CW: sexual assault and suicide Another narrative poem from the master playwright. A tale of the sex scandal that…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
008 Richard III, the early years: Henry VI, Part 3
The War of the Roses! A pacifist King, a warrior Queen, rebellious lords, and more battles than you can shake a wooden sword at. And like Revenge of the Sith…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
007 Shakespeare’s Rival: Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, Part 1
The Avengers Endgame of its day! The bombastic bio-play of the Middle Eastern conqueror Timur. Written by Christopher Marlowe, smoker, spy, and Shakespeare’s…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
006 That Play You’ve Sort Of Heard Of: Henry VI, Part 2
Why are we doing Part 2 before Part 1? Because like George Lucas, Shakespeare got to Part 1 later. Shakespeare's first and massively successful history play…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
005 The Dark Souls of Poetry: Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (Book 1)
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
004 Chaste-Boi and Cougar-Lady: Venus and Adonis
Please forgive Michael's audio.... Something was wrong with the mic setup Struggling for cash during a plague, Shakespeare whipped up this risque mythological…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
003 A Woman, Her Husband, Her Brother and A Priest: John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
002 Renaissance Red Pill: The Taming of the Shrew
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…
- Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
001 Take My Mistress... Please: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
**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…