Shakespeare Anyone‪?‬ Kourtney Smith & Elyse Sharp

Each year, in recognition of the National Day of Mourning/Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, we examine how British colonialism is irrevocably intertwined with Shakespeare. This year, we are taking a look at how Shakespeare's works have been used to critique the legacy of colonialism.
We will look at how adaptations of Shakespeare's work from Martinique, Barbados, Cuba, and Kenya have utilized Shakespeare's stories and characters to represent and unpack the effects of colonialism. We also discuss a 2011 Palestinian production of A Midsummer Night's Dream that intentionally worked to create post-colonial version of Dream.
Because of current events at the time we are releasing this podcast, we also encourage our listeners to learn more about colonialism as it relates to Palestine and have included additional resources below. 
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
You can support the podcast at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone
Works referenced:
Al-Saber, Samer. “Beyond Colonial Tropes: Two Productions of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in Palestine.” Critical Survey, vol. 28, no. 3, 2016, pp. 27–46. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26384116. Accessed 21 Nov. 2023.
 
Singh, Jyotsna G. Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory, The Arden Shakespeare, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2020.

Additional resources on Palestine: 
Non-fiction Books:
The Question of Palestine by Edward Said
The Hundreds’ Year War On Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 by Rashid Khalidi
The General’s Son: the Journey of an Israeli in Palestine by Miko Peled
Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire by Richard Becker
The Revolution of 1936-1939 in Palestine: Background, Details, Analysis by Ghassan Kanafani
Documentaries:
The Empire Files Presents: Gaza Fights for Freedom
The Empire Files Presents: The Untold History of Palestine & Israel
Al-Jazeera’s Ten Films to Watch About the History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict 
Journalists:
Motaz Azaiza @motaz_azaiza
Plestia Alaqad @byplestia
Rania Khalek @raniakhalek
Wizard Bisan @wizard_bisan1
Photographers:
Hamdan Dahdouh @hamdaneldahdouh
Hamza Wael @hamza_w_dahdooh
Mohamed Al Masri @mohamed.h.masri
Ali Jadallah @alijadallah66
Video Creator:
Ahmed Hijazi @ahmedhijazee
Documenting Palestine @documentingpalestine
Podcasts:
The Palestinian Pod
Citations Needed Podcast Episode 28: The Asymptotic ‘Two State Solution’ (Part 1) and Episode 29: The Asymptotic ‘Two State Solution’ (Part 2)
Writer:
Jenan Matari @jenanmatari
Organizations:
Palestinian Youth Movement
Jewish Voice for Peace
Answer Coalition
Breaking the Silence: Israel @breakingthesilenceisrael 
Aid:
Anera: helps refugees and vulnerable communities in Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan @aneraorg
 

We are finishing up our series on Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus by discussing two prominent adaptations and how they match up to what we've studied in our episodes. 
First, we will take a look at Julie Taymor's 1999 epic surrealist film adaptation, Titus, starring Antony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. Then, we compare it to the 2017 Royal Shakespeare Company production directed by Matthew Woodward.
Join us as we explore these two very different productions of Shakespeare's bloody and brutal play!
Taymor, Julie, director. Titus. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2000.
"Titus Andronicus." , directed by Matthew Woodward, and William Shakespeare. , produced by Griselda Yorke. , Royal Shakespeare Company, 2017. Alexander Street, https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C3999879. 

This year, 2023, is the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. Have you ever stopped to ask how much you actually know about Anne?
In today's episode, we will travel back through time to explore how Anne has been depicted in Shakespeare biographies and works of imaginative fiction since her death. We explore how her inclusion (or exclusion) from Shakespeare's narrative has changed and investigate what these depictions can tell us about society's perceptions of Shakespeare.
Finally, we will also dive into the historical record and share the facts of Anne Hathaway's life. And yes, we will talk about that second best bed line in William Shakespeare's will. 
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
You can support the podcast at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone
Works referenced:
AKA Group Limited, LLC, and Juliet Broadway LLC. “& Juliet: Official Broadway Website.” & Juliet | Official Broadway Website – Official Tickets for the New Broadway Musical & Juliet., Juliet Broadway LLC, 2022, andjulietbroadway.com/.
Gunderson, Lauren. The Book of Will. Dramatists Play Service Inc., 2018.
O’Farrell, Maggie. Hamnet. Alfred A. Knopf, 2020.
Scheil, Katherine West. Imagining Shakespeare’s Wife: The Afterlife of Anne Hathaway. Cambridge University Press, 2018.

