Julius Caesar 101

This week we discover - or re-discover - just how fan-freakin-tastic (#tmesis) Julius Caesar is. The Rhetorical Device of the Week is aporia. Did you already know that? We think not. (That was aporia.) Our Burbage Break is all about early modern blood effects (spoiler alert: it's kinda gross) and the game this week is Line Roulette. And, because Caesar itself is such a concise, beautifully constructed play, we even manage to summarize it in under five mintes! In Tips and Tidbits we learn how this play even came to be in the Folio in the first place, and why this play is always timely and a useful play to use when teaching rhetoric. Addtionally, we provide you with a last-minute gift guide for the Shakespeareans in your life and we spill some *major* tea in our Shakes-Bubble Gossip feature. Happy holidays, Word Nerds! See you in 2018!

Twelfth Night 101

We jump into our tenth episode with an exploration of a beloved twin comedy, Twelfth Night. The Rhetorical Device of the Week is ploce; the Burbage Break is all about the clowns of the King's Men, Will Kempe and Robert Armin, and how Shakespeare wrote clown characters for their specific strengths. In our summary of the play we learn just how much homoerotic anxiety happens when you combine a twin trope with a pants-role, and Aubrey rants about a particularly annoying production choice in our game of the week, Feelings Corner. Jess has a really important announcement for our Shakes-Bubble Gossip, and we also show some love for our friends at Motley Shakes. We also  take a brief-but-interesting left turn into the weird, whimsical world of Thomas Heywood.

Taming of the Shrew 101

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.