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:

• New source for Othello!

• Dictionary for Don Quixote

• The Theatre

King Lear 201

This week we continue the conversation around Jess’s research into “Confessions of a Thugge” and it’s relationship to King Lear, as well as why rhetorical questions present a unique opportunity for audience contact. The Rhetorical Device Revisited, then, is erotema (the rhetorical question, obvi). We also discuss the nuances of competition and competitiveness in our on-going How to Grad School segment, and gossip about the ongoing protest of the Williams College English Department. Thanks for joining us!

Find out more about the Williams College boycott here.

The Tempest 201

We hate Prospero. #SorryNotSorry BUT there are still interesting things to delve into with The Tempest (including why we hate Prospero so much, tbh). The Rhetorical Device(s) revisited are accumulatio and auxesis. Jess talks about editorial interference in Miranda’s ONLY good speech, and Aubrey rants about - you guessed it - Prospero. We also shout out some highlights from the recent Blackfriars Conference at the ASC and the upcoming Symposium at the Hudson Strode Program in Alabama.

Find out more about the TOTALLY FREE symposium here.

Pericles 201

This week we dive deep back into Pericles to talk about the perils of traveling while female (in early modern plays, that is…and maybe now, too…), and bemoan what online study guides get absolutely wrong about this play. We revisit apposition (a type of addition) as the main rhetorical trait of our title character. We talk about what “fully funded” actually means in our How to Grad School segment. Finally, we can neither confirm nor deny that we may or may not also fall down a Journey rabbit hole. Join us for the…journey…

Also, here’s that link to Erin Bartram’s spreadsheet we talk about in the How to Grad School segment.

And the link to info about the staged reading of The Macbeth Travesty in Tuscaloosa, AL.

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