The Bardcast: "It's Shakespeare, You Dick!"

The Bardcast: "It's Shakespeare, You Dick!"

A cheeky, irreverent yet informative deep-dive into all things Shakespeare, hosted by two longtime Shakespeare performers, directors, and teachers. Want to support us? Thanks!! Go to: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=8KTK7CATJSRYJ

Episodes

November 28, 2025 2 mins

Hello dicks and dickesses!!

We are taking this week off due to personal reasons, but we leave you here with LA and a few Shakespeare quotes about thankfulness.

Hope your Thanksgivings (if you celebrate it, that is!!) were warm and wonderful!!

LA & Owen


To send us an email - please do, we truly want to hear from you!!! - write us at: thebardcastyoudick@gmail.com 

To support us (by giving us money - we're a 501C3 N...

Mark as Played

To be completely honest, this episode came directly out of the fact that Owen had a colonoscopy the day we recorded.

However, we stand by it - there are TONS of ass reams in the Shakespeare canon. People are always yelling at each other. 

That's what we're discussing today. Short and sweet. Can you think of any we missed?


To send us an email - please do, we truly want to hear from you!!! - write us at: thebardcastyoudic...

Mark as Played
October 31, 2025 50 mins

Happy Halloween!!! 

Blessed Samhain!!!

Oíche Shamhna shona daoibh!!! (Which basically means "Happy Samhain to you all")

It is the evening where the veil between this world and the spirit world is the thinnest.  It is the day of costumes and black cats and candy corn and trick or treating. It's a day filled with a lot of drama throughout history.

In this episode , we discuss which characters would give or get a trick? Whi...

Mark as Played
October 17, 2025 41 mins

Today's topic comes from our dear friend, costumer extraordinaire and friend of the pod, Nancy Nichols!!!  Thank you, Nancy!!!

Regret and remorse are BIG themes in a lot of the Shakespeare canon.  In this episode we discuss who regrets the actions of their past, who doesn't regret the actions of their past, and who thinks they won't ever give a rat's ass but alas, that ain't how it's going to go.

What do...

Mark as Played
October 3, 2025 52 mins

Today we welcome renowned Fight Choreographer and Gentlemen of All Things Weaponish, Dan O'Driscoll, to discuss what weapons and things people used to fight and slay and otherwise hurt each other in the Shakespeare canon.

Rapiers? Halberds?? Poleaxes and pikes??? Hooray!!!

Such pointy and sharp fun!!!  We love this!!!


To send us an email - please do, we truly want to hear from you!!! - write us at: thebardcastyoudick@gmail.c...

Mark as Played
September 19, 2025 27 mins

We realized that we have never talked about the children and babes that appear in the Shakespeare canon.  And we're shocked!!

In this episode, we do just that - who are the younger generation characters? And what is their purpose and what do they add to the stories??

Get your binkies ready and jump right in to the baby pool with us!!


To send us an email - please do, we truly want to hear from you!!! - write us at: thebardcas...

Mark as Played
September 5, 2025 35 mins

Is there someone you would die for? Or something? A cause, perhaps? 

In this episode (which is, of course, inspired by the play Les Liaisons Dangereuses that we are rehearsing), we discuss the characters in the canon that die for something - a person, a cause, a King.

Would you die for something?? Write and tell us!!


Come see Les Liaisons Dangereuses!!!

https://www.theschoolhousetheater.org/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLtyfRleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicm...

Mark as Played
August 22, 2025 31 mins

Soooooo.... for once, we are currently in the same city, in the same building, in the same rehearsal room every day, rehearsing an English play based on a French novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. (See below for link for tickets!!!)

And French stuff is on our minds, for sure!! Obviously, that led us to thinking about all the French stuff in the Shakespeare canon - words, characters, situations, historical events, tout ça!!!

In this epi...

Mark as Played
August 8, 2025 37 mins

There are SOOO many times that characters break bread (sometimes humans in the form of a pie, but I digress...) together in the Shakespeare canon. 

So we were thinking... which of these famous banquets and dinners would we want to attend? Which ones would we not touch with a ten foot halberd??  

In this episode, we dive into the soup, as it were. Come on in!!


To send us an email - please do, we truly want to hear from you!!! - wr...

Mark as Played
July 25, 2025 37 mins

You know... you just can't avoid a lot of stuff that happens over social media these days, and one of those things THIS week was that hilarious outing of the CEO and his bitch at the Coldplay concert.

I MEAN, HOW DUMB CAN YOU BE?????

