The Bardcast: "It's Shakespeare, You Dick!"

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Pustules and chancres and ague and belching, Carbuncles, dropsy, kyphosis, and felching.... Okay, that last one wasn't Shakespeare per se, but it fucking rhymes!!! On today's episode, we go through all the lovely medical terms in Elizabethan times and Shakespeare plays. Got your tissues and puke bags handy?? You're gonna need 'em.  Enjoy!! To send us...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! What do Antony and Cleopatra, Lord and Lady Macbeth, and Tamora and Aaron  have in common with Brad and Angelina, and Chris and Rihanna??? They are all INCREDIBLY TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS!!! Therapists could have made a FORTUNE in Elizabethan times!!! Join us as we work our way through most of the couples in Shakespeare, discussing the dirt on each one of them.  Whew!!! It&a...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Darling Dearest Dicks and Dickesses!!! We promised you more sonnets and boy, oh boy, do we deliver!!! And to top it all off, this is our 60th episode - dropping on Owen's 60th natal anniversary!!!!!! Coincidence???  We think not. In this episode, we have our dear friends and incredible artists Elisabeth Rodgers, Alvin Keith, Natalia Cuevas, and McCrae Hardy sharing...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! So, this week's episode is about...  Well, seriously.. need we say more than the title??? We thinkst not. To send us an email - please do, we want to hear from you!!! - write us at: thebardcastyoudick@gmail.com  To support us (by giving us money - per episode if you like!)... On Patreon, go here:   https://www.patreon.com/user?u=35662364&fan_landing=true Or on...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! En Garde!!  Now... we know there are TONS of battles in Shakespeare plays... but what about the quintessential duel??   How many times does a duel happen in the canon?   And for that matter, how many examples of single combat are there in the plays?? On today's episode we attempt to answer this questions!! To send us an email - please do, we want to hear from you!!...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! We all know that women didn't have a ton of power in the home  in the Elizabethan Age - except for Elizabeth, of course!  Shakespeare did good things for female characters, even though it was men who played them! In this episode, we discuss not only the actual Queens in Shakespeare's plays, but those women who are head of a household. Dayum, bitch - it was har...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Be A Clown, Be A Clown, All The World Loves A Clown. Act A Fool, Play The Calf, And You'll Always Have The Last Laugh!! And it's true!!! Gene Kelly and Judy Garland knew what they were talking about... we privately wonder if they were bardolaters behind closed doors!! The clowns and fools in Shakespeare not only make us laugh uproariously, but Shakespeare puts...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Darling listeners!!!   Today's episode is one we've been looking forward to - the SECOND game of Bards Dispense Profanity, Even Drunker Edition!!!! It's been a crazy month, as Owen is currently directing The House of Bernarda Alba and Lisa Ann is Dialect Coach for Kinky Boots - so we have been BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!  (Links are below - go see some theatre!!!)...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Listeners!!! We have had such a wonderful response to our first Sonnet Shakespeare episode that we rushed to put together another one!!!  In this episode, we have our dear friends and incredible artists Colin Wulff, Simon Nigam, Michael Daly, and Harper York sharing their choice of sonnets - and the feeling, insight, and talent they bring to them is MIND BLOWING!!!!!! W...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! HAPPY THIRD YEAR OF THE POD, LISTENERS!!!!!   We couldn't have done it without you and we are eternally grateful. That being said, we thought we'd take a left at Albuquerque and riff a little on this idea we've been throwing around for a while: what does it mean to be "punk rock" (other than the music of course!)??  What is the energy and the at...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! The last episode of our second full season?!?!?!?!?!?!? SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?!?!   WE MADE IT, THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!! In this episode we talk to three of our beloved listeners and fans of the pod - they're THE FUCKING GREATEST!!!!!!! Truly. Check it out.  And thanks, guys, we're incredibly grateful for ALL of you!!!!!!!! To send us an email - please do, we...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! We would bet that almost any human probably knows arguably the most famous line from all of Shakespeare's sonnets - "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"  But there are SO MANY MORE!!!!!! 153 more, to be precise.  So we decided to ask about 20 or so of our most beloved artist friends to pick a sonnet to speak and speak about on the podcast.  We&a...