That Shakespeare Life

Latest Episodes:

Ep 194: Clouds, Lightning, and Special Effects with Frank Mohler Jan 03, 2022

Show notes

When Shakespeare performed scenes like the ocean waves of the Tempest, the flying acrobatics of ghosts, or had his characters change location from the streets of verona to the castles of Kings of England, there were technologies, machines, and specialty techniques used in the 16th century to accomplish these feats of nature and fantastic visual effects on stage.

Our guest this week is an expert in early modern performance illusions and the machines used to create them. We are delighted to welcome Frank Mohler, professor emeritus of the Department of Theater and Dance at Appalachian State University. He joins us today to share the history of 16th century flying machines, set changes, trap doors, and even elevators that were used in Shakespeare's lifetime.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep 193: King of Moors Pageant with Maria Shmygol Dec 27, 2021

Show notes

When London established a new mayor every October, there was a pageant put on to celebrate the appointment and introduce the new mayor to the city known as the Lord Mayor's Show. This event was an extravagant affair, featuring a huge parade that followed an established route through the city. In one of the earliest accounts we have of the Lord Mayor's Show, from 1585, records indicate that part of the parade that year was a pageant known as the King Of Moor's pageant. This pageant is described by our guest this week, Maria Shmygol, as a Moor pageant that was performed by an actor in blackface, and other such pageant devices and dark-skinned personages (variously described as 'Moors' and 'black Indians'). Maria writes that this pageant and this presentation of black moors would come again in close to 10 other mayoral inaugurations across the early to mid 17th century, including 3 within Shakespeare's lifetime. Maria Shmygol joins us today to explain the King of Moors pageant, including what we know about the actors, blackface makeup, and whether there was a distinction culturally between African, Indian, and Arabic, or if "moor" was a more general term. Since the images of the King of Moor's pageant also includes drawings of a giant leopard, Maria will share with us the purpose and place of that specific animal in the pageant as well.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep 192: Purple Carrots with Phil Simon Dec 21, 2021

Show notes

Wild carrots are indigenous to Europe and known as Queen Anne's Lace, as well as Devil's Plague, and Fool's Parsley, this wild carrot variety was known primarily for its use as an herb and in medicinal recipes. The formal, cultivated carrot arrived in England by the 15th century, and right up until Shakespeare's lifetime, carrots were mostly purple. According to the Wild Carrot Museum in the UK, orange colored carrots arrived in Europe right in the middle of Shakespeare's lifetime, making the orange carrot a new thing for Shakespeare. In fact, one reason orange carrots are thought to have caught on so quickly in popularity is because cooking the orange carrots didn't stain the pots nearly as bad as cooking with purple ones. The new carrot took a firm hold in the cultivation of this root vegetable and by the time British settlers arrived in North America, the carrots they brought with them were primarily orange and sometimes white. When it comes to finding carrots in Shakespeare's plays, the word "carrot" isn't in there. We can only partially fault Shakespeare for not giving us a nice reference to carrots for this week's episode because the word "carrot" was just getting started in the English language. "Carrot" arrived in English around 1530, but in popular vernacular, there was a great deal of overlap between the names for root vegetables. Carrots, parsnips, and parsley were often referred to interchangeably by the same names. In fact, in Old English, there's not a good way to distinguish between carrots and parsnips, since they were both called "moru" coming from the, fittingly, root word for "edible root."

Our guest this week is an expert in historical horticulture and he joins us today to help us understand what Shakespeare would have called this orange root vegetable, whether or not it was a regular at the dinner table, and to explain the history of what kind of carrots Shakespeare would have enjoyed.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep 191: Pearls with Saoirse Laarachi Dec 13, 2021

Show notes

Shakespeare uses the word "pearl" over 40 times across his works. He describes them as objects of high value, and in Troilus and Cressida, uses the pearl to describe a rare and valuable woman saying "she is a pearl, Whose price hath launch'd above a thousand ships." The pearl trade was an industry well established under Henry VIII of England, who looked to the pearl trade as a way to strengthen England's international relations after separation from Catholicism left them in need of some strong allies. Elizabeth I continued this pursuit, but enhanced the value of the pearl in England up to six fold, by some scholarly estimates, over the

first 60 years in the 16th century due in part to the fact that the Queen literally wore thousands of them herself. Many of her most opulent outfits, appearing in numerous royal portraits of Elizabeth I, feature thousands of this precious gemstone. During Elizabeth's reign, England regularly imported pearls by the shipload from countries like Morocco, Persia, and China. The imagery and symbolism of the pearl in England is associated with purity, chastity, and even, as the description for the ocular disease cataracts, which Shakespeare alludes to in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Rape of Lucrece.

