Will: What Is He Good For?

With Shakespeare's plays collected, John Hemminges and Henry Condell set out to do the unthinkable - print the complete works of William Shakespeare in the First Folio and preserve his legacy.  In this episode we talk about the twists and turns the printing of the First Folio took. 

After the chaos of the 1619 “False Folio,” Shakespeare’s friends John Heminges and Henry Condell decided enough was enough. If anyone was going to collect Will’s plays properly, it would be the men who’d spent over twenty years in the trenches with him. In this episode, we trace their likely first steps, from digging through the King’s Men’s prompt books and cue scripts to tracking down the “good”...

After Shakespeare’s death, his plays didn’t immediately become sacred texts, they became commodities. In this episode, we dive into the publishing chaos of the early 1600s, where bad quartos, cash grabs, and loose copyrights threatened to fracture his legacy. Enter John Heminges and Henry Condell, two friends determined to wrestle Shakespeare’s work back from the mess. Along the way, we unpack how...

By 1609, William Shakespeare had been writing plays for nearly two decades. He was a household name in London, his company—now the King’s Men—enjoyed royal patronage, and their new indoor stage at Blackfriars promised a fresh era of theatrical success. By all accounts, Shakespeare was still at the height of his career. But behind the curtain, things were shifting. The endless grind of plague closu...

Shakespeare’s death in 1616 could have meant the loss of his words forever. Many of his plays existed only in fragile manuscripts and cheap, error-filled quartos. Then, seven years later, two of his fellow actors—John Heminges and Henry Condell—took on the monumental task of preserving their friend’s work. Their project became the First Folio of 1623: the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s p...

In the Season 3 finale of Will: What is He Good For? we explore how Shakespeare’s writing was shaped not only by the theaters and venues where his plays were performed, but also by the monarchy and the shifting tastes of his audiences. We trace his evolution from writing for traveling troupes—where simple staging and minimal sets were a necessity—to the grandeur of the Globe, where plays like Much...

Along with the adult acting troupes, such as the Queen's Men, there was another genre of acting troupes that influenced Shakespeare and his writing.  Children's, or boy acting troupes and their rise in popularity caught Shakespeare's attention and caused him to elevate his writing. 

On February 2nd in 1585, Shakespeare signs a baptismal certificate for his twin children Judith and Hamnet.  This is the last record we have of what he is doing for the next seven years and beginning what scholars call his “lost years”  There are many, many theories of what he was doing during this time. In this episode, we explore the story of William Knell and the Queen’s Men, and how it may she...

This season, we're taking a deeper look at the evolving theatre scene of the 1500-1600s and how the way plays were produced influenced what ended up in the final texts we have of William Shakespeare.  In our first episode, we explore one of the earliest influences on the young Bard: traveling and touring theater companies. Listen in to learn more about the types of productions being produced in th...

Season 3 of Will: What is He Good For? is coming soon! Join us for another fun-filled series of Shakespeare history and an exploration of his plays. This season we're taking deeper look at the landscape of Elizabethan theatre, who was performing what and how.  Listen to our teaser episode to learn more about what to expect from this season.  From the traveling acting troupes that he would eventual...

In this bonus episode of "Will: What is He Good For?", hosts Victoria Gomez Wood and William Downes sit down with Rachel Purcell Fountain, the director of Classics on the Rocks' upcoming summer 2024 production of "The Merry Wives of Windsor." The trio delves into the unique challenges and exciting elements of bringing this beloved Shakespearean comedy to life. Rachel shares her vision for the prod...

Over the past several episodes, we've explored some of the common themes presented in Shakespeare's married couples that hint at how he felt about marriage.  In Julius Caesar, Calpurnia and Portia are clear examples of what happens when you don't listen to your wife. From Portia and Bassanio to Jessica and Lorenzo in Merchant of Venice - marriage doesn't guarantee a happily ever after - but in fin...

Most of this season we have attempted to give new perspective to the traditional narrative that Shakespeare viewed marriage negatively having been forced into marriage in his personal life.  We have even come dangerously close to calling him a feminist. In this episode, we double down and talk about what most would call his least progressive and most misogynistic play, Taming of the Shrew. 

In the last episode, we felt pretty confident saying that Shakespeare believed that a good marriage was one of true partnership filled with respect, trust, communication, and most importantly love. However, in Elizabethan England, the act of getting married was still predominantly a business transaction. While courtship mattered to a degree, you married for three reasons: increased social status,...

It’s one of the most tried and true storylines, the husband makes bad decisions that his wife warns him not to, the husband does it anyway and shenanigans ensue. Today, it’s more of a setup for comedies than dramas but Shakespeare used this theme throughout the canon. In this episode, we take a look at a couple of couples from one of Shakespeare’s cornerstone plays to see what their relationships...

On this season of Will: What is He Good For?, we will explore Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway and explore his general attitude towards marriage through his personal history and textual clues. There is an academic discussion that because he was pushed into marriage after Anne Hathaway became pregnant and that he gave her the "second best bed" in his will that he had a negative view of marri...

Season 2 of Will: What is He Good For? is coming soon! Join us for another fun-filled series of Shakespeare history and an exploration of his plays. This season, we're talking Shakespeare and marriage. What did Shakespeare really think about love and marriage? And was giving his wife, Ann Hathaway, the "second best bed" a dying man's final bitter burn or the gift of a loving and caring husband? Fi...

As we get ready to open our summer production of Henry the Fifth, our Artistic Director, William Downes, and Company Manager, Sharon Stevens sit down and quickly chat about the play, the process and 10 years of Classics on the Rocks.

March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I dies, and without an heir or a clear line of succession she is succeeded by James I, her second cousin.  With a new monarch and family line in place, it’s time for Shakespeare to cozy up to James (just like he did with Elizabeth). In our 5th and final episode of the season, we talk about how “the Scottish play", and Shakespeare's later plays bring his epic life to...

After an 18-month plague-induced lockdown London’s theatres begin to open up again and the acting companies make their way back on stage. This is the time Shakespeare begins his career in earnest as the pre-eminent playwright of the Elizabethan stage. In episode 4, we explore how the globe theatre and the key actors of the time helped to inspire Shakespeare's work and define the man he would becom...

After a 7-year absence from public record, Shakespeare reappears in London, where he is referenced by a rival dramatist, Robert Greene in his bitter deathbed pamphlet, "A Groats-worth of Witte" gaining the moniker “upstart crow." Shakespeare's early years in London are a fascinating time filled with plays, plagues, and poetry. In episode 3, we explore how this period of time helped that man from S...

Between the years of 1585- 1592, Shakespeare disappears from public record. With the exception of his twin's baptism in 1585, and a land dispute court document in 1589 there is very little to the man from Stratford's life. These "lost years" are where many of the theories behind the "authorship question" begin. In episode 2, we explore some of those theories, what may have happened in those missin...

The question surrounding whether or not the man from Stratford-Upon-Avon, known as William Shakespeare, really wrote his plays, or more commonly known as the “authorship question” is a weird one. People will twist themselves into knots to discredit Shakespeare and justify alternative theories. However, if you follow the arc of his life, there is evidence that he is who he is and he did write his p...

In "Will: What Is He Good For?" we explore the question of authorship. Was that man from Stratford really the man who penned epics like Hamlet and King Lear? Listen to our quick intro to hear more about what we think and why we'll be diving into this issue over the next 6 weeks.