Hamlet to Hamilton: Exploring Verse Drama

EXTRA, EXTRA! EXTRA SPECIAL INTERVIEW! This time Colin and Emily sit down and talk form, drama, poetry — what it is, what it does, and *why* —with Chicago multi-hyphenate writer, translator, performer and (in our professional opinion) hidden gem, Robert Eric Shoemaker! NOTE: Recorded Nov. 2024. GUEST BIO:Robert Eric Shoemaker  (he/him) is a poet, translator, and interdisciplinary artist. His book,...

Join us for a very special conversation with NYC verse dramatist and friend, Duncan Pflaster as we trace his journey from blank verse to experimental poetry, in service of heart and humor. More interviews to come as we kick off our fifth year of exploring verse drama. NOTE: This was recorded in late 2022. CONTENT: Frank discussion of sexuality throughout. Brief mention of sexual assault and the #M...

It's our season finale, y'all!...Kinda. Today, we cover plays between Kind Edward to Queen Elizabeth I, as we wrap up the season on this feed, before finishing our season properly on the Beyond Shakespeare Company podcast. Big thanks to Rob Crighton of Beyond Shakes for guiding us through this season. We're excited to share the remainder of the season (including the introduction of bla...

Welcome to our penultimate episode of Season Four, as we continue our journey through Anglophone verse drama. Today, our H2H hosts Emily and Colin, joined by Rob Crighton of the Beyond Shakespeare Company, get a little silly and imagine muppets performing the flurry of fragments from the 1550's. Make sure you're subscribed to the Beyond Shakespeare Company Podcast feed to continue the seco...

It's time for what Rob Crighton is calling the "most theatrical play ever written!" Get ready for a second look at John Heywood's play...and let us know what you think. ⁠Hamlet to Hamilton⁠ ⁠Beyond Shakespeare Company

We're continuing through the beginnings of print culture with John Rastell and John Heywood. Season Four we're examining the origins of Anglophone drama, in crossover with the Beyond Shakespeare Company Podcast! Hamlet to Hamilton Beyond Shakespeare Company

Today we're excited to bring you the Tudor master of rhyme, John Skelton and his short and shouty Skeltonics! Thanks to Rob of the Beyond Shakespeare Company for guiding us this season through the history of English verse drama! Beyond Shakespeare Company Hamlet to Hamilton Patreon

We're back with the Beyond Shakespeare Podcast to (finally!) look at early Tudor drama. Specifically, we're looking at Rhyme Royal , which you can learn more about here! Hamlet to Hamilton Beyond Shakespeare Company

What was the importance of manuscripts, and the impact of the printing press on late Medieval drama? This episode introduces our first named playwright, John Lydgate, and his 1465 play, "Mankind." Rob Crighton of the Beyond Shakespeare Company continues this tour through the History of English Verse Drama, along with your hosts Emily C. A. Snyder and Colin Kovarik. ⁠⁠⁠Hamlet to Hamilton:...

And now for something completely different: H2H is partnering with the Beyond Shakespeare Company, and this time we're pleased to present the BSC's full audio cast production of "The Harrowing of Hell" - one of the very first Anglophone verse dramas, from around 1250 CE. We'll be back soon with the beginning of the Tudor period as we continue to explore the history of English...

As we draw near the end of the Middle Ages, we take a look at interlude and debate plays. Rob Crighton of the Beyond Shakespeare Company continues this tour through the History of English Verse Drama, along with your hosts Emily C. A. Snyder and Colin Kovarik. ⁠⁠Hamlet to Hamilton: Website⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Beyond Shakespeare Company: Website

It's time to look at morality plays. What are they? How wacky can they get? Rob Crighton of the Beyond Shakespeare Company continues this tour through the History of English Verse Drama, along with your hosts Emily C. A. Snyder and Colin Kovarik. ⁠Hamlet to Hamilton: Website⁠ ⁠Beyond Shakespeare Company: Website

Welcome to the long-awaited Season 4 of "Hamlet to Hamilton!" This season, we're joined by Robert Crighton of the Beyond Shakespeare Company. Rob will be our guide through the earliest English verse drama, as hosts Emily C. A. Snyder and Colin Kovarik try out scenes from morality plays and mystery cycles and see just how we got from some highly stylized rhyming drama to the blank ver...

