Danny and Grace Fitzpatrick

The Shakespeare Birthday Party

Arts EN ↓ 29 episodes

In this podcast we will read and discuss all of William Shakespeare’s plays over the course of a year, starting and ending on the Bard’s birthday. Together we’ll explore the big questions the plays put on the table and the poetry that makes those questions so human. Along the way we’ll be joined by poets, scholars, playwrights, and actors who can help us celebrate the poet whose influence continues to resound loudest over the Western world. Happy birthday, Shakespeare!

Author

Danny and Grace Fitzpatrick

Episodes

Two Gentlemen of Verona 28.07.2025 24:48

That slippery Proteus and breakfast for beasts.

Titus Andronicus 24.06.2025 31:16

That’s some pie, y’all.

King John 16.10.2024 37:19

In which Grace and Danny discuss grief, weak leadership, and how three lions are not necessarily better than none.

Love’s Labor’s Lost 28.08.2024 37:19

In which Grace and Danny discuss Ken Branagh, the good of knowing the end before you’ve begun, and the education of women’s eyes.

King Lear 26.11.2022 42:36

In which Grace and Danny discuss prodigal fathers, Lady Fortune, and total, abject misery.

The Comedy of Errors 08.10.2022 20:48

In which Grace and Danny talk marriage, twins, and sacramental grace.

Richard II 10.07.2022 27:15

In which Grace and Danny discuss divine right of kings, betrayal, and the crusades.

Cymbeline 07.07.2022 15:53

Measure for Measure 07.03.2022 19:09

In which Grace and Danny discuss the Divine Comedy and Blackadder’s Russian codpiece—always terrifies the clergy, as Enid—I mean, Edmund—says!

All’s Well That Ends Well 01.03.2022 37:28

In which Grace and Danny discuss Cole Porter, Newland Archer (The Age of Innocence) [Edith Wharton], and Jeeves and Wooster. As one does.

Henry VI, 1-3! 22.02.2022 29:53

It’s a special triple episode following the ignominious and scholarly demise of Henry VI.

Coriolanus 26.01.2022 38:39

In which Grace and Danny discuss the tripartite soul, Ralph Fiennes’ hair, and the loneliness of dragons.

Henry V 19.01.2022 36:51

In which Grace and Danny discuss honor, tax evasion, strange wooing, and the dogs of war.

Twelfth Night 16.01.2022 21:35

In which Grace and Danny discuss bears, Dwight Schrute, and the journey of the Magi.

The Taming of the Shrew 12.01.2022 30:46

In which Grace and Danny discuss Christopher Sly, Jacob and Laban, and the resonance of names.

Macbeth 26.11.2021 51:14

In which Grace and Danny talk marriage, prophecy, covenants, and thanes.

Romeo and Juliet 21.11.2021 36:50

In which Grace and Danny discuss the Fall, plague, the Michael Scott story (what did Jan say?), and the founding of Rome.

Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra 13.11.2021 30:33

Double episode! In which Grace and Danny discuss honor, John Lithgow, and the glory of Rome.

The Merry Wives of Windsor 15.09.2021 22:26

In which Grace and Danny discuss the exotic power of the potato, the origins of Bilbo, and the lovable reprobates of literature.

Henry IV, Part 2 29.08.2021 18:18

In which Grace and I revisit Falstaff, consider the merits of Hal, and delight in Mistress Quickly.

Henry IV, Part One 15.08.2021 25:32

In which Grace and Danny discuss monarchs, wastrel sons, philosopher reprobates, and Baloo the Bear.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream 24.07.2021 41:49

In which Grace and Danny discuss true love, Rene Girard, literary walkoffs (Zoolander style), and big Geoff Chaucer.

Pericles 14.07.2021 26:42

In which Grace and Danny delve into bordellos, the world’s worst luck, piracy (two kinds), and Pixar.

The Merchant of Venice 15.06.2021 49:43

In which Grace and I discuss justice, mercy, practical jokes, usury, and Al Pacino.

Richard III 03.06.2021 29:56

In which Grace and I discuss the strangeness of the boar: his methods of seduction, his overweening (and overwhelming) pride, and his complete disregard for eternity.