Shakespeare and Pals: Recapping the Bard
Episodes
049 Lads, Nuns and Courtesans: Aphra Behn's The Rover (1677)
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A bawdy sex farce Restoration style... by a woman! Virginia Woolf said that, "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn...
Falstaff but Italian: Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff (1893)
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Do Italians do it (Shakespeare) better? Giuseppe Verdi strips Shakespeare's bawdy farce down to basics, cutting characters, plots, scenes. And he ma...
047 Falstaff's Romance Scam: The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602)
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Shakespeare's break out side-character Falstaff gets his own play! It worked so well for Jack Sparrow... Falstaff returns to the stage. There are no w...
046 Hamlette! Asta Nielsen's Hamlet (1921)
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if Hamlet but girl... and silent movie? Everything you know about Hamlet is a lie. Actually, Hamlet is a "she". She still needs to kill her uncle...
045 THE BIG ONE: Hamlet (1599)
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Danish guy wants to... This doesn't need an introduction! After many long years, we're here. Shakespeare's masterpiece, the masterpiece of English lit...
044 Those Crazy Spaniards: Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy (1582-1592)
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Revenge is a dish best served... with lots of collateral damage... Andrea's dead, but true haters take revenge from beyond the grave. He enlists the s...
043 Love Triangles and Psychological Torture: Twelfth Night (1601)
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We return to Shakespeare's true love: cross-dressers. When Viola gets washed up on the Illyrian coast, she simply has no choice but to dress up as a b...
042 Ancient Step-Mums in Trouble: Jean Racine's Phedre (1677)
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Phedre's been bit by the love-bug, and it's gonna get a lot of people killed. Athenian Prince Hippolyte thinks the worst thing is for his step-mum Phe...
041 Cross-Dressing in the Great Outdoors! As You Like It (1599)
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Boy loves girl. Boy gets banished, then girl gets banished, so boy and girl run to the forest where girl's father is also banished. And girl pretends ...
040 3 Years On! A Restrospective on the Podcast
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This time the Shakespeare-thing is... Us! Three years on, we've decided to take a look back at the podcast. How our opinions of Shakespeare have chang...
039 You're in a cult, dad! Molière's Le Tartuffe (1664)
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The big question: Are the French funny? It wasn't just England that had Renaissance theatre. France had a crack at it, too, and their big-dog of class...
038 The Ides of March: Julius Caesar (1599)
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The one where Brutus gets radicalised by anonymous commenters Conspiracy, assassination, sky-rending omens. Julius Caesar is dictator-for-life, and so...
037 Stabby Stabby: Plutarch's Life of Julius Caesar (100s AD)
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're traveling back in time to the inspiration for Shakespeare's Roman plays - Plutarch! Plutarch wrote compact, anecdote-filled, politically-astute ...
036 Take My Mistress, Please... AGAIN!: The Two Gentlemen of Verona REDUX (1589)
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're having a second chance at a first impression. Shakespeare's first play -- AGAIN! Just like Shakespeare got better, so have we. Sophie and Mic...
035 The Elizabethan James Cameron: Henry V (1599)
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is Henry V great? Or propaganda? It's great propaganda! In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare invented the modern romantic comedy. Now he invents the...
034 Put Away Your Sword: Aristophanes' Lysistrata (411 BCE)
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bringing back the explicit tag for this one! The ladies of Ancient Greece are fed up with the war. Well, you know what men love more than killing each...
033 Listening to Your Evil Friend: Much Ado About Nothing (1598)
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Believe Your Girlfriend: The Play Benedict likes Beatrice, and Beatrice likes Benedict, but Benedict and Beatrice don't like that they like each other...
032 Keanu Reeves is Trust Fund Prince Hal: Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho (1991)
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gay Henry IV! Except not really... Except very much yes! Gus Van Sant's classic of queer cinema recontextualises Henry IV into the world of gay hustle...
031 Princely Hypocrite: King Henry IV, Part 2 (1597)
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Shakespeare's only true sequel, a play that depends on its prequel. Does it work? Are the character arcs continued and deepened? Or does this basicall...
030 The Only Good Man in Literature: Orson Welles' The Chimes At Midnight (1966)
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What if the comic relief was the main character? The Chimes and Midnight reframes the whole story around Prince Hal's buddy Falstaff. No longer a comi...
029 Notice Me, Dad! King Henry IV, Part 1 (1597)
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You ever have to choose between your King dad and your thief dad? King Henry IV's got two problems - rebelling nobles and a rebellious son. Prince Hal...
028 A Girl in Trousers!? Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker’s “The Roaring Girl” (1611)
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Boy loves girl. Boy’s father thinks the girl isn’t rich enough. Boy pretends to be in love with a drag king. We’re bringing back the “explicit...
027 Neither A Borrower Nor A Lender Be: The Merchant of Venice (1598)
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of Shakespeare’s great… comedies???? Bassanio needs some cash to impress the wealthy heiress Portia. This couldn’t possibly lead to his best...
026 Neo-Verona is about to EXPLODE: Studio Gonzo’s “Romeo X Juliet” Eps. 1-3 (2007)
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Romeo and Juliet as an anime! What more do you want? It’s Shakespeare’s tale, but not as we know it. Verona is a far future city in the sk...