It got us thinking though... what are the instances of infidelity and adultery (real and imagined!) in the Shakespeare canon? We can't believe we haven't talked about this before, but here...

Mark as Played
July 11, 2025 43 mins

How old ARE Romeo and Juliet? And Antony and Cleopatra?? And Rosalind and Orlando??? And King Lear????

In this episode, we discuss not only how old the characters in the canon are (or in many cases, appear to be), but also, whether or not it makes a difference to the story. And on top of THAT, we also talk about how well known actors play characters VERY different from their own age when they play certain roles.

Ageism, you say?? Nah...

Mark as Played
June 27, 2025 39 mins

It's oppressively hot in the Northeast US right now... and that got us thinking about the definition of hot...

hot - /hät/ adjective

adjective: hot; comparative adjective: hotter; superlative adjective: hottest

  1. having a high degree of heat or a high temperature.
  2. (of food) containing or consisting of pungent spices or peppers which produce a burning sensation when tasted.
  3. passionately enthusiastic, eager, or excited.
  4. INFORMAL - i...
Mark as Played
June 13, 2025 28 mins

Soooo...

After we're dead,  if any of our dear friends want to listen to one episode of our podcast because they knew us well and miss us terribly this is the one. If they do listen, they'll go - yeah. That's them.

We're talking about hoes and whores in the canon. Draw your own conclusions.

Happy National Fuck You Hoes Day!!! 


To send us an email - please do, we truly want to hear from you!!! - write us at: the...

Mark as Played

Welcome to Season 6!!!! 

We know, right??? We can't believe it ourselves!!!!

That being said, we decided to get a little selfish and okay, self-serving, so in this episode, we talk about the characters in the canon that we - personally, for whatever reason!! - find annoying.

It's our pod, after all!!!


To send us an email - please do, we truly want to hear from you!!! - write us at: thebardcastyoudick@gmail.com 

...

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As we head into our sixth season of The Bardcast, we firstly want to say - thank you, thank you, thank you to all our incredible listeners!!!!  We are SO grateful for your love and your listening and your patronage, especially in this current climate.

Which leads us to today's topic - The State of the Art in the United States right now.

To be succinct - IT FUCKING SUCKS.

Arts organizations are losing what was previously promised ...

Mark as Played

We are SO EXCITED, listeners!!!!!!!!

Today's guest is Timothy Scott Bogart, writer/director of the gorgeous new movie musical Juliet and Romeo, dropping Friday May 9 at a theatre near you!!! 

Incredible cast - Derek Jacobi (drool!!), Jason Isaacs (double drool!!), Rebel Wilson, Rupert Everett... and a whole new bunch of faces that are going to EXPLODE when this baby opens!!!!!

We discuss the adaptation, the concept, the fantastic...

Mark as Played
April 18, 2025 42 mins

SURPRISE!!!!!

Everyone needs a good surprise now and again, right??? Well, today's episode is about lots of things in the Shakespeare canon - as well as the man and his life!!! - that are unexpected and surprising!!!! 

Even things one of US didn't realize or know!!! Can you believe it??? 

We can't!!!


To send us an email - please do, we truly want to hear from you!!! - write us at: thebardcastyoudick@gmail.com 
<...

Mark as Played
April 4, 2025 40 mins

Deluded - /dəˈlo͞odəd/

adjective: deluded

  1. believing something that is not real or true.

Wow. Topical, huh???

In this episode, we discuss the MANY and varied characters in the canon that are, in one way or another, deluded.

Who can you think of that fits this particular bill? Email and tell us!!!


To send us an email - please do, we truly want to hear from you!!! - write us at: thebardcastyoudick@gmail.com 

To suppor...

Mark as Played
March 21, 2025 58 mins

Hello, dear listeners!!

We've recently been abroad!! And one of the things we learned is that the world is sad for us in the US. Sigh. 

So we decided to look at the brighter side of life!! 

In this episode, we talk about our travels, but we also look at those moments or characters or relationships in the Shakespeare canon that give us hope!!

And that springs eternal, right???

Right!!


To send us an email - please do, we truly wa...

Mark as Played
March 7, 2025 45 mins

Soooo... we were having a discussion about nobility. And not just the class rank kind, but what exactly is it that makes a person noble? And for that matter, what exactly delineates the difference between royalty and nobility?

In this episode, we discuss the characters in the canon - which characters are noble? Which are ignoble? Which characters are so complicated that it simply isn't a black and white answer??

Join us and find...

Mark as Played

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