Everyday Shakespeare

In this episode, we kick off summer by taking to the sea with Shakespeare. Long before all-you-can-eat buffets, pickleball on the lido deck, and Norovirus outbreaks, Shakespeare was already imagining the pleasures and perils of ocean cruises. From the maritime disaster of his early play The Comedy of Errors to the storm-tossed misadventures of his late romances Pericles and The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare loved to imagine what might happen when friends and family were stuck on board together. We'll also look at a real-life 1610 account of a shipwreck-turned-"White Lotus"-getaway, and a seventeenth-century science fiction novel about a Young Lady whose nightmare cruise turns into the ultimate female fantasy. Join us as we set a course for adventure and our minds on some very weird romance.

Shakespeare's great tragedy Hamlet is having a moment. Between director Chloe Zhao's film adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's bestselling novel, Hamnet, and Taylor Swift's song "The Fate of Ophelia," two of Shakespeare's most tragic characters have hit pop culture payday. In this episode, we explore these creative iterations of Shakespeare's life and work, and why Hamlet and Ophelia continue to resonate. We talk about the concept of Catholic Purgatory, and how Zhao's film captures the emotional power of this in-between spiritual space — one that haunts Shakespeare's original play and (as we discuss) his original audiences. In the second half of the episode, we give Ophelia extra time in the spotlight as we mine the Victorian origin stories that solidified her reputation as nothing more than a beautiful, hysterical girl who drowns herself; and then we turn to the play itself, where she's alive and fully sane most of the time, and listen to what she's really saying.

It's human nature to love the spectacle of a power couple, whether it's a celebrity marriage proposal or corporate heavyweights having some adulterous fun at a Coldplay concert. But how did people get their fix before social media, kiss-cams, and People Magazine? In this episode, we explore Shakespeare's juiciest stories of famous men and women--including Henry VIII, his multiple wives, and G.O.A.T power couple Antony and Cleopatra—as well as the fans who gobbled up all their faults and follies.

We've gone a little nuts when it comes to celebrating our kids' milestones, like their birthdays and graduations. We've even started inventing new ones (hello, Bed Parties??), which means we're buying even more party swag. In this episode, we explore how families in Shakespeare's day celebrated their kids' big rites of passage. Did they make themselves crazy planning the best christening party ever? How did they mark little William's gold medal in pee-wee fencing? What did life look like before bouncy castles and Gender Reveal cakes?

Why mess with Shakespeare's perfectly good script of Romeo and Juliet? In this interview, Tim Bogart, writer and director of Juliet and Romeo (release date, May 9, 2025), explains his reasons—historical, personal, and otherwise—for getting down and dirty with some wild revisions of Shakespeare's tragedy. He's got big ideas--and big stars--for what is the first of a planned film trilogy. Not to mention that Rebel Wilson's turn at Lady Capulet might be the best example of "playing against type" in recent memory.