The Shakespeare Mindset: Improve your life the Bard way not the hard way

"With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come. And let my liver rather heat with wine, than my heart cool with mortifying groans." In the second part of this conversation with my former Sitcom Geeks co-host James Cary (pictured) we talk about how it's possible to use humour to explore the most difficult subjects. James is one of the most successful audience sitcom writers in the UK, having worked...

"That tragedy from which she rescues him gratuitously for the sake of their mutual welfare." Once upon a time there was a bad man who ruled the kingdom, and the people were unhappy. Just when everything seemed lost a knight in shining armour arrived, the kingdom was saved and we all lived… well most of us did. Who is this mysterious new character in our lives? What are the chances that in the wake...

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."... "They laugh that win" In this episode I talk to my former Sitcom Geeks co-host James Cary. James is one of the most successful audience sitcom writers in the UK, having worked on a host of TV and radio audience shows including Miranda, My Hero, Think The Unthinkable and My Family. His own show Bluestone 42 ran for th...

"I understand a fury in your words, / But not the words." Why is there so much rage in the world? Since I started making this podcast I have forced myself back to social media, in case you’re wondering why I reached that earth shattering conclusion. I left because I’d been wondering why my mental health seemed to have been deteriorating slightly and as soon as I stopped, it got better. Simplest ex...

"Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care, The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, Chief nourisher in life's feast." Today’s episode is all about sleep. Did you know that we’re currently going through a global sleep crisis. Up to 30% of the adult population in developed nations live with sleep disorders and chronic insomnia. And it...

"Men must endure their going hence, even as their coming hither." In this episode I suggest if you could define Shakespeare in one word that word might possibly be – stoic. I think the philosophy comes closest to what guides the plays is because of the most famous phrase associated with stoicism – memento mori: remember you must die. At this point I make a joke about memento mori that’s my favouri...

"My love is thine to teach; teach it but how" Top podcaster Tim McIntosh, host of The Play's The Thing, talks about how we can all learn to love Shakespeare, especially after bad experiences at school. We both admit we initially found Shakespeare dull and inaccessible when taught as literature in classrooms. Our lightbulb moments came through performance. Tim says watching film versions such as Ha...

"Hear my soul speak: The very instant that I saw you, did my heart fly to your service..." Shakespeare understood the irrational nature of love centuries before modern neuroscience explained it. Using examples from Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It, we see how falling in love makes people behave foolishly because powerful brain chemicals temporarily ove...

"And live a coward in thine own self-esteem". Today we're looking at bullying through the lens of Shakespeare’s plays, which show how bullies often attack a person’s self-worth rather than simply exerting power. Shakespeare, writing in the dangerous and politically volatile world of Elizabethan London, understood bullying both as personal cruelty and institutional oppression. Fellow playwrights su...

"To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first." I'm still quite new to this Shakespeare business, but the more I read and see the more I find out about who I truly am. Imagine a world full of self-aware people. Go on, dig deeper with me, you'll thank me for it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Can one desire too much of a good thing?" Shakespeare asks in As You Like It, and in this episode I explore how to navigate this complex emotional state with Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Oxford University and author of the delightfully accessible This Is Shakespeare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge." Why can't we humans just get over ourselves? How can we deal with revenge the bard way? In this episode I look at that dish best served cold, or not at all. Revenge is a primal human impulse, a desire to close a perceived circle of wrongdoing that exists in every culture. While justice aims to restore balance impersonally, revenge is a personal, emotio...

"Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." It's okay to be bored, Shakespeare shows us how to live without our phones - not yet, you have to listen to the episode first. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Present fears are less than horrible imaginings." Only one thing is certain about this world - uncertainty. True 425 years ago. True now. Remember Covid? How the planet stopped. Everything in the world was uncertain. Nobody knew what would happen next. Now imagine it coming back tomorrow. And again in 2030. That’s how it was with the plague in Shakespeare’s time. When we’re living in a world that...

"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break." There's no right or wrong way to deal with grief, but as the man says if we want to move forward we need to acknowledge it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"This England never did nor never shall Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, But when it first did help to wound itself." As a teenager in the 1970s battling racism I'd always thought of Shakespeare as the embodiment of English nationalism. In this delightful episode Michael Dobson, head of the Shakespeare Institute at Stratford-upon-Avon, explains why I couldn't have been more wrong. Hosted on A...

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" Today we look at the fuss around who wrote Shakespeare and how his works can help us uncover the truth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." If you want to be a leader at work or in your community, beware the pitfalls. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast." You've assassinated the supreme leader. Now what? Today I'm looking at Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and why if you're going to be bold you need to consider the consequences ahead of acting. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Dreams, indeed, are ambition, for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream." This week Dave talks to the writer Stefan Stern about how to get on in the world without resorting to murder most foul. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I wasted time, and now doth time waste me." Why are we so obsessed with time? And why do we think we have so little of it? Shakespeare has an answer or two. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Our doubts are traitors, And makes us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt." What's holding you back in life? Shakespeare knows, and I'm here to tell you how to fix it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Shakespeare Mindset, where modern day problems are solved by the world's greatest ever writer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.