Episode 333. My Willy Matters

Published by austin on

”The Reduced Shakespeare Company PodcastHappy Death-And-Day-We’ve-All-Agreed-To-Accept-As-Your-Birthday, Willy! In honor of William Shakespeare turning the big 4-4-9, we gather a mighty quorum, fully eleven-thirds of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, to discuss the Bard’s lasting influence, his greatest interpreters, and amazing bowling prowess. Featuring shout-outs to great Shakespeareans, dares to teenagers, how you can probably speak more Shakespeare than you know, a special appearance by Folger Shakespeare Library Director Michael Witmore, and the joy of playing Shakespearean roles without all that pesky poetry. What a piece of work is this man! (Length 29:42)

Podcast: Download (13.8MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | Stitcher | RSS | More

Categories: Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast
Tags:

1 Comment

Megan · April 25, 2013 at 1:15 am

Like Matt, I love Shakespeare’s use of language and the amazing pictures he paints with his words. The St. Crispin’s Day Speech from Henry V is one of my all time favourite passages of writing and in my humble opinion, there will never be another piece of writing like it…EVER!

I will never forget hearing the whole speech done verbatim without notes by my 11th or 12th grade English teacher which is when I fell headlong in love with Willy.

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Related Posts

Meet Braden Abraham

Braden Abraham, the new artistic director of Chicago’s Writers Theatre, just announced the theater's 31st season, the first one he's programmed since joining the company. Braden talks about what goes into planning a season (and how that thinking never really ends); how a theatre season is like a great album; the importance of being in a learning and discovery phase; remaining in conversation with various overlapping communities; how programming a show in one city leads to a different show in another; the challenge of making each show an event; finding the right balance of scale and intimacy; and the value of bring some west coast energy to the north shore. (Length 19:18)

Will’s Gender Play

The About Face Theatre world premiere production of Gender Play, or what you Will is a tour-de-force for its co-creator and star Will Wilhelm, who transforms their own story as a nonbinary actor into a funny and powerful evening that's part seance and part dance party. Will shares their journey of discovery and how this play began as a thrown gauntlet; how Shakespeare’s plays are fundamentally queer, and how Will found themself in them; the difficulty of parsing gender identity, gender performance, and cross-dressing; the importance of creating easy on-ramps to appreciating Shakespeare; and how Gender Play will continue to be a gift to future queer performers who can make it their own. (Length 25:20)

Writers Guild Strike

David A. Goodman, the former president of the Writers Guild of America currently leading the negotiations and strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), takes a break from the picket lines to explain why this existential fight is so important. David reveals what's at stake, avoids heroic hyperbole; declines to craft narratives; confides who has the real power in Hollywood; explains the gutting of the American middle-class; possesses an admirable reluctance to participate in childish banter; and expresses gratitude for the extraordinary support the WGA is getting from its sister Hollywood unions. (Length 20:18)