Sea Voyage 101
Favorite guest expert and fellow #LadyAcademic Molly Seremet returns to talk to us about why Fletcher and Massinger’s goofy pirate collabo, The Sea Voyage, should be on everyone’s “must” list. We introduce you to the elusive and mysterious (and neckless) Philip Massinger in our Meet the Contemporary segment; we read a smidge of Act 2, scene 1 for A Taste of Text; Molly tells us all about the staging challenges and delights when producing this play, and then she SLAYS a round of Line Roulette; and finally, we gossip about all our favorite things happening in the ShakesBubble right now. We hope you’re weathering the pandemic safely and with clean hands! #stayhome #washyourhands
Jovial Crew 101
The characters in Richard Brome’s play A Jovial Crew do exactly what most of us cannot in this ‘Rona Age: they go cavorting about in large groups! In Public! So we use this play to get out a little cabin fever of our own. We invite you to Meet the Contemporary, Richard Brome, about whom the only thing we really know for sure is that he was Ben Jonson’s #1 Fanboy; we play a new game - BYO Crew - to help us think about our own “Jovial Crew”; and we have tons of fresh ShakesBubble Gossip. We hope the Merry Beggars of A Jovial Crew brighten your day. #stayhome #washyourhands
Here are the links from this week’s ShakesBubble Gossip:
Hidden Room’s “German Puppet Hamlet” Der Berstrafte Brudermord
The article about Shakespeare’s newly-revealed collaborator, Thomas Watson.
What Shakespeare Actually Did During the Plague (New Yorker article)
Duchess of Malfi 101
Welcome to the werewolf-filled world of Webster’s Duchess of Malfi (#alliteration)! In Meet the Contemporary we tell you what we know about that guy John Webster (not much); we go a little long in the summary but that’s only because the play itself is sooooooo long; we read murderous moment in A Taste of Text; Jess reads from a real-life German account of a real-life 16th century werewolf; and in our ShakesBubble Gossip segment we give you a few more free online resources to occupy your shelter-in-place free time. We also played a game, Secret Werewolf, but it was cut for time — look for it as an Extra later this week! Stay home! Wash your hands! Be well, friends!
The Alchemist 101
This week we pay our obligatory respects to Ben Jonson and his insanely relevant comedy The Alchemist. We give you a brief biography of the famously pugnacious playwright in our Meet the Contemporary segment, summarize this very long play for you, and give you a Taste of Text with a reading of Act 1, scene 1. We decided to forego a game this time because, TBH, we didn’t really want to prolong our engagement with the play more than necessary. Instead we jumped straight into some ShakesBubble Gossip and what the Bubble has been up to in the time of Covid-19. Answer - a LOT. Stay home and tune in, y’all!
Fair Maid of the West 101
We’re not gonna lie…#coronavirus got us like WTF and we talk about it before diving into Thomas Heywood’s Fair Maid of the West. We shout out some resources for getting your artsy fartsy fix online while you’re practicing social distancing and STAYING THE F*K AT HOME AND WASHING YOUR HANDS. We summarize the play for you and give you A Taste of Text and that’s about it because we are shook. Just chalk this one up as a time capsule. You’re welcome, historians!
Here’s where you can read Fair Maid in full online: https://emed.folger.edu/sites/default/files/folger_encodings/pdf/EMED-1FMW-reg-3.pdf
Places you can continue to consume art online during shelter in place orders or self-isolation:
Titus Andronicus 201
Today we ask you to lean into discomfort as we tackle the fraught issue of race in Titus Andronicus. We give you some thoughts from prevailing scholars on the subject, as well as a few approaches for this play in your classroom, and we also talk about Ira Aldridge’s contribution to the play (and to theatre in general) in the 19th century.
Here are links to some of the sources we quoted in today’s episode:
Ian Smith’s seminal article about Othello’s handkerchief
The Ira Aldridge biographical article from The Folger
Info from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust about Aldridge’s adaptation of Titus.
Here’s the image of Ira Aldridge we mentioned on the episode, circa 1852. Image courtesy of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Women Beware Women 101
Women, beware those women! A solid title and admonition, no? We take you step by step through Thomas Middleton’s gruesome tragedy, Women Beware Women, with a summary, a Taste of Text, and more than you ever wanted to know about the significance of chess in the play. We also play a round of F*k, Marry, Kill (just in case you were looking for some dating wisdom) and reveal some quite exciting ShakesBubble Gossip news. How many ways can people die all at once on stage? You’ll have to listen to find out!
Click here to learn about the Shakespeare 2020 project that Jess will be part of later this year.
Tis Pity 101
If you love incest plots, you’re in luck! John Ford’s immortal Tis Pity She’s a Whore is the Romeo and Juliet of incestuous, misbegotten, star-crossed love. We tell you what little we know of Ford in Meet the Contemporary; we give you a rather complete and detailed summary; we read Act 5, scene 5 for A Taste of Text; and we play the Playlist game where we brainstorm songs that will get you in the Tis Pity mood…and that’s it, because the ShakesBubble world was pretty boring and news-less this week…nothing so exciting as a heart impaled on a dagger or anything…
Here’s the playlist we came up with:
Is this desire - PJ Harvey
Touch Myself - Divinyls
Heart Attack - Trey Songz
Like a Virgin - Madonna
Heart Shaped Box - Nirvana
Colorblind - Counting Crows
Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys
With or Without You - U2
Look What You Made Me Do - Taylor Swift
Woman - Harry Styles
(Bonus Track) Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me - U2
(Bonus Track) How Will I Know? - Whitney Houston
Winter's Tale 301
In this in-depth 301 episode, we dive right into the strange little mind of David Garrick, the famous 18th century Shakespeare actor and super-fan, and his adaptation of The Winter’s Tale: “Florizel and Perdita.” We read a few scenes side-by-side for you from Shakespeare and Garrick so you can judge for yourself who did it better. Equally important, Jess sings a song (written by Garrick for Perdita), and we gossip a little bit about some personal and ShakesBubble happenings. Don’t start this episode if you can’t finish it… ;)
Here are the gossip items:
Lyn Gardner has an answer for the Telegraph article we talked about last week.
Fred C. Adams (Utah Shakes founder) passed away on Feb. 6.
SHAKESPEARE GYM LOLZ
Maid's Tragedy 101
This episode is all about the AMAZING Beau-Fletch collabo The Maid’s Tragedy! We love this play sooooo much, so we start by Meeting the Contemporaries and tell you all about Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher’s epic, early modern bro-mance; we give you a Taste of Text (and a great “your mom” joke); Aubrey plays a round of Line Roulette; and we have soooooo much to cover in our ShakesBubble Gossip that it needed its own list of links (see below). Enjoy the episode and all the kinky twists of The Maid’s Tragedy!
This week’s SHAKES-BUBBLE “GOSSIP”:
Cool post on Burbage
Also some cool shit happening at OSF
This nonsense from The Telegraph
This adaptation of Macbeth down under
Watch the speakers from the recent RaceB4Race Symposium