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, we see the rise of one of fiction’s most famous baddies – Richard III!
 
Is this much-ignored war-story worth picking up? Michael, Greg, and Sophie find out.
 
Sources:
The Life of the Author: William Shakespeare, by Anna Beer, from Wiley Blackwell
William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life, by S. Schoenbaum, from Oxford University Press
The Life and Times of William Shakespeare, by Peter Levi, from PaperMac
Shakespeare: The Biography, by Peter Ackroyd, from Vintage

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 best frenemy. After 400 years does this uber-popular, uber-influential hit of the Elizabethan stage still hold up? Michael, Greg and Sophie dig in.
 
Sources:
Christopher Marlowe: The Critical Heritage, ed. Miller MacLure, from Routledge
“Christopher Marlowe” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Charles Nicholl, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-18079
The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe, ed. Patrick Cheney, from Cambridge University Press:
“Marlowe and the English Literary Scene” by James P Bednarz

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 shows us the too, too pious King Henry VI surrounded by Machiavellian politicians, an adulterous wife, a working class rebellion, and the traitorous Duke of York.
 
Sources
The Oxford Shakespeare: King Henry VI, Part 2 (Oxford University Press)
The Life of the Author, William Shakespeare by Anna Beer (John Wiley & Sons)
William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life by Samuel Schoenbaum (Oxford University Press)
Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)
 
Comments and questions can be sent to shakespeare.pals@gmail.com

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 woman in makeup, and Queen Elizabeth is an elf? Edmund Spenser spins a tale of conflicted knights in a dark world, filled with Soulsborne-esque monsters.
 
Sources
Edmund Spenser, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by Andrew Hadfield
The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser (Penguin)

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 mini-epic. Venus and Adonis tells the relatable tale of a strapping young man hounded by the Lust God.
 
How does Shakespeare expand a five page story from Ovid's Metamorphoses into a 100 page poem? Tune in the find out!
 
Sources
The Life of the Author, William Shakespeare by Anna Beer (John Wiley & Sons)
The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Sonnets and Poems (Oxford University Press)
Ovid's Metamorphoses, trans. Charles Martin (Norton)
 
Comments and questions can be sent to shakespeare.pals@gmail.com

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 masterpiece is a dark tragedy about love, prejudice, gender and resilience.
 
Sources
The Works of John Webster Vol 1, edited by David Gunby, David Carnegie, and Antony Hammond (Cambridge University Press)
 
Comments and questions can be sent to shakespeare.pals@gmail.com

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 lovers, old gender roles, and a middling farce. Does the play hold up artistically or morally -- tune in to find out!
 
Sources
The Life of the Author, William Shakespeare by Anna Beer (John Wiley & Sons)
Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)
The Taming of the Shrew, The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series edited by Barbara Hodgdon
 
 
Comments and questions can be sent to shakespeare.pals@gmail.com

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 our first episode, Michael and Sophie take you through Shakespeare's first play The Two Gentlemen of Verona. We will meet women who should have higher standards, Robin Hood wannabes, and some truly bonkers conflict resolution.
Make sure to subscribe and share this podcast! Comments and questions can be sent to shakespeare.pals@gmail.com
Sources: 
The Oxford Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona (Oxford University Press)
Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, edited by Brian Vickers (Routledge)