Playwright Monica Cross is back, chatting about some of the tricks and tips she uses as a neurodivergent person when sitting down to write (and rewrite) her verse drama. CONTENT WARNING: Monica and Emily do (gently) discuss the script formatting and Monica's direction of Sarah Kane's play, 4:48 Psychosis , a brilliant contemporary verse play which does deal with mental trauma and suicidali...

For Shakespeare's Birthday, we're kicking off a mini-season of interviews before we dive into Season Four. Let us introduce you to Kyle J. McCloskey (He/They), a two-time recipient of the Paula Vogel Prize from the Kennedy Center, here to chat with us about Paula Vogel's concepts of plasticity, as well as how soliloquies can be powerful political tools. Official Website: https://www.ky...

Sometimes art really does come Velveteen Rabbit-alive.  In February 2023, Mary Baldwin University gave the Virginia Premiere of Emily C. A. Snyder's Cupid and Psyche.   Here's Emily's reflection on what it was like to let her artistic baby go, and what it's like to see art grow up and become alive.   Please Note: What follows is said with all love and respect to anyone who has ever...

We're at our Season 3 finale!  Looking at how to use poetic imagery and poetic techniques to enhance your verse drama... or to ruin it.  (Bless you T. S. Eliot, for showing us what not to do.)  We're looking at how Shakespeare succeeds ( Antony and Cleopatra ) and fails ( Romeo and Juliet ) at using poetic imagery, as well as how T. S. Eliot uses poetic techniques well in his poetry...

It's a new year and a new Unhinged Rant!  We're returning to T. S. Eliot, looking at his poetry in The Cocktail Party vs. Four Quartets .  The cool thing is Eliot always sounds like Eliot.  The cooler thing is that Ralph Fiennes performed Four Quartets (a poetry cycle) on the English stage in 2021.  The weird thing is that Fiennes' works...and The Cocktail Party doesn't.  ...

We close out our exploration of creating character through line breaks by looking at Sir Gawain from The Table Round and The Siege Perilous by our own Emily C. A. Snyder.  We're breaking down how a character can go from complete end-stopped thoughts, to open-ended insecurity, as well as how caesura and broken lines can define a character's arc.  Strap in as we look at one character...and...

Let's look at some hyper contemporary verse to see how line endings are used in some Broadway and Off-Broadway plays.  We're delving into Lucas Hnath's A Doll House, Pt. 2 and Jeremy O. Harris' Slave Play to see how enjambment and end stopped lines work when we're not in iambic pentameter.   (Note: Fear not! Although Slave Play contains difficult material, there is no content warning for...

We're sitting down with the woman herself: Monica Cross sits down with us to chat about character building through line endings.  We're looking at an early modern play and one of Monica's works in progress that makes Hero the heroine of Much Ado About Nothing . Monica Cross Online: https://monicaatcross.wixsite.com/theroaringgirl Monica Cross Twitter: https://twitter.com/theroaringgirl...

How do you discover your character through the use of line breaks when writing verse?  We're starting a mini-series on that very question, thanks to some great insight from playwright, Monica Cross.  In this episode, we define five different dramatic reasons why a line ends (end stopped, enjambment, silence, stage direction and interruption), and we start looking at primarily end stopped...

We've talked about the basics of writing soliloquy...but how do you find your character's voice?  In this episode, we look at T. S. Eliot's idea of the "Three Voices of Poetry," as well as examining Abigail Thorn (of PhilosophyTube)'s brilliant use of breaking iambic pentameter in her new verse play, "The Prince."  BONUS!  Emily guides you through exploring prosody.  How do you...

Move over, Hamlet!  Now that we've looked at what a soliloquy is , it's time to dive into how to write the classic soliloquy. Emily guides you through the different parts of a classic soliloquy so that you can begin to write or revise your own work.   We also share some listener feedback!  Have a comment you'd like to be shared on-air?  You can tweet at us @hamlet2hamilton...

Eidetic. Adetosic. Stichic. Protean. Morphic. What the *hell* do all these words mean? What are they and how do they work? How might they interact with the concepts we dug into last week: schwumpf and uvriel? Colin asks Emily all of this and more in another installment of SHAKES NOTES. Join us in finding out the answers AND, for free, get a dose of fascinating conversation on much more than *merel...