To kick off our series on Shakespeare's King Henry V, we are (as always) starting with an overview of basic facts about the play and an introduction to the major themes and motifs of the play.  Location of the Battle of Agincourt Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Works referenced: Shakespeare, William. King Henry V. Edited by T. W. Craik, Arden Shakespeare, 1995. SparkNotes Editors. “King Henry V” SparkNotes.com, SparkNotes LLC, 2005, https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/henryv/

We are starting off 2025 and Shakespeare Anyone's fifth year with our first History (and also a play with the number five in its title): King Henry V. In this episode, we will provide a detailed summary of the plot, breaking down the action of the play scene by scene. To quote this play, "once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more," or...let's dive in! Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Works referenced: Shakespeare, William. King Henry V. Edited by T. W. Craik, Arden Shakespeare, 1995.    

Over this past year, we quietly went back to where we began this podcast and worked on revising our Intro Series, "Stuff You Should Know." We updated the original episodes quietly in September. When we started thinking about what we wanted to release for the end of 2024, we feel like nothing encapsulates how we've grown as podcasters and scholars over the past four years better than these revised episodes, so we wanted to revisit them and share these episodes again.  -- This is Part 3 of our intro series “Stuff You Should Know,” which covers some background and context into the life and times of Shakespeare, because art isn’t created in a vacuum. In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about Shakespeare. And when we say basic, we mean basic. And, even though Shakespeare is a famous figure, scholars and historians actually know quite little about William Shakespeare the man. We will discuss what scholars know about Shakespeare's early life in Stratford-upon-Avon and what a typical education for a young man of Shakespeare's background. We will also discuss some popular theories about what Shakespeare may have done in life before arriving in London. We will then give an overview of Shakespeare's career of an actor and playwright, his family, and his later life.  Want more about Shakespeare the man? Check out these episodes that go more in depth on topics we touch on in this episode: Mini-Episode: Christopher Marlowe Mini: Ben Jonson, Shakespeare's Colleague and Competitor Mini: Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's Wife Shakespeare Anyone? is created, written, produced, and hosted by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Episode written and researched by Kourtney Smith with contributions by Elyse Sharp. Revised September 2024. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Works referenced: Dale, Liam, director. William Shakespeare: the Life and Times. 1091 Pictures, Cobra Entertainment, 3 Apr. 2017. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from www.youtube.com/watch?v=qafnuBH8KPs Mcarafano. (2020, February 25). Shakespeare's Life. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.folger.edu/shakespeares-life William Shakespeare Biography. (n.d.). Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/william-shakespeare/william-shakespeare-biography/

Over this past year, we quietly went back to where we began this podcast and worked on revising our Intro Series, "Stuff You Should Know." We updated the original episodes quietly in September. When we started thinking about what we wanted to release for the end of 2024, we feel like nothing encapsulates how we've grown as podcasters and scholars over the past four years better than these revised episodes, so we wanted to revisit them and share these episodes again.  -- This is Part 2 of our intro series “Stuff You Should Know,” which covers some background and context into the life and times of Shakespeare, because art isn’t created in a vacuum. In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about early modern England during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. And when we say basic, we mean basic. This is a quick overview of early modern England, more importantly the England that influenced Shakespeare.  In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, as well as the public theatres during those respective eras. We'll review how the transition from feudalism to mercantilism changed English society and discuss facets of early modern English society such as fashion, social mobility, religious freedom, and public health. We will give an overview the history of the public theatre in England and discuss some key features of what theatre-making was like for Shakespeare and his contemporaries.  Want more about the Elizabethan and Jacobean England & Theatre? Check out these episodes that go more in depth on topics we touch on in this episode: Mini: Commerce and Trade in Shakespeare's Time King Lear: Mental Health and Disability in Shakespeare's Time Mini-Episode: The Gunpowder Plot Mini-Episode: The Four Humours Hamlet: Ophelia, Gertrude, and Female Agency Mini: Plague, Quarantine, & Shakespeare Mini: Shakespearean Vengeance: Exploring Revenge Tragedies in Early Modern England Mini-Episode: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Mini: Traveling Theatre Companies Mini: Shakespeare's Folios and Quartos Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Episode written and researched by Kourtney Smith with contributions by Elyse Sharp. Revised September 2024. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Works referenced: Brown, John Russell, and Peter Thomson, editor and author. “Chapter 6 English Renaissance and Restoration Theatre.” The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre, pp. 173 - 200. Oxford University Press, 2001 Sherry, Joyce. “Elizabethan Theatre.” YouTube, 4 Jan. 2014, Accessed 6 Sept. 2020, from www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_cTCdkCAcc