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Well... we had SO MUCH FUN playing Trivial Pursuit Shakespeare that we decided to invite some of our favorite nerdy Shakespeare peeps and play another Shakespeare themed game - Bards Dispense Profanity!!! It's basically the Shakespeare version of Cards Against Humanity - get it?? Get the play on words??? Much profanity was dispensed. (The attitude adjustment substa...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Where the bee sucks, there suck we! In today's episode, we discuss all the songs and dances mentioned in Shakespeare plays.  There's a LOT!!! Those Elizabethans like to PAR-TAY!!!!! Also, Shakespeare used vocal music to evoke mood, or to establish the character or the mental state of the singer. So sigh no more, ladies (and gents, and others), sigh no more - a...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. King Henry, Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1 Shakespeare did write a ton about love, but he also wrote a TON about war - people going to war, people coming back from war, people in the middle of a war... whew! In today's episode, we examine the oh so masculine art of war.  We&apo...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Hello dear listeners!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??  WHY ARE YOU JUST SITTING AROUND????? Summer is upon us and Shakespeare companies are FINALLY going to be able to perform - get online and buy yourself some tickets, for heaven's sake!!!! In this episode, we lay out a whole bunch of Shakespeare performance companies in the US, the UK, Canada, and the rest of the world. S...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Okay, so maybe we're biased when it comes to Shakespeare... and maybe we're biased when it comes to New York... but!!! We are definitely biased when it comes to our guest - we are so, so excited to have Rodney Hakim on this episode!!! Rodney is ALL things Shakespeare, particularly New York!!! In this episode we talk about all thing Rodney, Shakespeare, and New...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! So..... wait..... are you telling me that Shakespeare wrote King Lear, Macbeth, AND Antony and Cleopatra in the SAME YEAR????  After writing As You Like It and Julius Caesar immediately followed by Hamlet?!???!?!?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK????? Shakespeare is a friggin' genius, we all know that - but in this episode, we look at WHEN he wrote WHAT - and some of the answ...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Dick:    The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. - Henry VI, Part 2 - Act 4 Scene 2 NOTE:   Is it just us, or it is hilarious that it's " Dick" that says the above quote???? That's right, you dicks!!! Today's episode is all about law and order!!!  What was the justice system like in Shakespeare's time?  WAS there a justice s...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! We all know that William Shakespeare may, in fact, be the greatest playwright that ever lived... but he wasn't the only one writing!! On today's episode we discuss the other writers that were around during Shakespeare's time - the good, the bad, and the ugly!!! (Okay, that doesn't really track, but it sounded good!!) So, who WAS Christopher Marlowe?...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Happy New Year!!  Happy New Covid Variant!! Sigh. To start off 2022, we are deep diving into diseases during the Elizabethan era, as well as the ones Shakespeare talks about and mentions in  his plays. You think Omicron is bad????   Try having lice shitting on you, or fleas puking in you.  Yeah. That's right. Here we go!!! To send us an email - please do, we want t...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Merry Merry!!!!  In this episode we talk about the holidays mentioned in Shakespeare plays - which aren't many - they were a somber lot! - as well as holidays that would have been a thing for the Elizabethans. AND!!!!! We've decided that our "A Visit From Saint Falstaff" is so yummy, we are going to make it a yearly tradition.  Here's the link t...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! So.... if you listened to the FIRST part of this drunken series... you'd know that another episode was coming.  We were gonna save it, but our lovely listener Stacey asked for it so... here ya go, kid!!!! To reiterate, in case you're NEW... we invited some dear friends to play Trivial Pursuit Shakespeare Edition via Zoom.  The caveat was that we should all be...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! Lights!!  Costumes!!  Set!!  Props!! Sound!! Camera!!  Action!! Although when Shakespeare was around, his productions would have had none of the above -  except cobbled costumes and props from each actor's trunk. However, we believe that if Will came back today, he'd be like "Fuck, yeah!! Use whatever you got!!" That being said, this episode looks at...

Sent us a text, you dicks!! It's Autumn... leaves are falling, the wind is getting colder, and the daylight is receding for the near future... WHAT THE FUCK, Eastern Standard Time?!???? Since we're both EST haters, in this episode we discuss the ways Shakespeare uses the seasons in his work -  as metaphors, indications of time, indications of aging, etc. We have to do SOMETHING to keep u...