Thing Of Darkness

What if Shakespeare didn’t die on April 23, 1616, and instead sailed to the New World? Novelist Allan Batchelder (the Immortal Treachery series) dives into speculative historical fiction to investigate this very question in his new novel This Thing of Darkness, which imagines the aging playwright creating a new family of outsiders amidst tension between their fellow English settles, the suspicious Powhatans, and a creature out of legend. Allan discusses his novel’s origins; how much of the historical record fuels his imagination; how he dives into and refutes various Authorship theories; how spite is a powerful motivator; how his experience as an actor, educator, former stand-up comedian and Girl Scout (!) influences his writing; how he navigates the dangers of writing from on-high; and the fun of positing a different kind of a relationship between William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. (Length 20:13)

Episode 593. Best Shakespeare Play

The We Got This! Podcast, created and hosted by Hal Lublin and Mark Gagliardi, settles such important and earth-shattering cultural debates as what is the Best Donut, the Best Toilet Paper, and Best Muppet. But recently, with the help of the RSC’s own Austin Tichenor, they settled something truly important: What is, actually, Shakespeare’s greatest play. This week we present to you the abridged version of Episode 113 of the We Got This! Podcast, featuring truly lively banter, questionable priorities, varying definitions of ‘expert,’ Shakespearean references to both Scooby-Doo and Freddy Krueger, living with mistakes, the legacy of Henry V’s St. Crispin’s Day speech, adherence to the Aristotelian unities, the challenge of appreciating Shakespeare’s greatness without acknowledging his flaws, suggested new opening lines for Twelfth Night, and ultimately a shocking (or maybe not-so-shocking) result. (Leave your comments below.) (Length 30:10)

Episode 437. Back Room Shakespeare

”Chicago actor and now author Samuel Taylor chronicles the origins of the Back Room Shakespeare Project in his new book My Life With The Shakespeare Cult. Part cri de coeur, part call to arms, Sam’s book is a brief and inspiring manifesto about restoring life to Shakespeare performance. Featuring the Read more…

Episode 345. To Kill Shakespeare

”We sat down recently with Conor McCreery, the co-creator of the amazing graphic novel Kill Shakespeare, who talks about how a love of both comics and Shakespeare led him and his collaborators to create this highly praised and popular artistic/literary mashup. Featuring incredibly accommodating pirates, the fun of combining high Read more…

Episode 337. Professor Peter Holland

Professor Peter Holland, the highly distinguished McNeel Family Professor of Shakespeare at Notre Dame University and the former director of the Shakespeare Institute at Stratford-upon-Avon, talks about the good, the Bard, and the silly. Featuring outrageous assumptions about Shakespeare professors; the only way to be true to Shakespeare; the real reason that Read more…

Episode 333. My Willy Matters

”Happy 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 Read more…

Episode 154. The Shakespeare App

Ron Severdia is the creator of the Shakespeare App, which puts the complete works of William Shakespeare at your fingertips in a fun format complete with searchable database. Ron chats about the app’s origins and its future, what goes on under the hood, and what one does to turn a Shakespeare app Pro. (MP3. Length 17:53)

TWEETING Shakespeare

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare achieved another level of ultimate reduction when we compressed each of Shakespeare’s plays via our Twitter account into Tweets of less than 140 characters. (This was probably one of the reasons we won the 2010 Shorty Award in the “Cultural Institution” category.) Check the Read more…

Episode 96. My Name’s Will

”Founding RSC member Jess Winfield discusses his first novel My Name Is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare, and why politics, artistic growth, and the occasional naughty word fuel his recent work. Featuring RenFaire and RSC memories, hints about a possible sequel, a desperate cry for minions, and Read more…

Episode 72. The Authorship Question

”Don’t know your Bacons from your Marlowes, your deVeres from your Rutlands? Fear not. As William Shakespeare turns the big 4-4-4, we review the candidates some people consider the actual authors of Shakespeare’s plays. Featuring scandalous scholarship, an excerpt from Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide for the Attention-Impaired (abridged), and Read more…

Episode 21. Happy Birthday Willy!

”Celebrate William Q. Shakespeare’s birthday with this collection of live performance readings from Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide For The Attention-Impaired (abridged). Also, excerpts from the BBC World Service’s Reduced Shakespeare Radio Show, the radio version of RSC Q&A, and a distinguished and plummy appearance by Dr. Peter Holland, McNeel Read more…