Over this past year, we quietly went back to where we began this podcast and worked on revising our Intro Series, "Stuff You Should Know." We updated the original episodes quietly in September. When we started thinking about what we wanted to release for the end of 2024, we feel like nothing encapsulates how we've grown as podcasters and scholars over the past four years better than these revised episodes, so we wanted to revisit them and share these episodes again.  -- This is Part I of our intro series, “Stuff You Should Know,” which covers some background and context into the life and times of Shakespeare, because art isn’t created in a vacuum. In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about the monarchy and English Renaissance. And when we say basic, we mean basic. This is a quick overview of early modern England, more importantly the England that influenced Shakespeare.  In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about the English monarchy and English Renaissance. We will give an overview of the history of the English monarchy during the English Renaissance, through the early modern period and a little beyond Shakespeare's lifetime. We will discuss how the Renaissance differed from the medieval period that came before it and how the English Renaissance differed from the Italian Renaissance.  Want more about the English Renaissance? Check out these episodes that go more in depth on topics we touch on in this episode: Mini: Shakespeare and Petrarch Mini: Shakespeare and the Colonial Imagination Mini: Shakespeare's World: Immigrants, Others, and Foreign Commodities Mini: "Decolonize the Mind" through Shakespeare Mini: Commerce and Trade in Shakespeare's Time Hamlet: Ophelia, Gertrude, and Female Agency Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Episode written and researched by Kourtney Smith. Revised September 2024. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com Works Referenced: Cooper, Dr. Tanya. “Elizabeth I and Her People”. National Portrait Gallery, The Weiss Gallery, 7 Oct. 2013. Accessed 8 Sept. 2020, from www.npg.org.uk/whatson/elizabethi/film Elizabethans - Religious Settlement. (2018, September 23). Accessed 24 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylP6oZgSeuI Fox, Dr. James, creator and writer. A Very British Renaissance, Episode 1: The Renaissance Arrives. A BBC Arts Production, 2014. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtc1cY3ZDTs Fox, Dr. James, creator and writer. A Very British Renaissance, Episode 2: The Elizabethan Code. A BBC Arts Production, 2014. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCCjOck6cd4 Fox, Dr. James, creator and writer. A Very British Renaissance, Episode 3: Whose Renaissance?. A BBC Arts Production, 2014. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03yzflc/episodes/guide William, Professor Kate, presentor. The Stuarts - A Bloody Reign, Episode 101: King James I. Timeline, A 3DD Production in association with Yesterday imagined by UKTV, 31 July 2018. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zfgxzk3UtY

It's time for our annual bonus episode! Join us as we revisit the Shakespeare plays we covered this year. We've gone back and re-read both Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing, and we will discuss what has changed in our readings of these plays after completing our research as well as what we would like to see more (or less) of in future productions or research relating to these two plays.  Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Works referenced: Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing: Revised Edition. Edited by Claire McEachern, 2nd ed., Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016. Shakespeare, William, and René Weis. Romeo and Juliet: Revised Edition. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2012.

Each year, in recognition of the National Day of Mourning/Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, we examine how British colonialism is irrevocably intertwined with Shakespeare through close reading of Jyotsna Singh's Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory. In this week's episode, we will explore how Shakespeare’s plays can be interpreted and performed in a postcolonial society. This practice involves shifting our perceptions of Shakespeare’s plays as timeless and universal to timely and particular, especially in the context of performance. We will discuss a few postcolonial readings and performances from both Western and Global Shakespeare scholars and practitioners. We will also explore how these specific productions prompt and answer the questions of: “Why this play?” and “Why now?” Who is producing this play? Who is on the stage playing these characters? What interpretive choices are being made? Where is this play being performed? These are all questions we invite all to ask as we apply this framework to our own scholarship and theatre practice. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Works referenced: Singh, Jyotsna G. Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory, The Arden Shakespeare, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2020.

In today's episode, we will be finishing up our exploration of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing by watching and discussing three productions.  First, we will discuss Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film version, starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. Then we will take a look at the 2019 Public Theatre's Shakespeare in Park production directed by Kenny Leon and starring Danielle Brooks and Grantham Coleman. Last but not least, we will round out our viewings with the 2011 Wyndham's Theatre production starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.  Want more Much Ado About Nothing adaptations? Over on our Patreon, we also have a discussion of the 2023 film Anyone But You starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell (coming late November 2024) Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Works referenced: "Much Ado About Nothing." Great Performancess, directed by Kenny Leon, performances by Danielle Brooks and Grantham Coleman, et.al, season 47, episode 9,   Thirteen / WNET, 2019. PBS, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shakespeare-in-the-park-much-ado-about-nothing-about/9822/.  Much Ado About Nothing. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, performances by Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, et.al.  The Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1993. Prime Video. Much Ado About Nothing. Directed by Josie Rourke and Robert Delamere, performances by Catherine Tate and David Tennant, et.al. Wyndham's Theatre. 2011. Digital Theatre.    

In today's episode, we are exploring the life of Shakespeare’s contemporary, Aemilia Bassano Lanyer (whose name is also spelled as Emilia Lanier), who was one of the first women in England to publish her writing and is the author of the first published book of poetry by an English woman.  First, we will explore Aemilia's early life before discussing her groundbreaking volume of poetry, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum. We will talk about what is known of the rest of Aemilia's life before giving a brief overview of what she is most known for today: her possible ties to William Shakespeare. Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Works referenced: Benson, Pamela. ‘Emilia Lanier’, A Critical Introduction to the Casebooks of Simon Forman and Richard Napier, 1596–1634, https://casebooks.lib.cam.ac.uk/using-the-casebooks/meet-the-patients/emilia-lanier, accessed 6 October 2024. Cooley, Ron. “Aemilia Lanyer  Biographical Introduction.” Aemilia Lanyer, Biographical Introduction, University of Saskatchewan English Department, 8 Aug. 1998, drc.usask.ca/projects/emet/phoenix/lanyerbio.htm. Greenstadt, A. Eliza . "Aemilia Lanyer". In obo in Renaissance and Reformation. 6 Oct. 2024. . Grossman, Marshall, editor. Aemilia Lanyer: Gender, Genre, and the Canon. 1st ed., University Press of Kentucky, 1998. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt130jkm3. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024. Lanyer, Aemilia. “Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.” Edited by Risa S. Bear, Renascence Editions , Luminarium/The Univeristy of Oregon, 21 Nov. 2009, www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/lanyer1.html. Lanyer, Aemilia. “The Description of Cooke-Ham.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2024, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50661/the-description-of-cooke-ham.  McBride, Kari Boyd (2008) Web Page Dedicated to Aemilia Lanyer Archived 25 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 06 Oct. 2024 McDonough, M.G., host. “More than the Dark Lady: Aemelia Lanyer’s “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women.” The Classic English Literature Podcast, season 1, episode 65, 05 May 2024. https://theclassicenglishliteraturepodcast.buzzsprout.com/2024786/episodes/15012587-more-than-the-dark-lady-aemilia-lanyer-s-eve-s-apology-in-defense-of-women. Accessed 05 October 2024. Teysko, Heather, host. “Amelia Lanier: England’s first Female English Poet.” Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About the Tudors, season 1, episode 220, 10 January 2024. https://www.englandcast.com/podcast-archive/. Accessed 05 October 2024.  

In today's episode, we are exploring the historical and theatrical context for bastard characters in Shakespeare's plays and other plays of the early modern period. We'll explore the cultural norms that existed for illegitimate children during the Elizabethan and Jacobean and the legal, financial, and social prejudices they and their parents experienced. We will also discuss how the experience of illegitimacy intersects with class in early modern England. Then, we will explore how the early modern theatre mirrored the experience of illegitimate children and how bastard characters were used as a tool by dramatists for the early modern theatre.   Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Works referenced: Findlay, Alison. Illegitimate Power: Bastards in Renaissance Drama. United Kingdom, Manchester University Press, 2009.