Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard

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. As Gustave Flaubert said, the three finest things God ever made were Hamlet, Don Giovanni, and the sea. Does Hamlet deserve the hype? Join us to find out! Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected] Sources:  The Oxford Shakespeare: Twelfth Night (Oxford University Press) Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)

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 Revenge to kill his murderer, the Portuguese Prince Balthazar. This leads to Andrea's girlfriend falling in love with another man, that man getting murdered, that man's father murdering the murderers, and... so much other stuff... The origin of the revenge tragedy. Without The Spanish Tragedy, there would be no Hamlet. Does the genre grand-daddy live up to Shakespeare's masterpiece? Join us to find out! Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

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 enter the service of the sexy local lord... Hi-jinks ensue. This good, cross-dressing girl gets caught up in love triangles and mistaken identity. We once more ask: Is Shakespeare good at comedy? Join us to find out! Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected] Sources:  The Oxford Shakespeare: Twelfth Night (Oxford University Press) Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)

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 hate him... Oh, no, no... His step-mum L-O-V-E-S him. She knows it's wrong, but her husband is probably dead, and her maid is an enabler. What could possibly go wrong? We've done the greatest French comedy, Moliere's Tartuffe. Now we're doing the greatest French tragedy -- Jean Racine's Phedre! Does it deserve the hype? Join us to find out! Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected]

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 to flirt with boy. That old chestnut... Shakespeare loves his cross-dressing heroines, and here we have one of his most famous -- Rosalind. We also get the first of Shakespeare's wise fools.   But is "As You Like It" as we like it? Join Michael and Sophie to find out! Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to [email protected] Sources:  The Oxford Shakespeare: As You Like It (Oxford University Press) Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)