https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/short-sos-play-dates.mp3 How do we know when Shakespeare wrote each of his plays? Well, there are several methods of dating a play. Sheldrake rattles through them, taking in a couple of 1590s Michael Billingtons along the way. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/sheldrake-on-shakespeare-special-read-not-dead-at-shakespeares-globe.mp3 For many years, Globe Education has been staging performances with scripts of the plays of Shakespeare’s contemporaries in a series called Read Not Dead. They have worked their way through over 200 plays, but the opening of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse means they now have a permanent and splendid home. To decide which play should be the jewel in the crown of the c...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/short-sos-rehearsal-and-performance.mp3 Attempts to reconstruct the original performance circumstances of Renaissance plays, either literally or imaginatively, have been a constant companion to fascination about the literature. How did these plays actually get put together? What was the process? Would the actors recognise the concept of a rehearsal process? Sheldrake investigates. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/short-sos-the-drama-of-the-sonnets.mp3 Shakespeare’s Sonnets are things you nearly always read alone. But there is a rich seam of drama and conversation to be mined from them, as Sheldrake found recently when he saw them read aloud at the Royal Festival Hall. Subscribe on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/short-sos-shakespearean-theatres.mp3 Where did the magic happen? We’ve all heard of the Globe, but what did it mean for a play to be written for one playhouse rather than another? And what, for that matter, did it mean for Shakespeare to be attached to the Globe for most of his career? Sheldrake gallops through some answers. Subscribe on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/the-taming-of-the-shrew-sexist-drivel-or-a-play-for-our-time.mp3 As social politics continue to change with gathering speed, works of literature have to catch up or fall by the wayside. The plays of Shakespeare, written in a very different age from our own, must be scrutinised. Does this play, a notorious battle of the sexes, pass the test? Sheldrake thinks so. Subscribe on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/short-sos-what-use-is-shakespeare-criticism.mp3 Turning introspective for a moment, Sheldrake considers what value Shakespeare criticism can be said to have. Subscribe on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/richard-ii-history-or-tragedy.mp3 Richard II has grown in fame in recent years, but is hounded by the fact that the central character is brilliant whilst the rest of the play is the usual run-of-the-mill History drama. But is it that simple? By paying closer attention, can we see that the true genius of this play is in its combination of genres in order to understand history? Sheldrake thinks so. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyu...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/short-sos-venus-and-adonis.mp3 The poetry of Shakespeare tends to be an “also-ran” in his canon, but Venus and Adonis tells us as much about his development and abilities as any of the plays. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/loves-labours-lost-four-mality.mp3 Form is almost absent from the modern critical radar, which has put Love’s Labour’s Lost on the back burner. In a courageous rear-guard action, Sheldrake tries to demonstrate the formal beauty of Love’s Labour’s Lost , and explains why that formal beauty matters. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/timon-of-athens-shakespeare-and-the-city.mp3 London was growing up fast in Shakespeare’s day. Whether you’re familiar with Shakespeare or not, Timon of Athens seems a very peculiar play. But armed with some context, its connection with Renaissance finance and city drama become apparent. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/the-merry-wives-of-windsor-words-words-words.mp3 The Merry Wives of Windsor is devoid of ideas, so let’s talk about language instead. And hear Sheldrake play five parts in fifteen minutes. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/short-sos-shakespeare-at-school.mp3 If you think Shakespeare was a purely natural genius, the words spilling out from a free spirit of a mind, think again. Shakespeare’s rigorous education at school primed him in all sorts of crucial ways for his later career. Sheldrake explains how at breakneck speed. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/henry-viii-master-and-apprentice.mp3 Henry VIII is a little known play, but it bears witness to John Fletcher’s apprenticeship to William Shakespeare. And perhaps it’s not that bad a play after all. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/macbeth-on-the-construction-site.mp3 We are so used to some of Shakespeare’s plays that it can be very difficult to see their shape with clear eyes. Fusing historical context with an analysis of dramatic structure, Sheldrake takes Macbeth apart and puts it back together again, arguing that Shakespeare’s structural courage is what makes this play so electrifying. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/short-sos-fast-first-folio.mp3 Without the First Folio, half of Shakespeare’s plays would be lost. What was the process that led to this miraculous book? And how was it made? Sheldrake explains, briefly. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/romeo-and-juliet-self-promotion-through-boring-lovers.mp3 Romeo and Juliet . Either you love it or you hate it. But might there be a middle road between those viewpoints that reveals the clever structuring of the play? Sheldrake investigates. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/short-sos-female-parts.mp3 In the first of a series of supplementary podcasts, Sheldrake talks about the boys who created Shakespeare’s female roles on-stage. Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/as-you-like-it-why-going-to-the-theatre-is-compulsory.mp3 As You Like It is liked by audiences, disliked by academics. What then does this tell us about how crucial performance is to the success of the text? Consequently, Sheldrake argues, engaging with the performance of this play and others should be not only a pleasure for the serious Shakespearean, but also a duty. Now available on iTunes : http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm...
https://sheldrakeonshakespeare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/titus-andronicus-the-shock-of-the-new.mp3 Titus Andronicus is rarely read, seen, or heard, but it does not deserve this lack of reputation. Not only does it have much to recommend it artistically, it is also crucial to an understanding of Shakespeare’s development as a writer.
