Shakespeare Anyone?

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. Did Shakespeare write  The Tempest in response to a shipwreck, or was something bigger at play? In this episode, we explore the early modern travel narratives that many scholars believe inspired Shakespeare's final solo play. We begin with lesser-know...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. To kick off our series on Shakespeare's The Tempest , we are (as always) starting with an overview of basic facts and history about the play and an introduction to the major themes and motifs of the play.  Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced b...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. We are now on to our tenth play series! Today we are starting our series on Shakespeare's The Tempest with a synopsis episode. In this episode, we will provide a detailed summary of the plot, breaking down the action of the play scene by scene.  Shake...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this bonus episode, we're joined by Dr. Kent Lehnhoff to talk about his new book,  Voice and Ethics in Shakespeare's Late Plays . Together, we explore how Shakespeare uses the concept and qualities of human voice in The Tempest , Cymbeline , King L...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this wrap-up episode, we reflect on our journey through Shakespeare's  King Henry V by examining three distinct productions that bring the play to life in unique ways. We begin with Kenneth Branagh's 1989 Oscar-nominated film adaptation, renowned f...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this mini-episode, we sit down with author Julie Hammonds to discuss her debut novel, Blue Mountain Rose: A Novel in Five Acts . Set against the backdrop of a fictional Shakespeare festival in the Arizona mountains during the 2009 financial crisis,...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In today's episode, we are exploring the English relationships with foreigners and immigrants from other European countries. First, we'll discuss what the experience of immigrant communities was like in England during the Tudor and early Stuart period...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. This week, we are bringing you something a little different and unlocking our Patreon bonus episode on the 1998 film,  Shakespeare in Love . Over on our Patreon, we regularly watch/read and discuss Shakespeare-adjacent media. Shakespeare in Love , wri...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In today's episode, we will be exploring the lives of common and working people of Shakespeare's time. While Shakespeare's plays tend to feature nobles, monarchs, and other people of higher status as their main characters, they also feature a variety...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. Have you ever wondered where those colorful Folger paperback editions of Shakespeare plays got their name? Or how the Folger Shakespeare Library came to have the largest collection of First Folios in the world? Or if there was any relation to the coff...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In today's episode, we are exploring the realities of military life in early modern and medieval England and how those realities are reflected (or not!) in Shakespeare's King Henry V. We will discuss historical misrepresentations of the English milita...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In today's episode, we'll be talking about early modern English nobility. Shakespeare's history plays are about monarchs and royal lineages, and the world he was writing in was organized by ranks and degrees. So, we think it's important to talk about...

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. In this week's episode, we are exploring the historical record to better understand the difference between the facts of the historical record and the history-making and myths in Shakespeare's  King Henry V . We will share brief biographies of the hist...

To kick off our series on Shakespeare's  King Henry V , we are (as always) starting with an overview of basic facts about the play and an introduction to the major themes and motifs of the play.  Location of the Battle of Agincourt Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespea...

We are starting off 2025 and Shakespeare Anyone's fifth year with our first History (and also a play with the number five in its title):  King Henry V . In this episode, we will provide a detailed summary of the plot, breaking down the action of the play scene by scene. To quote this play, "once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more," or...let's dive in! Shakespeare Anyone? is created and...

Over this past year, we quietly went back to where we began this podcast and worked on revising our Intro Series, "Stuff You Should Know." We updated the original episodes quietly in September. When we started thinking about what we wanted to release for the end of 2024, we feel like nothing encapsulates how we've grown as podcasters and scholars over the past four years better than these revised...

Over this past year, we quietly went back to where we began this podcast and worked on revising our Intro Series, "Stuff You Should Know." We updated the original episodes quietly in September. When we started thinking about what we wanted to release for the end of 2024, we feel like nothing encapsulates how we've grown as podcasters and scholars over the past four years better than these revised...

Over this past year, we quietly went back to where we began this podcast and worked on revising our Intro Series, "Stuff You Should Know." We updated the original episodes quietly in September. When we started thinking about what we wanted to release for the end of 2024, we feel like nothing encapsulates how we've grown as podcasters and scholars over the past four years better than these revised...

It's time for our annual bonus episode! Join us as we revisit the Shakespeare plays we covered this year. We've gone back and re-read both  Romeo and Juliet and  Much Ado About Nothing , and we will discuss what has changed in our readings of these plays after completing our research as well as what we would like to see more (or less) of in future productions or research relating to these two play...

Each year, in recognition of the National Day of Mourning/Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, we examine how British colonialism is irrevocably intertwined with Shakespeare through close reading of Jyotsna Singh's  Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory . In this week's episode, we will explore how Shakespeare's plays can be interpreted and performed in a postcolonial society. This practice in...

In today's episode, we will be finishing up our exploration of Shakespeare's  Much Ado About Nothing by watching and discussing three productions.  First, we will discuss Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film version, starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. Then we will take a look at the 2019 Public Theatre's Shakespeare in Park production directed by Kenny Leon and starring Danielle Brooks and Grantha...

In today's episode, we are exploring the life of Shakespeare's contemporary, Aemilia Bassano Lanyer (whose name is also spelled as Emilia Lanier), who was one of the first women in England to publish her writing and is the author of the first published book of poetry by an English woman.  First, we will explore Aemilia's early life before discussing her groundbreaking volume of poetry, Salve Deus...

In today's episode, we are exploring the historical and theatrical context for bastard characters in Shakespeare's plays and other plays of the early modern period. We'll explore the cultural norms that existed for illegitimate children during the Elizabethan and Jacobean and the legal, financial, and social prejudices they and their parents experienced. We will also discuss how the experience of...

In today's episode, we are joined by Shakespeare scholar, Darren Freebury-Jones, to discuss his soon-to-be-released book,  Shakespeare's Borrowed Feathers , which explores how Shakespeare was influenced by his fellow contemporary dramatists like John Lyly, Ben Johnson, and Christopher Marlowe, and how he also influenced their work.  We'll discuss Darren's research process and the methods he used t...

In today's episode, we are exploring how Shakespeare was influenced by  The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione as he was writing  Much Ado About Nothing . We'll discuss how close reading of both Shakespeare's play and Castiglione's Renaissance etiquette book uncovers layers of intertextuality and references to The Courtier in Shakespeare's writing. First, we'll discuss some parallels b...