Shakespeare's Shadows

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58a42222bebafb5c4b355474/030017c2-95b8-45a4-9f2a-8061b70b4875/bandits-on-the-run.png?format=1000w] Shakespeare’s words from As You Like It and Twelfth Night get a catchy, folkish musical treatment on The Shakespeare Tapes, a new EP by folk-pop-americana trio Bandits on the Run. The Brooklyn-based group’s three band members — Adrian Blake Enscoe (he/they), Sydney Shepherd (she/her), and Regina Stayhorn (she/her) — join Shakespeare’s Shadows for this bonus episode to talk about the forthcoming EP, which has one single, “Tiny Boy,” out now. Bandits on the Run originally composed the EP’s six songs for a 2022 production of As You Like It directed by Peter Andersen at Carnegie Mellon University. The band chatted with Shakespeare’s Shadows host Emily Rome about leaning into As You Like It’s themes of gender and self-discovery with this music, about performing the songs on tour, and why recording this in Nashville felt “actively defiant.” Currently Bandits on the Run are working on the stage musical adaptation of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and they will be on tour across the U.S. this summer. Among the band members’ past work: Sydney has played such roles as Lizzie Borden in the musical Lizzie and Viola in the Twelfth Night musical adaptation Illyria, Regina has performed Off-Broadway at the Secret Theatre and Lincoln Center, and Adrian starred in Broadway musical Swept Away and Apple TV+ series Dickinson.

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58a42222bebafb5c4b355474/6d3e7df6-fe8d-4b38-940b-cfb277ac2722/shakespeares-shadows-bonus-lauren-gunderson-kaja-dunn-room-in-the-castle.png?format=1000w] FEATURING AN INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR KAJA DUNN AND PLAYWRIGHT LAUREN GUNDERSON What does it take for a woman to survive in Elsinore? What would Ophelia and Gertrude tell us — if only they got anywhere close to the number of lines Shakespeare gives Hamlet? This and more is explored in new play A Room in the Castle, which gives the women of Hamlet their time to shine. A co-production of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and the Folger Shakespeare Library, A Room in the Castle is in the midst of its world premiere, onstage at the Folger through April 6. A Room in the Castle director Kaja Dunn and playwright Lauren Gunderson join Shakespeare’s Shadows for a bonus episode delving into the origins of this satisfying new play, the significance of who gets to have soliloquies, and what happens when women are labeled “mad” — plus, we also take some time to discuss Lauren Gunderson’s new adaptation of Little Women. Guests on this episode are: * Kaja Dunn (she/her), whose directing credits include previous productions at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Old Globe, and Cape Fear Regional Theatre. Her work as an intimacy professional includes productions at the Folger and A Strange Loop on Broadway. She is an associate professor at Carnegie Melon University. * Lauren Gunderson (she/her) has repeatedly been among the most-produced playwrights in the U.S., topping the list [https://www.americantheatre.org/2019/09/18/the-top-20-most-produced-playwrights-of-the-2019-20-season/] (which excludes Shakespeare!) thrice over the past decade. Her writing credits include the plays I and You, Silent Sky, The Revolutionists, the Pemberley trilogy, and The Book of Will. This episode contains brief discussion of assault, murder, and suicide ideation.

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58a42222bebafb5c4b355474/ac4e154d-3bf0-406e-b451-ac3c2a2381a7/shakespeares-shadows-season-2-episode-10-duke-senior-duke-frederick-darius-de-haas-jennifer-lines-alys-daroy.png?format=1000w] FEATURING INTERVIEWS WITH ACTORS DARIUS DE HAAS AND JENNIFER LINES AND MURDOCH UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR ALYS DAROY As You Like It is often remembered for being a rom-com, but it’s also a family drama. Duke Senior (Rosalind’s father) is usurped by his brother Duke Frederick. One brother rules at court while the exiled brother builds a new life in the Forest of Arden. In this episode — about not just one but two characters — we discuss why it is that Frederick banished his brother and then his niece, what makes As You Like It ripe for musical adaption, how to make sense of Duke Senior so eagerly returning to court after he was raving about life in the forest, and more. Guests on this episode are: * Jennifer Lines (she/her), who performed in multiple stagings (including at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.) of an As You Like It featuring Beatles music. This version of the play originated at Bard on the Beach in Vancouver, and Jennifer plays characters known in that version as Dame Senior and Dame Frances. * Darius de Haas (he/him), who played Duke Senior in the 2017 Public Works world premiere of Shaina Taub’s As You Like It musical adaptation at the Delacorte Theater in New York’s Central Park * Dr. Alys Daroy (she/her), a professor of English and Theatre at Murdoch University. Alys is also an actor and is co-artistic director of Shakespeare South, recognized as Australia’s first eco-Shakespeare company. She is co-author of the forthcoming book Shakespeare, Ecology and Adaptation: A Practical Guide. To view video footage from Jennifer's and Darius's productions, visit shakespearesshadows.com/duke-senior-frederick-video [https://www.shakespearesshadows.com/duke-senior-frederick-video]

Hamlet’s best friend, Horatio, gets 7 percent of the lines in "Hamlet" next to the title character “who never shuts up” (as one guest on this episode puts it) with 37 percent. This episode gives Horatio his moment to be center stage, revealing how he doesn’t have to be a one-note or one-dimensional character, even as his role is in service of Hamlet’s story. We discuss Horatio’s journey being one of learned bravery, whether Hamlet and Horatio may be more than friends, and the significance of Horatio and other characters studying in Wittenberg. Guests on this episode are: Dr. Jonathan Gil Harris, a professor of English at Ashoka University in Sonipat, India. His publications include guest editing a 2011 special edition of Shakespeare Quarterly that was all about Horatio, titled “Surviving Hamlet” David Gow, who played Horatio in September 2023 staged reading at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts opposite Finn Wittrock as Hamlet This episode contains discussion of grief, murder, and suicide.

In "The Merchant of Venice," Portia is remarkable for her cleverness and the power she holds, and she’s ostensibly a hero of this story. But her journey is entwined with that of Shylock, the Jewish moneylender whose mistreatment makes "Merchant of Venice" a deeply troubling play. In this episode, we discuss just how extremely wealthy Portia is, whether or not Portia is likable (and how her likability is often approached differently in scholarship versus in performance), and how an actress may grapple with Portia’s role in Shylock’s ultimate fate. Guests on this episode are: Lynn Collins, who played Portia in the 2004 Merchant of Venice film directed by Michael Radford, starring alongside Joseph Fiennes, Jeremy Irons, and Al Pacino Dr. Peter Holland, a professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Notre Dame teaching in both the English department and the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre This episode contains explicit language and discussion of racism and religious intolerance.