Roaring Girl 101
Season 6 begins with a ROAR(ing Girl) courtesy of Thomases Dekker and Middleton. The famous city comedy features real-life legend Mary Frith, aka Moll Cutpurse, but not with nearly the stage time such a character deserves; we give you a brief introduction to the lesser-known Thomas of this collab team, Dekker, and also a Taste of Text where Moll’s voice really shines. Jess gives you a refresher on the city comedy genre, as well as the real life Moll and we deliver a little personal gossip. We hope you enjoy our roaring return. It’s good to be back!
Here’s what we featured in our Happy Hour segment:
Yorkshire Tragedy 101
It’s our ONE HUNDREDTH EPISODE EXTRAVAGANZAAAAAAA!!! To celebrate, we brought in new and returning friends of the pod, Charlie Bell, Courtney Parker, Molly Seremet, Patrick Harris, and Sawyer Kemp to read Thomas Middleton’s Yorkshire Tragedy in its entirety, purely for your listening pleasure. This week, you get your Summary, Taste of Text, and Tips and Tidbits all rolled into one ridiculous bout of reader’s theatre, with a healthy dose of murder on top. We wouldn’t want to celebrate the Big 100 any other way.
Here’s what we recommended in this week’s Happy Hour feature:
the @adventcarolndar instagram account: 60-second 2020 carols, one a day till Dec. 25, by @joelwaggoner and @juliamet
For a “Swiftie” kick: the Evermore album and Long Pond studio sessions
@sotherans on Twitter
Here’s what we featured in our ShakesBubble Gossip segments:
ShaxBull’s new advisory board: Farah Karim-Cooper, David Sterling Brown, Lauren Eriks Cline, Vanessa Corredera, Sawyer Kemp, Nora Williams, and Sandra Young.
Ruben Espinosa’s new book!
Hailey Bachrach’s newsletter - Dramatis Personae
Nothing for the Group newsletter/roundup by dramaturg Lauren Halvorsen
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.
Revenger's Tragedy 101
In this episode we break down everything you need to know about T-Mids’s smash hit, The Revenger’s Tragedy. We offer you a Taste of Text (a new feature of our 101 episodes) from Act 3, scene 5, AKA the best scene in the play; we break down the authorship question surrounding this play, and then we learn that it’s a parody of other revenge tragedies (which is probably why it’s the best of them all). On top of all that, we introduce a new game and dish some smokin’ hot ShakesBubble Gossip fresh from academic Twitter. Why do we love The Revenger’s Tragedy so much? You’ll just have to listen to find out!
These are the links to the things we Gossiped about this episode:
A Chaste Maid in Cheapside 101
While the title alone should be enough to pique your interest, we devote this entire episode to the “finer” points of Middleton’s A Chaste Maid In Cheapside because we want you to love it as much as we do. We introduce a new 101 feature, “A Taste of Text,” in which we read the shortest scene in the play to give you a sense of its linguistic flavor; we re-introduce the contemporary, Thomas Middleton; we give you a fast and furious summary of this goofy city comedy as well as a LOT of dramaturgical background for all the allusions it contains; we play a round of Line Roulette; and Jess talks about a Haley Bachrach article on the play Six. Gird your loins and summon your Gossips because it’s an action-packed episode!
Here’s a link to Haley’s article: Six’s Sexist Agency
The Witch 101
This week we have super-special-witchy guest, Courtney Parker on to talk us through Thomas Middleton’s The Witch! The Rhetorical Device of the Week is hyperbaton (aka Yoda-speak); we bring back our Meet the Contemporary feature and tell you all about our buddy T-Mids; Courtney breaks down why this play is so awesome and yet so under-performed; Jess invents a new game; we gossip about a new program at this year’s SAA conference; and Tambourlaine advances to the next round in the #DickBracket (of course he did, that DICK). Which Witch is the titular Witch? You’ll have to listen to find out!
The Changeling 101
In The Changeling 101, we dive into the collaboration stylings of Middleton and Rowley, the early modern version of Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. We bring back our segment, Meet the Contemporaries, to give you quick and dirty biographies of the two authors; the Rhetorical Devices of the week are onomotopoeia and oxymoron; Jess plays a round of Line Roulette; we tell you about a few current production projects in our Gossip segment; and we let you know who from last week's #DickBracket - Angelo or Othello - will advance to Round 3. We sure hope this episode isn't stolen away by the fairies and swapped out for a cursed one. *fingers crossed*
Mid-Summer Mini-sode: The Witch
In our second summer "mini-sode," Jess talks us through Thomas Middleton's wacky play, The Witch.