There is no taming this episode because this week we're talking Taming of the Shrew and all of its problems and glories (and adaptations!). The Rhetorical Device of the Week is anthimeria (pronunciation debatable); the Burbage Break is all about the "problem play" genre and why Shrew might fall into that category. Aubrey and Jess reveal their issues with the text and what it is about this particular story that makes it both compelling for modern audiences and utterly frustrating. Our game this week is Choices Were Made, the Film Adaptation Edition, which basically serves as an excuse to talk about everyone's favorite 90s rom-com, "10 Things I Hate About You." And as if this episode weren't bonkers enough, Jess and Aubrey get into a heated argument about whether the character Mandella (*not* Myrcella) is delusional or just over-enthusiastic in her love of Shakespeare. The ShakesBubble Gossip features a throwback to the Blackfriars Conference and Patrick Aaron Harris's paper about the use of rings in The Merchant of Venice. #tomahawksofenthusiasm #castanetsofagreement
Richard III 101
Who the F is Morton?! We get to the bottom of this question and many others as we explore Richard III, one of Shakespeare's most famous history plays and most infamous villains. The Rhetorical Device of the Week is pleonasm; the Burbage Break is all about Open Source Shakespeare; we give you a quick and dirty run down of Team York and Team Lancaster before delving into the five-minute summary (which clocks in at an actual five minutes this time!) because the English Monarchy couldn't be bothered to switch up their name game for literal centuries and it's highly confusing. We also discuss the differences between Shakespeare's portrayal of Richard III versus facts we actually know about the historical person, and we have a few *major developments* to announce in this week's Shakes-Bubble Gossip.
Tempest 101
The sixth play in our 101 series focuses on The Tempest, aka Shakespeare's thinly-veiled retirement announcement. The Rhetorical Device of the Week is chiasmus; the Burbage Break issues a correction as well as advice on how to choose a Shakespeare text that best suits your needs. This episode is also the closest we've ever come to meeting our own, arbitrary, 5-minute summary limit. We discuss the uniqueness of The Tempest as a play in the romance genre, as well as that *pesky* issue of colonialism that permeates the story and what we as scholars and artists might do to address it. Finally, even we at Hurly Burly cannot hide from the ongoing revelations of sexual harrassment and misconduct in the workplace: our Shakes-Bubble wrap-up addresses one such incident in our corner of academia and how we might use Shakespeare in the classroom (or the playhouse) to catalyze these difficult and necessary discussions.
Special Edition - Blackfriars Conference 2017
This week we dive deep into the fascinating, entertaining, and sometimes surprising scholarship and projects from the biennial Blackfriars Conference in Staunton, Virginia. The Rhetorical Device of the Week is tmesis and the Burbage Break provides some much-needed conference etiquette reminders. We discuss the word "nuncle," the significance of stage gestures, American Sign Language and Spanish translations of Shakespeare, and even Monica Lewinsky. We also get *a bit* mushy about why art is important in the world and why we choose to make it. This one's a little longer than usual because *feelings.* #SorryNotSorry
(Featuring discussions of work by Matt Kozusko, Paul Menzer, Tiffany Stern, Wendy Wall and William West, Lindsey Snyder, Beth Burns and Farah Karim-Cooper, Jacqueline Vanhoutte, Bill Rauch, and all the lovely folks at Fundacion Shakespeare Argentina.)
Macbeth 101
Macbeth is the topic of this, our fifth episode. Jess and Aubrey gush about how much they love this play and throw the five-minute summary rule to the wind; the Rhetorical Device of the Week is symploce; the Burbage Break is about the First Folio and "authoritative text." We play another round of "Choices Were Made" and learn that, contrary to popular belief, this play is *definitely* not cursed and Thomas Middleton may have written the best parts (aka the witchy parts).