Edward II 101

This week we’re talking about Marlowe’s Edward II, all about King Edward and his boy toy Gaveston and how trying to have your cake and eat it, too, goes very, very wrong for the ill-fated monarch. We celebrate a queer author for our Happy Hour; we re-introduce you to the very queer Christopher Marlowe in Meet the Contemporary; we read a rather progressive scene (for a 400-something year old play) for our Taste of Text; we cover the rumors and theories about the notorious manner of historical Edward II’s death; and we bring back a favorite game, Line Roulette! This play is gay AF and we LOVE IT.

Here’s what we recommended in this week’s Happy Hour feature:

• What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon

• Those goofy Match.com ads created by Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift

• Blown Away on Netflix

Here’s what we featured in our ShakesBubble Gossip segments:

• Hudson Strode event on March 26 (link forthcoming)

• Catch RaceB4Race Education symposium all four days of speakers and question and answer sessions on YouTube!

• The Bard In the Borderlands: Race, Language, and Coloniality event on February 8, 2021

Tamburlaine 101

Our feelings about Tamburlaine “The Great” (ahem you mispronounced “The Worst”) are no secret, but we tell you his entire saga - parts 1 and 2! - in this episode anyway. Jess discusses the dramaturgical problems with an extremely unlikeable protagonist, and Aubrey lists the nearly innumerable moments of on-stage violence facing a production team crazy enough to put on this play. We gossip about a few productions you may have missed over the summer, among other things, and have some laughs along the way. Enjoy!

Doctor Faustus 101

This week we turn our attention once again to the works of Christopher Marlowe (aka the Early Modern Becky with the Good Hair) and his satanic masterpiece, Dr. Faustus. The Rhetorical Device of the Week is asyndeton; we (re)introduce you to Marlowe in our Meet the Contemporary segment in lieu of a Burbage Break; we play another round of Jess's Students Say Smart Things; we drop some smokin' hot goss; and reveal the winners in our final match up of Round One of the #DickBracket and preview the match ups in store for Round Two. Oh, and we also issue a *very important* correction. #yourewelcome

Go here to find out about that blog we mentioned in our ShakesBubble Gossip segment.

Jew of Malta 101

This week we're talking about one of Christopher Marlowe's earliest hits, The Jew of Malta! When we introduce one of Shakespeare's contemporaries we forego the Burbage Break in favor of "Meet the Contemporary" and give you a little biographical and canonical information about the featured playwright. The Rhetorical Device of the Week is meiosis (yes, that's also a vocab word from your biology class); we summarize the story of Barrabas, the Jew of Malta, for you in less than five minutes; in our Tips and Tidbits we try to tackle some of the issues around staging such a blatantly anti-semitic play in our own time (spoiler: we don't have an answer); we invent a brand new game for your listening pleasure; and our #DickBracket match-ups this week are Barrabas vs. Leontes (Winter's Tale) and King Lear's Edmund vs. Don John from Much Ado. Tune in to hear who advanced from last week!

Here are the playhouse playboys and their luscious locks we mention on this week's episode (all images pulled from the National Portrait Gallery of London). Take a gander for yourself: