Bard Flies

In Shakespeare's final -- yes, final -- play, he returns to where he started with the plight of noblemen in love with the same woman. Working again with John Fletcher, Shakespeare borrows from Chaucer for a tale set in ancient Greece featuring duels, delusions, exposure therapy, and prayers to the gods that get answered like the wishes on a monkey's paw -- but all in the service of

In the final of the history plays, Shakespeare and his collaborator John Fletcher take on Henry VIII, the story of his first two wives, the birth of the future queen Elizabeth, and the establishment of the Church of England. In this episode, Will and James discuss why people have found the politics of Henry’s court so compelling across the ages from Showtime’s The Tudors to Hil

Magic, monsters, sprites, witches, shipwrecks, betrayal, love stories on an enchanted isle, and emotional catharsis driven by a puppet master pulling all the stings: no, dear listeners, it’s not a Dungeons & Dragons campaign but Shakespeare’s The Tempest! Will and James discuss the play know as Shakespeare’s affectionate late-career farewell to the theatre, portrayals of

With plot twists that depend on poor facial recognition, one-sided bets over cuckoldry, one of the most idiotic kings in Shakespeare, and a truly villainous stepson whose beheading we are unfairly denied on stage, Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline” is an interesting and often forgotten play in the Shakespeare canon. Will and James discuss which of these twists is most incredible as we

In a land ruled by a paranoid and jealous king hell-bent on destroying his own family and buffeted by violent storms, miracles, and a very large and hungry bear, Shakespeare’s characters go from intense melodrama to comedy to redemption in the five wild acts of The Winter’s Tale. In this week’s episode, Will and James find themselves surprised by how much they liked this roma

What happens when a virtuous general gets drafted to run for office after defeating Rome’s enemies in battle? Nothing good! In this classic tale of martial virtue, popular politics, banishment, and treason, Shakespeare explores the divide between soldiers and the public, martial honor and private wounds, and some of the most epic “mommy issues” this side of Hamlet. Will and J

On a tour with the least linear ports of call since The Odyssey, Shakespeare’s Pericles tries to win the hand of a princess in an incestuous relationship with her father by solving a riddle, ends a famine, gets into a shipwreck, wins a different bride in a tournament, and loses his family to a storm and pirates involved prostitution, only to miraculously reunite with them in the

In one of the most famously torrid love affairs of all time, defined by extramarital cheating, lavish outfits, histrionics, and the shadow of collapsing empires, this episode’s main characters define obsession and the insanity of passion. No, not Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton! Antony and Cleopatra! Picking up where “Julius Caesar” left off, Shakespeare cranks up the ope

Double, double toil and trouble! Fire burn and cauldron bubble! Haunted by witches, ghostly daggers, murder, Macbeth is an obvious classic. But why? Will and James discuss Shakespeare's finest marriage story, the power of ambition and guilt, and a short play packed with an improbable concentration of amazing soliloquies, phrases, and speeches. // Credits // Intro Music: Jon Sayles,

In a classic riches-to-rags story, the wealthy and generous Timon goes from commissioning artwork and giving interest free loans to subsisting on roots and railing against humanity in Shakespeare's bleak comedy. The atmosphere is lightened somewhat by how he seeks revenge on his faithless creditors and his city as a whole through practical jokes, the machinations of a dishonored ge