F*ckShakespeare

Knock knock.  Who's there?  Con.  Con who?  Condom broke. I'm your kid. No, there are no surprise babies in this scene, but there is one teensy bit of comic relief the the form of the Porter. And then... horror, horror, horror... Macbeth tells everyone he's sorry for what he did. Truly. Listen carefully. Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshakespeare....

In which communication breaks down and NOTHING, NOTHING is ever the same. Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshakespeare.com Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fckshakespeare/ Tweet at us, if you must: @fckshakespod Join our Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/fshakespeare And if you are inclined to be a patron like Queen Elizabeth, you c...

Lady Mac greets Duncan and welcomes him to her battlements. Then she has to talk hubby down off the ledge and give him some specifics so his imagination doesn't run away with him. Is it any wonder she's a little frazzled?? Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshakespeare.com Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fckshakespeare/ Tweet at us, if you must: @fcksha...

Is Lady Macbeth the villain of the play?? If so, why isn't the play called Lady Macbeth??? We think she gets a very bad rap and we're gonna prove it to you. Have a listen. Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshakespeare.com Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fckshakespeare/ Tweet at us, if you must: @fckshakespod Join our Facebook group:  https://www.f...

Aaaaaaand.... We're off. Welcome to The Scottish Play and King James' fascination with witches and anal sex? Not that James had a fascination with anal sex, although we don't know he didn't... Diana is obviously better at writing these episode notes than I am.

Diana is off dancing with Minotaurs so you're stuck with me and Harold Bloom. In this episode (it's blissfully short), Harold Bloom talks dangerous imagination and Erin reads about the curse, the shortest Macbeth synopsis ever, and an act by act overview of the Scottish Play.

In which everyone has returned to court and we are witness to social dynamics between the working class and the 1%

What would a bottom dream if a bottom fell asleep in the middle of a fairy haunted forest? Is it even a dream? Would it make a good play?  Also, what happens to Demetrius? Is he under a spell forever now? He never gets un-magicked at the end. What's that all about?? Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshakespeare.com Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/...

This is the nightmare scene where the lovers have at each other. Cat fights, cheek by jowl manliness... the whole enchilada. It's awful. And Puck is just laughing it up! Ya know, he never really gets a beating for this mess. If this was Dromio he'd have been out cold by this point. Guess the fairy world is more reasonable in how servants are treated? Want to know more? Connect with us on our websi...

Some awful shit happens to the humans once they enter the forest outside of Athens, but we laugh at it because, you know, we are sick fucks! We spend a moment talking about schadenfreude for exactly that reason. Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshakespeare.com Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fckshakespeare/ Tweet at us, if you must: @fckshakespod Join...

What do you imagine when we say the word FAIRY?  In Elizabethan England fairies were real! They made plants grow and butter churn properly and crabs stay in their fucking soup... or not. In this episode we'll meet Oberon, Titania, Puck and the whole fairy mess. There's a supreme cosmic feud going on over a cute little Indian prince that Titania is bringing up among her girls, and Oberon wants...

We've talked a lot about the groundlings, the common people down on the dirt floor, and in this play they finally get to see themselves on the stage!  Meet the "mechanicals," as they are known, the workingmen of Athens who are planning on putting on a show for the Duke's wedding. It's not going to go well, but that's kinda the point. Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://...

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a wild romp where misrule is king and all bets are off! There were 2 days a year when Elizabethans were allowed to go wild, and the summer solstice was one of those. This play is the first time that Shakespeare plays with the idea that if we take the tightly corseted and regulated Brits and set them loose in the forest they might show their true colors... and maybe eve...

And so... they all die. The last scene that ends this strange eventful tragedy. Next week: MIDSUMMER!! On to Athens! You're welcome. 😁 Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshakespeare.com Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fckshakespeare/ Tweet at us if you must: @fckshakespod Join our Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/fshakespeare And i...

Many characters are simply called "Clown" in Shakespeare's scripts, but they're not those creepy red-nosed jobs that scare the fuck out of children from storm drains. They are welcome comic relief after much tragedy or before something epic is going to happen to the main characters. The gravediggers in Act 5: Sc 1 are there for both reasons. We just had to hear about the death of the one true inno...

Is Ophelia pregnant? Why was Jesus mean to the baker's daughter? Was that very Christian of him? And what does that have to do with Hamlet, for fuck's sake?? Ophelia tells all if you just know how to listen. Truth in madness. Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshakespeare.com Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fckshakespeare/ Tweet at us if you must: @fcks...

Act 4 of Hamlet is a messy jumble of scene-lets that seem to be about tying up loose ends... and also Claudius wanting to tie Hamlet up to a scaffold.  But never fear! Hamlet will be off to England and some nasty trickery of his own soon enough. First, a few darkly veiled threats about Claudius being digested by beggars... 😳 Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshake...

The "Closet Scene" is that awkward, Oedipal moment where Hamlet confronts his mom about her possible involvement in his father's murder. He goes to meet her in her closet. No, not where she hangs her dresses! Closet was the Elizabethan word for a person's most intimate private chambers. Men did not go into a woman's closet unless invited, and usually not for a screaming showdown full of accusation...

What else is there?? That's Willy's whole reason for being, right?? So OF COURSE it should be the key to Hamlet finally making up his muthaf**in' mind about that murder thing!  Just in case there are any doubts, we also get to hear Claudius confess. Poor guy. Ya kinda feel bad for him... for a second. Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshakespeare.com Follow us on I...

What was it like to be married to Willy Shakes?? No one can know because there are no words that come directly from Anne Shakespeare. But Yvonne Hudson has spent half a lifetime researching and embodying this enigmatical woman for her solo show, Mrs. Shakespeare.  In this episode we got a chance to ask her about the life of a woman in the 1600s and many other interesting things that anyone wh...

Yes, it's THAT speech. Might as well dive right in there. No avoiding it now! If it means anything to you, we will also discuss the f*cking authorship question here.  Again, no avoiding it since Will puts his name right into the most famous speech in the entire world. And then there's Cooper - brilliant young actor who will be playing Hamlet soon. He talks about that and his other amazing rol...

Oh, Willy Shakes, you canny bastard, you figured out a way to plug your own troupe in the middle of the play! Get ready to welcome the Tragedians of the City! The greatest actors in the world!! (drumroll, please...) Then Hamlet gets inspired and has to try a speech... like he doesn't speak enough for God's sake! But he can't make 'em cry like that Player King, boy...  Want to know more? Conne...

"Mom, what's a fishmonger?" "It's a pimp. Now, go do your homework and stop bothering me!" Act TWO! (Bless you!) We meet those two childhood friends of Hamlet's who turn around and stab him in the back. Nice. What's up with those guys? And why are they interchangeable? And what do they know of military strategy??  And then, in the middle of his madness, Hamlet delivers the second of his gorge...

Sometimes there are weird scenes that happen somewhere else and we only hear about them from another character. This is one of those times. Because, let's face it, Hamlet sucks at pretending to be crazy, so he's gotta try it out first on the person he loves most. ???  Hey, we didn't write the news, we only report it... You will also meet Jenna Wecht , long-time Shakespeare lover who discovere...

Booooo... boogety, boogety, boogety... I don't know... what kinds of sounds do leprous ghosts make??  The ghost appears to Hamlet and tells him about the disgusting things that happened to him after his ear was abused. And then he wants to know what the hell Ham's gonna do about it?!! Want to know more? Connect with us on our website: https://fckshakespeare.com Follow us on Instagram: https:/...