That Shakespeare Life
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That Shakespeare Life
Hosted by Cassidy Cash, That Shakespeare Life takes you behind the curtain and into the real life of William Shakespeare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Folklore, Witchcraft, and Magic of the 16th Century
This week, we’re dipping into the strange, the enchanted, and the eerily familiar with a sampling of the rich world of 16th-century folklore during Sh...
Roses in Shakespeare’s England
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene ii.
In Shakespeare’s Eng...
Music for the King of Scots: Recreating Linlithgow Palace’s Soundscape
Linlithgow Palace, set between Edinburgh and Stirling, was one of the great royal residences of the Scottish crown. It was the birthplace of Mary Quee...
Shakespeare, the Ottomans, and the Islamic World
When Shakespeare wrote Othello, he set his Moorish general against the “general enemy Ottoman.” Elsewhere in his plays, he invoked “Turks,” “Saracens,...
Potatoes in Shakespeare’s England
When Falstaff cries, “Let the sky rain potatoes” in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Shakespeare’s audience heard more than a vegetable—they heard novelty,...
The Holy Grail in Shakespeare’s England
For Shakespeare and his contemporaries, the line between history and myth was often delightfully blurred. Legends of King Arthur and the fabled Holy G...
What the Anne Hathaway Epitaph Reveals About Her Legacy
This week, we explore the legacy of Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway, through the only epitaph in the Shakespeare family plot that’s written in Latin...
Feathers in Dress and Costume for the 16th-17th Century
Shakespeare’s plays are rich with references to fashion and feathers. In All’s Well That Ends Well, he writes: “Faith, there’s a dozen of ’em, with de...
How Elizabethan England Managed the Flea
So complains one of Shakespeare’s characters in The Merry Wives of Windsor, voicing what was surely a common frustration in the 16th and 17th centurie...
The Volta, the Galliard, the Jig, and more: Dances of Elizabethan England
In Love’s Labour’s Lost, Berowne declares, “Let us dance and sport,” while in Twelfth Night, Sir Toby Belch exclaims, “Shall we set about some revels?...
Between the Acts: The History and Purpose of the Interval”
When you picture a Shakespeare play, you likely imagine a continuous performance—scene following scene, act following act—until the final bow. But in...
Wilt Break My Heart?”: Broken Heart Syndrome in Shakespeare’s Plays
In King Lear, Shakespeare has the king cry out, “Break, heart; I prithee, break!”—a line rich with sorrow, and one that may have held deeper meaning f...
Did Shakespeare Live on Trinity Lane?
A letter fragment recently rediscovered in an archive may contain the earliest surviving reference to Shakespeare’s name—and a clue to where he lived...
Why the Tudors Loved Capons (and Avoided Roosters)
“He that eats my capon, shall know me better.”
— All’s Well That Ends Well (Act II, Scene 2)
Roasted to perfection and served at noble...
Shakespeare & Fletcher: Neighbors in 1596 London
When we think of Shakespeare collaborating with another writer, the name John Fletcher quickly comes to mind. Together they penned Two Noble Kinsmen,...
Thermometer in Shakespeare’s England
In the year 1603, just as Shakespeare was writing Othello and the reign of Elizabeth I was transitioning to James I, Galileo Galilei—famous for explor...
Commercial Fishing in Shakespeare’s England: Tools, Trade, and Fish Days
“Bait the hook well; this fish will bite.” So says Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, and he’s not alone—Shakespeare drops over 70 references to fish...
Wine and Winemaking in Shakespeare’s England
While Shakespeare’s plays are filled with references to ale and sack, wine played a central role in both the economy and social customs of Renaissance...
History Behind Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
“Romeo and Juliet” may be Shakespeare’s most famous love story—but it wasn’t entirely his own. Long before the Bard set quill to page, a tale of star-...
Puppets Offering a Window into Shakespeare History
Shakespeare wrote his play Hamlet in the early 1600s and by the late 1600s, well after the death of William Shakespeare in 1616, playing troupes are t...
Castles in Shakespeare's Plays
Shakespeare uses the word “castle” over 40 times in his works. He talks about sieging a castle, the power of castle walls, and even mentions specific...
Eyeglasses and Lenses Used After Cataract Surgery in the 16th Century
In Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff says “the appetite of her eye did seem to scorch me up like a burning-glass!” Burning glasses were a specific kind...
Church Bells, How They Are Made in the 16th Century
Orlando, from the play As You Like It, talks about church bells knolling, and later in that same play, the Duke talks about how we “have with holy bel...
Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen
Elizabeth I is perhaps the most famous Queen of England, reigning from November 1558 until her death in 1603. When you study her life, you quickly lea...
The Little Ice Age During Shakespeare's Lifetime
Since 1939, when Francios E. Matthas wrote it into scientific literature, the Little Ice Age has been known as a period in history between the 15th an...
Paper: How it is made, and what it is made from in the 16th Century
“Get me the ink and paper.” Cleopatra demands in Antony and Cleopatra (I.5) In Henry IV Part I, Peto says “Nothing but papers, my lord.” (II.4) These...
Birthday Celebrations for the 16th Century
In Shakespeare’s play, Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra declares “It is my birth-day:
I had thought to have held it poor: but, since my lord Is...
Hall's Croft, 3D Interactive Model & AI Features
This week, we have a special opportunity here on the show to explore the Historic home of Shakespeare’s eldest daughter, Susanna Shakespeare Hall, tha...
Transportation, Vehicles, and Taxi Cabs for Elizabethan England
In Shakespeare’s plays, he talks about “Travel” or “Traveller” just under 80 times, including references that suggest people travelled by foot and by...
Historic Elizabethan Dice and Dice Games
On previous episodes of That Shakespeare Life, we have talked about the numerous early modern card games that show up in Shakespeare’s plays, and even...
Food Macbeth, the real Scottish King, would have eaten
In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, there’s a famous banquet scene, with a huge food spread and of course, a few ghosts because what’s a party without a f...
Judith Quiney Shakespeare, in her later years
The last time we talked about Judith Quiney was to discuss her youth as the younger sister of Susanna Shakespeare, the twin of Hamnet, and the overall...
Code Breaking Mary Queen of Scots Lost Cipher Letters
In As You Like It, Orlando says “Which I take to be either a fool or a cipher.” that’s one of a dozen references to ciphers in Shakespeare’s plays, wh...
Last Will and Testaments
A “Last Will and Testament” is a document listing out the instructions for how to handle your remaining worldly goods after your death. It is an oppor...
Funerals, Memorials, and Burials
With all the death in Shakespeare’s works, you may not be shocked that the word “Funeral” comes up in Shakespeare’s plays over 20 times, but what is s...
The Curtain Theater Excavation
The Curtain Theatre was built in 1577 in a section of London called Shoreditch. Constructed only about 200 yards, or 600 feet, away from The Theater,...
Food Preservation in the 16-17th Century
In Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, Proteus says “Here's too small a pasture for such store of muttons.” Proteus is speaking metaphorically here...
Candlemas, Traditions, and Hampton Court Palace
William Shakespeare never mentions the celebration of Candlemas by name in his works, but we know Shakespeare was involved in the celebration of Candl...
Hue and Cry
Shakespeare uses the phrase, “Hue and cry” twice in his plays. Once in Henry IV Part 1and again inMerry Wives of Windsor. In the Middle Ages, this phr...
Henry IV, Henry V, and King Richard II
The spectacular downfall of King Richard II, followed by the successors Henry IV and then Henry V, are famously depicted in Shakespeare’s plays. The L...