025 The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Kings: King John (1596)
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The one that you forgot Shakespeare did. King John just can’t catch a break. He’s got challengers to the throne, war with France, and now the Pope...
024 Mr Sandman, Bring Me a Midsummer Nights' Dream: Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman #19 and #75
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Shakespeare stole all his ideas… from the god of Dreams One of the greatest comic book series of all time, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman plays with al...
023 This is a comedy!?: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1596)
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the one with the donkey-headed tradie! An Athenian hero with his Amazon war-bride condemns a young girl to death or nunnery, so young lovers fl...
022 “A pound of your fair flesh, Astro Boy!”: Osamu Tezuka’s ベニスの商人/Merchant of Venice (1959)
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Walt Disney of Japan took a break from Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. Did you know Osamu Tezuka adapted The Merchant of Venice? It’s like i...
021 Disaster Gays: Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II (1593)
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gayer than Shakespeare – Got your attention? Finding queer subtext in renaissance plays usually takes digging. Not here though. Marlowe has his King...
020 The Prequels Were Better: Richard II (1595)
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Prequel Tetralogy begins! Before the Richard III, before Henry VI, before the War of the Roses, there was unmanly, luxurious Richard II. Under hi...
019 Five Tudor Sonnets and Us Being Idiots
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Turns out we’re publishing this one… We’re going on an unstructured ramble about the most structured poetic form. This month, we’re looking...
018 Onii-san~!!: John Ford’s ”’Tis Pity She’s a W****” (1629)
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We really have been trying to make this podcast more family friendly... Here we have an edgy take on Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet’s problem wa...
017 Boy Meets Girl, Boy and Girl Die: Romeo and Juliet
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s a hot-take: Romeo and Juliet is a love story. Shakespeare’s tragic love story is so iconic I don’t even need to say anything about it. Yo...
016 Carry On College Princes: Love’s Labour’s Lost
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You have no idea what this one’s about, do you? Great title though. Would you believe this romantic comedy about four nobles trying to become celiba...
015 Shakespeare’s Edgelord Phase: Titus Andronicus
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This one gets all the trigger warnings: rape, murder, racism, amputation, cannibalism, questionable anachronisms, and probably a few others I’ve for...
014 Atrocities Roman Style: Seneca’s “Medea” and “Thyestes”
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’re forced to read “Hamlet” at school. Shakespeare was forced to read “Thyestes”. Family squabbles turning hyperviolent has a long histo...
013 Poor Artists Imitate, Great Artists Steal: The Comedy of Errors
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How does a 400-year-old play feel more old-fashioned than a 2000-year-old one? Shakespeare brings family values, civic virtue, and basic human decency...
012 2000-Years-Old But Feeling 60: Plautus’ The Brothers Menaechmus
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You know how you were forced to read Shakespeare in school? Shakespeare was forced to read Plautus. Any Renaissance writer worth his salt riffed on th...
011 The First Masterpiece: Richard III
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Finally! We’re getting to the masterpieces. If Shakespeare had died before this one, do you think this podcast would exist? No! You wouldn’t even ...
010 Joan of Arc’s in This One! Henry VI, Part 1
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When you get to the end of the story, where do you go? The beginning! At the end of Henry VI, Part 3, Henry was dead and Richard III was ascendant. N...
009 Roman Psycho: The Rape of Lucrece
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If the title isn’t content warning enough… CW: sexual assault and suicide Another narrative poem from the master playwright. A tale of the sex sca...
008 Richard III, the early years: Henry VI, Part 3
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The War of the Roses! A pacifist King, a warrior Queen, rebellious lords, and more battles than you can shake a wooden sword at. And like Revenge of t...
007 Shakespeare’s Rival: Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, Part 1
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Avengers Endgame of its day! The bombastic bio-play of the Middle Eastern conqueror Timur. Written by Christopher Marlowe, smoker, spy, and Shakes...
006 That Play You’ve Sort Of Heard Of: Henry VI, Part 2
26 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why are we doing Part 2 before Part 1? Because like George Lucas, Shakespeare got to Part 1 later. Shakespeare's first and massively successful his...
005 The Dark Souls of Poetry: Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (Book 1)
29 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You up for some epic fantasy that somehow moves faster and slower than The Lord of the Rings? You up for an allegory where Pride is an ogre, Deception...
004 Chaste-Boi and Cougar-Lady: Venus and Adonis
24 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Please forgive Michael's audio.... Something was wrong with the mic setup Struggling for cash during a plague, Shakespeare whipped up this risque m...
003 A Woman, Her Husband, Her Brother and A Priest: John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi
27 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An excursion away from Shakespeare to the next generation of English drama. Considered one of the greatest dramatists of the English language, John We...
002 Renaissance Red Pill: The Taming of the Shrew
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Well, we had to do this one eventually... Michael, Sophie, and Greg take you through Shakespeare's early comedy The Taming of the Shrew. We will me...
001 Take My Mistress... Please: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
01 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
**19/12/2024 Update: This is a new version of the first episode because the first version made in 2022 was... not good. Enjoy our second first impress...