Our guest this week is Saoirse Laarachi, a PhD candidate with the Shakespeare Institute, and author of Pearls: Trade, Beauty and North Africa for Medieval and Early Modern Orients. She joins us today to share the history of pearls in Shakspeare's lifetime to discuss their use in general fashion, their purpose in international trade agreements, and what we should understand about Pearls from the Orient, specifically, when we find these references in Shakespeare's plays.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep 190: Metallurgy with Alan Williams Dec 06, 2021

Show notes

Metal was used in Shakespeare's lifetime to create a variety of items including swords, armor, guns, and even horseshoes. In one reference from Henry IV Part II, Shakespeare draws attention to the fact that a "smith" the term for someone who works with metal, was responsible for creating some of these items when the character Davy says "Here is now the smith's note for shoeing and plough-irons." That comes from Act V, Scene 1. While most of Shakespeare's uses of the word "smith" in his plays refer specifically to a goldsmith (that term being used at least 11 times in his works), there were other kinds of smiths, like silversmiths, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, and coppersmiths who worked in Shakespeare's lifetime. Shakespeare gives us a glimpse of this metallurgical enterprise when the character Hubert de Burgh, in King John, Act IV Scene II says "I saw a smith stand with his hammer... whilst his iron did on the anvil cool." We can tell from what references Shakespeare leaves us that metallurgy and working with metals held common place in society for his lifetime, but seeing as how most of don't visit the blacksmith today on a regular basis, we asked our guest, Alan Williams, an Archaeometallurgist at The Wallace Collection, to visit with us today and take us back to Shakespeare's lifetime where we can explore exactly how the metal was acquired, used, and molded into some of these essential household items for Shakespeare's lifetime.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep 189: Cunning Folk with Owen Davies Nov 29, 2021

Show notes

You may have heard of common superstitions like throwing salt over your shoulder when you spill some to ward off bad luck, or crossing your fingers when you tell a lie to prevent consequences of your transgression. These kinds of small acts to try and control or influence the spiritual realm around you were more than just common superstitions for the life of William Shakespeare. Even in Protestant England, where the monarchs like Elizabeth I and James I after her, were actively harsh against anything even suspected of being witchcraft, simultaneously operating in the households of families and property owners around England were those known as Cunning Folk. These people were witches, wizards, and magicians whose practices included mixing up specialty brews to cure someone of bewitchment, as well as practicing various kinds of miraculous healing. What's surprising about these cunning folk is not only that they were tolerated in a very anti-witchcraft society like Protestant England, but that they were rampant across England, to the point of being quite common and ordinary for Shakespeare's lifetime. Here today to explain what the cunning folk were, their place in society, and what kinds of magic they practiced is our guest and author of Cunning-Folk and the Production of Magical Artefacts Owen Davies.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep 188: Plymouth Colony with David and Aaron Bradford Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

It is Thanksgiving this week here in the US where we take time to intentionally be grateful for what we've been given and count our blessings, but it is also the one time of year where the whole nation remembers an event that began during the life of William Shakespeare: the journey of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Not many people realize the story of William Shakespeare overlaps with that of the Pilgrims, due mostly to the fact that the Pilgrims wouldn't actually set sail from Plymouth until 1620, which is 4 years after the death of William Shakespeare. However, The Puritans were a major part of Shakespeare's life in England prior to that fateful day in 1620, including Puritans who lived within walking distance of the known residences Shakespeare took up in London. The story of the Mayflower, Pilgrims, and so-called "Strangers" that travelled with them including Miles Standish, William Brewster, and William Bradford, informs our understanding of Shakespeare's culture and the strong religious tensions that were building up in early 17th century England..

