Robust and endlessly versatile, Othello has rightly remained one of Shakespeare's most popular tragedies. We spend the entire play knowing more than the Moor of Venice and are forced to watch him slowly come undone. Watching Othello is like watching a car wreck: we see it coming and can do nothing but sit and wait for the crash to occur. In this episode of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel discusses one of Shakespeare's strongest plays.
Read MoreShakespeare entered his dark period with this unique and often troubling play, one which just barely earns its reputation as a comedy.
Read MoreIt's hard not to applaud Shakespeare for the audacity of Troilus and Cressida, whose cynical and unhappy story seems to mark Shakespeare's turn towards the darker themes that would mark the rest of his career.
Read MoreOne of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, Twelfth Night - otherwise known as What You Will - is Shakespeare's last genuine romantic comedy, but it still has its serious themes.
Read MoreAll is not rotten in the state of Denmark until Hamlet comes along and makes a mess of the whole thing. In Episode 22 of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel discusses Shakespeare's most famous play.
Read MoreWomen are wooed in Shakespeare, but until As you Like It, he never showed us the process by which they are won.
Read MoreThe critic Norman Rabkin called Henry V “the capstone to an edifice of plays tightly mortared to one another”[i], and yet, the majority of productions attempt to present the play as a standalone story that represents the producers' own political vision. These distortions have created a new play entirely and the most popular versions of Henry V have not revealed Shakespeare’s Henry, but rather one which served its creator’s particular purpose. In Episode 19 of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel Fishbane explores this powerful but uneven play.
Read MoreThe prototype for every warring would-be lovers who have ever followed, Beatrice and Benedict tower over Much Ado About Nothing; just as Falstaff stole Hal's thunder, so too do Beatrice and Benedict steal the show from everyone else.
Read MoreIf anyone in Elizabethan times wrote Shakespearian fan fiction, it probably looks a lot like The Merry Wives of Windsor. Although half its cast has been stolen from the Henriad, the story doesn't quite fit within the chronology of those two plays, making it feel as if Shakespeare plucked his characters out of one universe and dropped them into another. Had he done this for the sake of a great play, all would be forgiven. Sadly, this is not the case.
Read MoreHenry IV Part Two is a messy and weak play that no theatrical producer would ever produce on its own. When it is produced, it is always in conjunction with its predecessor, making the play the theatrical equivalent of your favorite comic book sidekick. In Episode 16 of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel Fishbane discusses the problems with putting Sir John Falstaff at centre stage. Also, the show is summarize and Orson Wells' film Chimes at Midnight is discussed.
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