Episodes - Shakesplaining

Here, finally is the episode covering the last two productions of Julius Caesar. Emma and I talk about the NTL production that we just saw and ASP's production from last Fall. Here's the NTL trailer which you should really watch: https://youtu.be/micAGOYfmJs. Press photos: https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/theatre/julius-caesar-review-join-the-mob-for-this-absorbing-look-at-the-dangers-of-populism-a3753921.html Julius Caesar in text messages: http://community.sparknotes.com/2018/03/15/julius-caesar-as-told-in-a-series-of-texts/slide/5 Upcoming shows: Theatre@First Midsummer: http://www.theatreatfirst.org/shows/midsummer_nights_dream/midsummer_nights_dream.shtml Commonwealth Shakespeare Richard III: http://commshakes.org/production/richard-iii/ Praxis Stage Henry IV: https://www.facebook.com/praxis.stage Shakespeare slam: https://www.facebook.com/events/1128408060644841/

Photo of the stage at the Folger I went to Washington DC and visited the Folger Shakespeare Library on Shakespeare's birthday and while I was there caught a production of The Winter's Tale with my friend Ed. In the episode we discuss if actual bears might have been used for the famous stage direction "Exit, pursued by a bear." There's a tumblr thread that covers the basics, but....it's a tumblr thread and I wanted to go a bit deeper. Turns out, the primary evidence for this is a 2001 article by a scholar named Teresa Grant (GRANT, TERESA. (2001). White bears in Mucedorus, the Winter's Tale, and Oberon, the Fairy Prince. Notes and Queries. 48. 10.1093/nq/48.3.311-b.). I wasn't able to get ahold of this article BUT Grant weighed in on a minor flame war in the London Review of Books which you can read online here: https://www.lrb.co.uk/v26/n23/anne-barton/wholly-given-over-to-thee. Basically, another scholar wrote a book about Elizabethan Romances, got reviewed and was criticized fore her bear-skepticism. She responded with the anti-bear argument and then Teresa Grant added her two cents. Unfortunately, I'm not convinced the bears were used in this play, but it sounds like bears were a meme to 1610 Londoners and they were willing to accept them popping up wherever. Here also is the Washington Post review I mention in the episode.

This week's show is Much Ado About Nothing at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center.

Satire V: http://www.satirev.org/ For a complete set list, see www.shakesplaining.com/episodes Upcoming shows: ASP Much Ado: https://www.actorsshakespeareproject.org/plays-events/much-ado-about-nothing/ NTL Macbeth: http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/66375-macbeth Theatre at First Midsummer: http://www.theatreatfirst.org/index.shtml

Welcome back to Shakesplaining! This is the Actors' Shakespeare Project's first show of 2018, Richard III. A favorite play of mine. I mention two books in this episode: "The Sunne in Splendour" by Sharon Kay Penman and "The Bones of a King: Richard III Rediscovered" by the Grey Friars Research Team. Links on my website.

An episode of the podcast Redskirts featuring me talking about Shakespeare and the the Star Trek original series episode "The Conscience of the King."

NTL is rebroadcasting their popular production of Hamlet from 2016 on March 8th. So I'm replaying my episode about that production. New episodes will be back in April

The last episode of the season. Check out my website Shakesplaining.com/episodes to see a graph of my heart rate during the show.

Praxis Stage's website: https://www.praxisstage.com/ Editorial about Commonwealth Shakespeare: http://www.wbur.org/artery/2017/08/04/three-cheers-for-free-shakespeare-but-not-for-the-class-system-in-the-audience

A female Henry V took the stage in Wilmington, Delaware this summer. Read about the gender-blind casting here: http://www.delawareonline.com/story/entertainment/2017/07/14/gender-blind-casting-wine-bottles-henry-v/474953001/

This year's Shakespeare on the Common put on by Commonwealth Shakespeare was Romeo and Juliet. Performances are free and run through August 6th.  Some media that is mentioned in the episode: The choose-your-own-adventure version of Romeo and Juliet is Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North: http://amzn.to/2qAPkdi. There's an online, crowdsourced play/read-through here: http://romeoandorjuliet.com/tagged/playthrough/chrono.  The movie Dangerous Beauty: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118892/?ref_=nv_sr_1 And a couple of the scholarly articles I skimmed about fencing in the play: Holmer, Joan Ozark. “‘Draw, If You Be Men’: Saviolo's Significance for Romeo and Juliet.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 45, no. 2, 1994, pp. 163–189. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2871216. Soens, Adolph L. “Tybalt's Spanish Fencing in Romeo and Juliet.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 2, 1969, pp. 121–127. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2868996.

Songwriter Laura Mvula's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/lauramvulaVEVO Commonwealth Shakespeare's free Romeo & Juliet opens tonight at 8pm on the Boston Common: http://commshakes.org/performances/performance/162

The Shakespeare comedy show where a there's an extremely drunk actor on stage: http://www.shit-facedshakespeare.com/. Also, here are the links to Praxis Stage https://www.facebook.com/praxis.stage/ who's doing Julius Caesar in Cambridge Parks this summer and an affiliated group "It's a Fiasco" (https://www.facebook.com/ItsaFiascoCambridge/) who also do free outdoor Shakespeare.

Video of Mark Antony's speech: https://www.rsc.org.uk/julius-caesar/act-3-scene-2 Metro article: http://bit.ly/2sVwoLd Boston Globe interview with ASP's executive producer: http://bit.ly/2sRMftq

Sorry this episode's a bit late, and that the sound is slightly different. This was my first attempt at "field recording" and it was a bit windy outside after the play.  Regarding the "dog in the moon" question raised at the end of the episode, some preliminary research suggests that the man in the moon is Cain and the dog belongs to him. I'll dig into that a bit more and hopefully have an update for you next time.  There are still tickets left to see this show, go to actorsshakespeareproject.org for details. The last show is Saturday night! You can also subscribe to next year's season. 

The second half of our conversation about Twelfth Night focusing on National Theatre Live's production that aired at the Coolidge Corner Theater on April 6th.

A look back at 12th Night performances my guests and I have seen in the past, with a special look at Bedlam's "Twelfth Night" and "What You Will."

The podcast is not dead! Learn about Email Debt Forgiveness Day at http://emaildebtforgiveness.me/ and also listen to Reply All at replyall.limo

Here's a link to the Something Rotten website: http://www.rottenbroadway.com/ and the Genius.com annotated song lyrics: https://genius.com/albums/Various-artists/Something-rotten-original-broadway-cast-recording. At one point in the episode I mention how "Kate" explained a Chorus Line reference. Kate is a friend who arranged for our tickets to Something Rotten.

View fullsize Lear Quarto, 1608 Here's a photo of the 1608 quarto of the True Chronicle History of the life and death of King Lear. Some modern texts rely solely on this first quarto while others combine it with the First Folio text (1623). This picture is of the Harvard Houghton Library's copy.

For details about the film see IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097499/

There are 6 more performances left of this production: http://www.actorsshakespeareproject.org/plays-events/the-tempest/

No new episode this week, just a reminder to go see ASP's The Tempest while you still can (http://www.actorsshakespeareproject.org/ for tickets) and enjoy this (late) video of Riker getting into a chair: https://youtu.be/lVIGhYMwRgs.

Next episode will be on ASP's Tempest, showing at the United Parish Church of Brookline. Get tickets now at http://www.actorsshakespeareproject.org/plays-events/the-tempest/.

This episode looks at two productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and themes of exoticism. You can watch the trailer for Theatre for a New Audience's Midsummer at https://vimeo.com/103802510. Watch the complete production of the Globe's Midsummer including an interview with the director on the Shakespeare Lives website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03fv1wr. Read the article about exotic themes on JSTOR here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2871058.

NTL is doing an encore of their production of Hamlet staring Benedict Cumberbatch. Get all the details here.

Find out what Julie, who has never seen or read Hamlet, thought of the play.

Meet Julie, who has never seen or read Hamlet, until now.