As many countries were flocking to the New World and trying to establish colonies there, England, too was placing a mark on the new land with settlements like Jamestown being established under Captain John Smith in 1607. At the same time, the Pilgrims were seeking to go to this New World, but for a decidedly different reason. As a group of religious separatists, as they were known then, they were seeking the right to freedom of religion. The group capitalized on the popular wave of exploration under James I to secure a land patent that allowed them to travel to England and set up a new colony where they could worship, and live, in freedom. Accompanied by the Merchant Adventurers and sanctioned by the Plymouth Colony, the Pilgrims set sail on September 6, 1620.

Here today to tell us about the history behind the Pilgrim's journey from England to Plymouth and the realities of that First Thanksgiving are our guests and historians behind the 1620 Experience, David and Aaron Bradford.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep 187: The Arquebus Rifle with Jonathan Ferguson Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

In 1593, Shakespeare wrote Venus and Adonis the play in which he writes "like the deadly bullet of a gun, His meaning struck her ere his words begun." As our guest this week explains, "This is likely a reference to the phenomenon of a supersonic bullet hitting the target before the gunshot is heard. The Henrician arquebuses housed at the Royal Armouries in England, some dating from Shakespeare's lifetime, were capable of 400 metres per second or more, which is supersonic. The big heavy muskets of his era and many artillery pieces were also supersonic. 'Bullet' was used for any gun projectile at the time, so Shakespeare could actually have been talking about firearms or artillery (or both) here." Shakespeare references either the word gun or musket a total of 7 times in his works. Like so many things during this Renaissance period of history, the technology of firearms and rifles was growing and evolving rapidly in terms of their construction, accuracy, firing mechanisms, and even which countries adopted the manufacturing of these weapons. Several surviving examples of these guns from 15-17th century Germany, France, and England are held at the Royal Armories Collections and their Keeper of Firearms and Artillery, Jonathan Ferguson, is here today to talk with us about the differences between matchlock, flintlock, rifles, and muskets, and to explore exactly what kind of weapons Shakespeare would have known about when he mentions guns, bullets, and muskets in his plays.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep 186: Stratford Upon Avon Floods in 1588 with Laurie Johnson Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

In 1588, William Shakespeare turned 24 years old. This year is part of what we call "Shakespeare's Lost Years" because we don't know precisely what Shakepeare was doing at this time. Many speculations have been made that Shakespeare hopped a ride with one of the touring companies that visited his hometown of Stratford Upon Avon to make his fortunes in London. Of course, the details are not known for sure, but our guest this week brings new evidence to the discussion by investigating one major flood event that struck Stratford Upon Avon in 1588. Prior to this significant disaster, Shakespeare's hometown was a major stop of the route of travelling playing companies across England, and after this disaster, the town seems to drop off of the itinerary, leading some to speculate that the damage and subsequent fall from its' status as a tourist destination may have played a role in William Shakespeare leaving for London. This week we welcome our guest, Laurie Johnson to the show to share his research into the flood of 1588 to tell us what may have happened to the town of Stratford Upon Avon that led to the departure of the bard.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep 185: Witch Bottles, Charms, and Mummified Cats with Brian Hoggard Nov 01, 2021

Show notes

When Shakespeare plays are performed on stage and the magic of witches dazzles us with lights, smoke, and mirrors, it's easy to think these spells and incantations are just folklore, designed to be nothing more than a theater spectacle. Archaeological evidence from Shakespeare's lifetime, however, indicates that when Shakespeare had the Second witch in Macbeth declare "Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble" these items being listed in connection with a witches brew were more than just ingredients for a nasty smelling soup. Charms, and real life objects imbued with spells and magic were believed to be capable of causing not just harm but very real "double double toil and trouble." To combat the evil spirits, and the rampant working of witches in the 16th century, your average man or woman in London would hide countermagic items such as witch bottles, cats, shoes, and even horse skulls in the walls of their home as good luck against very real evil spirits. Our guest this week is an expert in these charms, having written the journal article, The archaeology of counter-witchcraft and popular magic in which he set out to find the various surviving counter magic artifacts in the UK and cataloged a list of not only what kinds of items were kept to ward off evil like witches, but also where they were kept, and why. Here to share his findings with us and explain the details behind a few of the counter magic artifacts from Shakespeare's lifetime, is our guest, Brian Hoggard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected