Join this part-time scholar, full-time nerd as they dive into the writings, adaptations and historical context surrounding William Shakespeare. We're gonna have some fun.
Ep 41: Awarding Shakespearean Superlatives with Guest Ben Roman
Most likely to rope their brother into recording a ridiculous podcast episode about Shakespeare? That goes to me!
I thought it would be fun to run through a list of the superlatives you find in a high school yearbook and award them to various characters in Shakespeare. You know, best couple, mostly likely to succeed, all that fun stuff. Also, apologies to anyone whose high schools were way too into this. As it turns out, superlatives are mostly really weird!
In this episode, catch me trying to spread the awards around instead of going back to the same five characters, become flabbergasted by some of the choices presented me, and enjoy a lot of background noise from my dog, who decided he wanted to be included.
If there are any superlatives we don't cover in the episode or you'd like to argue I picked the wrong character for one of these, please let me know! Especially would love to hear from the underrepresented plays.
Credit where credit is due
Podcast art by Halie Branson
Music recording by josdvg
1 Jan 2026
Ep 40: Is 2025 the Year of Hamlet Core?
Farewell to 2025 – may you meet your fitting end at midnight (drowning in a cask of wine, perhaps).
The past couple years have seen an absolute boom in Hamlet adaptations and productions. Why is Hamlet so hot right now?
In this episode, I tackle the sheer number of Hamlet productions on the scene and how those adaptations wrestle with Shakespeare’s original work and what that says about the times we live in and what we find relatable.
Hopefully you didn’t have a Hamlet year, but if you did, then you’re in good company!
Let’s hope next year is a little kinder to us all.
Adaptations discussed in this episode:
Fat Ham (https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/james-ijames) – Winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2022
Grand Theft Hamlet (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28244549/)
Hamlet Hail to the Thief (https://www.rsc.org.uk/hamlet-hail-to-the-thief/) – Stage play
Riz Ahmed’s Hamlet (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7798632/)
King Hamlet (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38064109/) - Oscar Issac documentary
Scarlet (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35114460/)– Anime adaptation
Hamnet (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hamnet-maggie-ofarrell/1134256507) (book) and Hamnet (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14905854/) (movie)
Some additional background:
Four Hamlets talk about what it’s like playing the role (https://www.goldderby.com/film/2025/hamlet-hamnet-king-hamlet-oscar-isaac-riz-ahmed-ethan-hawke/)
Riz Ahmed talk to Vanity Fair about his film (https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/riz-ahmed-hamlet-interview-little-gold-men)
A conversation with the creators of Grand Theft Hamlet (https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/grand-theft-hamlet-filmmakers-interview-sxsw-1234964017/)
Credit where credit is due:
Podcast art by Halie Branson (https://www.instagram.com/hbranana/)
Music recording by josdvg
12 Nov 2025
Ep 39: Shakespeare, Queer Theory, and Queer Culture in Early Modern England
Are we so back??? I hope so!
Thank you to everyone who has patiently waited while I've been working through personal stuff. And congrats to everyone who caught up on the podcast during the break.
I am back with an episode near and dear to my heart about whether Shakespeare was, in fact, a bisexual icon.
Okay, not entirely. In this episode I talk about the long history of questions surrounding Shakespeare's sexuality, whether queer interpretations of his plays are reading "too much" into them, and talk about a wonderful book I read recently, Straight Acting: The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare by Will Tosh.
Straight Acting looks at the different facets of Shakespeare's life growing up, going to school, and the theater scene in London and aspects of queerness in the culture at the time that he would have been introduced to and some ways we can see him engaging with it. In particular, I talk about some other writers at the time who were also having fun with gender and sexuality in their works.
As always, I love building out that sweet, sweet context.
Further Reading:
Straight Acting: The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare (https://bookshop.org/p/books/straight-acting-the-hidden-queer-lives-of-william-shakespeare-will-tosh/bbe26c092ea3d153)by Will Tosh
Homosexuality in Renaissance England (https://bookshop.org/p/books/homosexuality-in-renaissance-england-professor-alan-bray/e9d8e313225a3863) by Alan Bray
The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England (https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-renaissance-of-lesbianism-in-early-modern-england-frederick-g-l-huetwell-professor-of-english-and-women-s-studies-valerie-traub/17333fcc18b2d0ca) by Valerie Traub
Further Listening:
Episode 15: Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets (https://somethingshakespeare.com/2024/04/04/episode-15-introduction-to-shakespeares-sonnets/)
Episode 10: Twelfth Night and Gender Exploration (https://somethingshakespeare.com/2024/01/25/episode-10-twelfth-night-and-gender-exploration/)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 50 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
76
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
60
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