Everyday Shakespeare

From Frankenstein to The Shining, tales of extreme wintery conditions have always been a hit. In this episode, we talk about some of the real-life fun people had when things got very cold in Shakespeare’s day—like going to frost fairs on the frozen Thames river—and we discuss some of the not-so-fun tragedies they endured. Finally, we turn to the story of Demeter and Persephone (a Greek myth that explained why we have winter) and to...

Thanks to modern technology, tracking your children (and anyone else willing to join your Life360 Circle) has never been easier. But even in Shakespeare's pre-iphone days, people found ways to keep tabs on their kids. Sometimes this involved enlisting your child's friends to spy on him, or sending the family Clown or wet-nurse to locate your stray daughter. And sometimes the job called for throwing on a fake beard yourself to make ...

We’re getting our Season Three Party started by exploring the origins of a terrifying creature: the Childless Cat Lady. Whether she has warts and a broom, or she’s selling out concert stadiums, this woman means Trouble. But when and how did this connection between single ladies and their feline friends get started? And was it always a negative thing? In this episode, we discover some answers as we travel back in time from the Targe...

In this episode, James Shapiro, award-winning author and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, joins us to talk about his most recent book, The Playbook: A Story of Theatre, Democracy and the Making of a Culture War. With his characteristic investigative research and sleuth work, Shapiro has uncovered the truth behind the spectacular rise and fall of Roosevelt's New Deal-funded Federal Theatre Proj...

These days, everyone seems to be talking about polyamory-- the practice of engaging simultaneously in more than one romantic and/or sexual relationship, with the full consent of everyone involved. According to a recent study, 1 in 9 Americans has tried polyamory, and 1 in 6 would like to try it. This got us wondering: Could people in Shakespeare’s day have known about and experienced anything resembling what we...

It's time to bust out the dried macaroni, glitter glue, and home-made Foot Rub "Coupons," because Mother's Day is just around the corner. Mothers are missing from a lot of Shakespeare’s plays, but he's still got a lot of moms who are very much alive and kicking (unless they're buried alive). In this Very Special Holiday Episode, we give shout-outs to some of Shakespeare’s most suffering, unsung moms and imagine what kinds of Mother...

Long before Photoshop and the Varsity Blues scandal, wealthy families have been trying to game the college admissions process. In this episode, we explore why affluent families started to outnumber "poor scholars" like Hamlet's friend Horatio during the mid-sixteenth century and how money and social class affected life at Oxford and Cambridge. Shakespeare, who never attended university, has an interesting perspective on all this, w...

They may not have called it "memoir," but early modern English authors were producing all kinds of life-writing, from snarky private diaries to published accounts of religious conversion and manifestos on breast-feeding. Whether or not Shakespeare's work contains anything autobiographical remains a matter of speculation, but he certainly understood the desire to control how your life story would be recorded for posterity. In this e...

In this episode, we’re talking with Austin Tichenor, co-Artistic Director of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and longtime actor, author, podcaster, and Folger Shakespeare Library blogger. Austin takes us back to the early Renaissance Faire days of the RSC, and tells us about the Company’s experiences reducing other Great Works and Notable Events—from being banned in Belfast for their Bible play to revising their “Compete History o...

Ever wonder where the line "My kingdom for a horse!" came from? Shakespeare wrote it for King Richard III when he decided to dramatize England's bloodiest civil war, ending it with the tyrant Richard fighting on foot, abandoned by his horse and all his former followers. It's just one of many ways Shakespeare spun the story of Richard and helped turn him into the notorious villain he remains today in our popular imagination. In this...

For many of us, the New Year means new resolutions about getting in shape. But often the goal isn't just to improve our health: there's a lot of magical thinking at work telling us that shedding five pounds will turn us into happier, more successful people. Shakespeare and his contemporaries didn't t...

Shakespeare wasn't eating leftover Thanksgiving turkey and doing online shopping on Black Friday, but he definitely would have been gearing up for the Christmas season, which included twelve full days of festivities. In this episode, we explore the wild side of Christmas celebrations in Shakespeare's England, including the appointment of a Lord of Misrule as a designated agent of chaos. We also take a look at the Puritan Scrooges w...

It's the Jewish High Holiday season, and we’re wrapping up our first season with a look back at what Shakespeare and his contemporaries would have known and thought about Jews and their religious practices. Although English Protestants expressed plenty of anxiety and hostility towards Jews, continuing a long tradition of the same, they also respected the Jews' status as God’s chosen people and their fundamental role in the scriptur...

We’re excited to introduce you to Play On Podcasts—epic audio adventures that harness the power of live performance.  Enjoy this act from Twelfth Night, directed by Christopher Liam Moore and starring the phenomenal Amy Brenneman as Olivia. This slice of Shakespeare’s comedy touches on many of the themes we’ve explored on our podcast, including sad male friendships, dealing with drunken houseguests, and navigating tricky courtship ...

Beliefs about labor, delivery, and postpartum care differ widely between cultures and eras. In this episode, we talk about how these stages were experienced and imagined in Shakespeare’s day. We start with an example of a woman writing to her unborn child and then talk about the first English-language “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” book. Finally, we dive into Shakespeare’s many references to problematic births—including the...

When it comes to the stages leading up to marriage, in Shakespeare’s day and in ours, there’s a recurring theme: the importance of having your commitment witnessed by other people every step of the way. In this episode, we take a look at the often tricky rituals of courtship, engagement, saying “I do,” and celebrating the couple by flinging them around the dance floor and stalking them on their wedding night—and talk about what has...