In today's episode we are joined by Carson Brakke to discuss how early modern concepts and anxieties about hospitality and cannibalism influenced early modern literature and drama, most explicitly in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. 
Carson breaks down the early modern concept of hospitality and shares the cultural debates and dilemmas that centered around it and its inherent dangers. Join us as she guides us through the cognitive dissonance surrounding cannibalism for early modern Europeans, who simultaneously used it to other non-Europeans while possibly participating in cannibalism themselves! 
We also explore how readers and theatre-makers today can use this knowledge to interpret scenes of hospitality and cannibalism in Shakespeare and other early modern works.
Content warning: cannibalism is discussed throughout this episode. Please listen with care. 
Our guest: Carson Brakke is a PhD candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and is writing her dissertation on representations of hospitality in early modern English literature. In addition to hospitality, her research interests include domesticity, food studies, and women’s writing. To break up the solitary work of dissertating, Carson uses her TikTok platform to talk about early modern literature and the PhD experience. You can find her @glutenbergbible, where she’s always looking to chat with more people about research, academia, and the weird and surprising sides of early modern English literature!
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
You can support the podcast at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone
Works referenced:
Brakke, Carson. “The Dangers of Hospitality in Shakespeare: The Hostess in The Rape of Lucrece and The Winter’s Tale.” Journal of the Wooden O, vol. 21, 3 June 2022, pp. 1–12, https://omeka.li.suu.edu/ojs/index.php/woodeno/article/view/265.
Shahani, Gitanjali G. Tasting Difference: Food Race and Cultural Encounters in Early Modern Literature. Cornell University Press, 2021.
 
 

 

Join us on a literary journey through the transformative tales of Ovid's Metamorphoses and their profound impact on the works of William Shakespeare. 
Ovid's Metamorphoses, a collection of mythological stories of change and transformation, serves as a rich source of inspiration for many of Shakespeare's most iconic plays and characters. Before diving into the Shakespearean connections, Elyse and Kourtney provide an overview of key stories in Ovid's Metamorphoses, ensuring that both enthusiasts and newcomers can appreciate the context.
Join us as we discover the clear parallels between Ovidian stories like Pyramus and Thisbe  and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Explore how a specific translation of Ovid's stories impacted Shakespeare and other early modern writers. 
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
You can support the podcast at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone
Works referenced:
Blake, Harriet Manning. “Golding’s Ovid in Elizabethan Times.” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, vol. 14, no. 1, 1915, pp. 93–95. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27700642. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Metamorphoses". Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Sep. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Metamorphoses-poem-by-Ovid. Accessed 16 September 2023.
Ovid. The. Xv. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, Translated Oute of Latin into English Meeter, by Arthur Golding Gentleman, a Worke Very Pleasaunt and Delectable. 1567. . Translated by Arthur Golding. London: William Seres, 1567. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A08649.0001.001. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.
Ovid.  Ovid's Metamorphoses in fifteen books. Translated by the most eminent hands. Adorn'd with sculptures:. London: Jacob Tonson, 1717. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A08649.0001.001. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.
“Ovid’s Metamorphoses.” British Library: Collection Items, British Library, www.bl.uk/collection-items/ovids-metamorphoses. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.
Tosh, Will. “Shakespeare and Ovid’s Metamorphoses.” Shakespeare’s Globe: Blogs & Features, Shakespeare’s Globe, 22 Sept. 2021, www.shakespearesglobe.com/discover/blogs-and-features/2021/09/22/shakespeare-and-ovids-metamorphoses/#0.
 
 

In today's episode, we are joined by the brilliant Dr. Mia Escott to embark on a journey through the complex intersections of race, Shakespeare, and the early modern era.
Dr. Escott provides crucial context to help us understand how people of the early modern era were socially categorized based on nationality, religion, and social status. It's a crucial foundation for dissecting Shakespeare's approach to race.
Aaron, the enigmatic character from Titus Andronicus, takes center stage. Dr. Escott walks us through the complexities of this character, a Moor in a world where stereotypes and villainy are often intertwined. We explore key moments and lines that shed light on Aaron's character and the racial dynamics at play.
We also discuss Blackness and race within Shakespeare's broader canon, as Dr. Escott sheds light on how Shakespeare both humanized and socially othered his Black characters. Woven throughout our discussion are Dr. Escott's insights into how the worlds of academia and theatre can better approach race and discussions of race, especially when it comes to Shakespeare. 
Dr. Mia Escott  is an Assistant Professor of English, Rhetoric, and Writing at Berry College. She joined the faculty in 2022 after receiving her doctoral degree in English from Louisiana State University. An Alabama native, she has graduated from Auburn University and the University of Montevallo. Her research and teaching interests include early modern British Literature, Renaissance Drama, Shakespeare, Critical Race Theory, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Dr. Escott is the 2022 recipient of LSU’s HSS Diversity Committee— Excellence in Teaching Graduate Student Award, which highlights her commitment to making academia an inclusive and equitable learning space. Most recently she has been a guest speaker at various Berry College events, sharing her love for English and Shakespeare.
If you are not a Berry student then luckily you can find Dr. Escott on TikTok as @dr.shakesfeare, where she is making The Bard more accessible and comprehensible, in a humorous way.
Recommended Reading: 
White People in Shakespeare: Essays on Race, Culture and the Elite by Arthur L Litttle Jr. 
The Great White Bard by Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
You can support the podcast at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone