That Shakespeare Life

Latest Episodes:

Ep 124: The Found Colony of Roanoke with Scott Dawson Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

Having been considered lost for centuries, and a huge mystery for historians, our guest today believes he has located the final resting place of the Lost Colony, and indeed, has uncovered artifacts that suggest they were never lost in the first place. Today we welcome Scott Dawson, archaeologist and author of The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island to tell the story of Roanoke Colony that so captured the imagination of Shakespeare's England in the 1580s, as well as our own imagination into the 21st century, and to tell us about what he has found on Hatteras Island that leads him to believe this colony which once was lost, has now been found

Ep 123: Exhumation of Richard III with Mathew Morris Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

Without the actual body of Richard III whose shallow grave was long lost to history centuries ago, scholars have used texts, like Shakespeare, to try and find evidence for the truth about what actually happened to Richard III. For one team of archaeologists, however, it was not enough to leave the sinister Richard III lost to history with more questions than answers. So in 2012, in conjunction with the Richard III Society, a team of ambitious archaeologists led by Mathew Morris at the University of Leicester Archaeological Services working with the Leicester City Council mounted an extraordinary effort to locate the final resting place of Richard III, and discover the truth about his body, his death, and his grave. Remarkably, Mathew and his team did locate Richard III's body, and on the very first day of their project. Mathew Morris joins us today to share about this historical find, the truth about Richard III's twisted spine, and to explain why one of the most notorious Kings of England was doing buried beneath an English car park.

Ep 122: Richard Field with Adam Hooks Aug 17, 2020

Show notes

When William Shakespeare first began his career, we see evidence in his plays as well as life decisions that he was an ambitious man, almost constantly trying to secure connections with the right people in the right places to move his reputation upwards in society. One very key way we see Shakespeare intentionally seek out forward motion for his career is by his connection to Richard Field. Field is a printer who grew up in Stratford Upon Avon, likely going to the same school as William Shakespeare, and at the same time. The men both grew up to establish professional careers in London, and it seems William Shakespeare sought out Richard Field to publish Venus & Adonis as well as Rape of Lucrece which under Field's direction, connections, and influence would go on to become the most popular poetry in all of Renaissance Europe. Today our guest Adam Hooks, the foremost expert on Richard Field, and author of the book Selling Shakespeare: Biography, Bibliography, and the Book Trade, and he joins us to introduce us to Richard Field, John Harrison, and their bookshop, The White Greyhound in London that would form the foundation for William Shakespeare's success as a poet.

Adam G. Hooks is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and the Center for the Book at the University of Iowa. He us currently the editor for the Arden Shakespeare 4th series volume of "Poems."

Ep 121: Shakespeare's French with Jennifer Nicholson Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

One of the most romantic moments from Shakespeare's plays is when he writes Henry V stumbling his way through a French declaration of love and wedding proposal to Catherine of Valois in Shakespeare's Henry V. It is gorgeous scene and one of my favorites, but it presents a few questions since England was strongly pro-England at this point in history, even leaning anti-French (having taken measures like banning the import of French playing cards at this time for example) so what was Shakespeare doing when he had one of England's biggest heroes speaking French on stage? Where did Shakespeare learn French in the first place--and does he get the language right? Here to help us explore the use of French in Shakespeare's plays, how the language fit into the life of William Shakespeare, as well as the French language history behind not only Henry V, but also the French that shows up in Hamlet as well, is our guest, Jennifer Nicholson.

Ep 120: Mummy Poison with Stephen Rojcewicz Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

In Elizabethan England, there was a strong overlap in the use of drugs as medicine and using them for magic. Real physical diseases like epilepsy or psychological conditions like the pathological jealousy we see exhibited in Shakepseare's Othello, are all conditions that were just beginning to be fully understood by the medical community of the 16th century. One of the primary drugs used to treat epilepsy and pathological jealously was a drug called mummy, which was extracted from the bodies of corpses. The dark and sinister nature of the drug's origins, combined with the pervasive belief in the supernatural and conviction of superstition that saturated Elizabethan England society, it was perhaps the perfect choice for Shakespeare when he has the drug mummy be the substance that runs as a theme throughout his play, Othello. Here to help us explore the culture, medicine, and superstition behind the drug mummy and how it was used during Shakespeare's lifetime is our guest, Stephen Rojcewicz.

Ep 119: The Red Lion Theater Discovery with Stephen White Jul 27, 2020

Show notes

Underneath a housing redevelopment in Whitechapel, England, archaeologists have unearthed what is believed to be the remains of The Red Lion theater. The Red Lion predates Shakespeare's Globe and is thought to be the earliest purpose built theater known to have been built in the city since Roman-times. Built by John Brayne in 1567, the Red Lion was a predecessor to Brayne's next construction on The Theatre in Shoreditch which was owned by James Burbage and completed almost a decade later, in 1576.The Red Lion represents the start of a new movement in London which would give foundation to the budding career of a young William Shakespeare, in that this was the first time in modern history anyone was trying to provide a permanent home for the popular Tudor playing companies who up to this point were housed at various houses, inns, and other venues as a strictly travelling troupe. To create purpose built theaters was a unique change in the early modern theater industry that invited patrons to come to the theater instead of the other way around. Other than brief mentions in two lawsuits from the time period, there has not been much information to inform our understanding of this groundbreaking theater, until now. In January of 2019, a team of archaeologists with Archaeology South-East, part of University College London's Institute of Archaeology, began excavations that revealed 144 timbers thought to make up the scaffolding of the Red Lion's stage.. The director of the project, Stephen White, is here today to tell us about the dig, what they have found, and what we now know about the Red Lion based on their history discovery.

Ep 118: Characters to Fit the Actor with Scott Newstok Jul 20, 2020

Show notes

In the 16th century as Shakespeare was writing plays like Alls Well That Ends Well, Hamlet, and Julius Caesar, Shakespeare turned to classical philosophers like Cicero and Isocrates to find tales exploring not only what constituted decent, or proper behavior, but what happened to people when those invisible rules of decorum were altered or violated. We've long lauded Shakespeare for including the works of famous Latin and Greek poets in his stories, but as our guest this week, Scott Newstok, is here to share, Shakespeare was doing more than simply building on the stories he found from the past. The ideas of Cicero and Isocrates concerning what it meant to "fit" a word to the action or an action to the word was built into the fabric of who the early modern playwrights were as artists, as well as an accepted cultural perspective from the 16th century that believed people, ideas, words, and even their clothing ought to fit together properly. Intriguingly, many of these playwrights came came from craftsmen background with Shakespeare being born to a glover and Marlowe being born to a shoemaker, playwrights like Shakespeare and his contemporaries were applying to their craft what they knew to be true about art--that the details needed to fit the scene where they were being used. This approach was not only standard industry practice in the Renaissance theater, but the culture of the audience themselves would have considered taking care to make proper connections between character, actor, and outfit in performances to be what Scott Newstok calls "fitting" to the times. Scott Newstok is the author of How to Think Like Shakespeare, and he joins us this week to explore his chapter of that book called "Of Fit" where he explores the historical and culture context of Shakespeare's plays, including the idea that for Shakespeare, precision with words, actions, and even costumes, was as much a well established professional standard as it was creative genius.

Ep 117: Hans Holbein the Younger with Susan Abernethy Jul 13, 2020

Show notes

One of the best ways many Shakespeare scholars use to explore the real historical counterparts to the historical figures that show up in Shakespeare's plays is to examine what they looked like. Centuries before the advent of photography, when you wanted to capture someone's likeness and preserve it, history used paintings. People like Henry VIII, Anne of Cleves, Jane Seymour, Edward VI and many others were all given this kind of immortality when they were painted by Hans Holbein the Younger, who is arguably the best portrait artist in history.

Hans Holbein the Younger showed promise from a very young age as a portraitist and was encouraged by his father, Hans Holbein the Elder who was also an artist, to pursue his unique talents. While firmly a citizen of Switzerland, Holbein would routinely undertake the long commute from Basil, Switzerland to England as well as France to paint some of the world's most famous figures, many of whom would find new life in the performances of plays by William Shakespeare. He could not have known in the early 16th century that just a few decades after his death a young playwright would give the world a whole new reason to study his paintings, but nonetheless, Hans Holbein has a place in the study of the life of William Shakespeare, and indeed the life of England herself, so for this week, our guest, Susan Abernethy is here to introduce us to Hans Holbein and how a young boy working in his father's shop would grow up to be friends with, and the official portraitist for, some of the most notorious figures in history as well as from Shakespeare's plays.

Susan Abernethy has a degree in history and is a member of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association. Her blog, The Freelance History Writer has been continuously publishing historical articles since 2012, with an emphasis on European, Tudor, medieval, Renaissance, Early Modern and Women's history. She is currently working on a biography of a prominent Stuart royal.

Ep 116: Pontefract Castle with Neil Redfern Jul 06, 2020

Show notes

One of the most notorious castles in all of English history is Pontefract Castle. Just one step down in the levels of punishment a criminal could receive short of being sent to the Tower of London was to find themselves imprisoned in one of the town castles, and none was more notorious in it's reputation for death and imprisonment than Pontefract Castle.

Known as Pomfret in Shakespeare's plays, the bard paints a compelling story about the death of Richard II at Pontefract Castle, but what is the real history behind this iconic location? We have invited our guest this week, Neil Redfern, to visit with us and share the real history behind Pontefract Castle, as well as what's being done today to try and save it.

Ep 115: History of Oranges with Dorian Fuller Jun 29, 2020

Show notes

Like so many of Shakespeare's words, even a single line can have an elaborate history. When it comes to the word "orange" there is just such a history to be found if you know where to look.

For the 16th century, oranges were a staple item for seasonal eating on tables from the average person all the way to the nobility. While the real "rage" in history for it being fashionable to have orange houses called orangeries in England would not hit in full force until after Shakespeare's lifetime, the orange, the lemon, and sour oranges were in existence in Shakespeare's lifetime, and they show up in his plays.

Interestingly, William Shakespeare may not have had the same kind of oranges we use today for our morning orange juice or to buy at a local grocery store, but not only did he have them, there were several varieties. Here to help us explore where oranges came from, how they arrived in England, and what Shakespeare is talking about when he mentions an "orange wife" as well as going "to the orange" is our guest, Dorian Fuller.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected