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William Shakespeare's plays, sonnets and more |
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William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, King Lear, and more. Shakespeare's quotes, sonnets, poetry, theater and plays. Explored and discussed in the free online TV show - Shake. |
David adds wit, energy and humor to his discussion of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, Julius Caeser, and many more of Shakespeare's tragedies and comedies.
If you're writing essays, assignments or tests, or just reading Shakespeare, you'll find these lessons a great complement to your studies. As well as interesting topics, questions and answers about Shakespeare, at the end of each episode David outlines short tips and exercises to help you.
Shake makes learning about the Bard, compelling and fun!
Episodes include:
Shakespeare Introduction
In this first episode David Ritchie looks at why Shakespeare is much easier to understand than you may think. With reference to Richard II and songwriter Paul Kelly, he explains why you should look at Shakespeare's plays, not as a series of lines but as a series of moments. He re-enacts the scene where Hamlet speaks to the skull of the dead jester, Yorick to demonstrate the importance of time in understanding these moments and the complexity of the language used.
Shake and Sex
David explains that Shakespeare's tragedies are all about sex and death and his comedies are about sex and marriage. He outlines the change in attitude to sexual morality from medieval times to the Elizabethan and Renaissance period with reference to Columbus, Chaucer, Henry VIII and Protestantism. Differing attitudes are also presented through Shakespeare's characters. For example, Romeo's beautiful poetic ideas of love, in Romeo and Juliet, versus Iago's cynical view of love, in Othello. This taboo subject is a consistent theme throughout Shakespeare's plays and is referred to in further episodes, Shake and violence and Shake and Desire.
Shake and Violence
David Ritchie explores the characteristics of Shakespeare’s writing, examining the eroticism and violence of his plays. Often he uses the central metaphor of blood to make the link between the passions and violence. David re-enacts Romeo and Juliet scenes and examines the use of physical language.
Shake and Desire
Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing contain many examples of Shakespeare’s mastery of the sexual pun. How do characters such as Mercutio and Benvolio broadcast their crude and drunken desires? How much has slang changed since Shakespearian times? Romanticism, idealism and other themes are explored in this episode.
If you haven’t clicked to watch an episode yet, click here.
On Stage Audience
As well as discussing Shakespeare's sometimes deliberate use of bad verse, David discusses the importance of the onstage audience. The onstage audience amplifies, intensifies and helps even the modern audience to interpret the dramatic moments on the stage. The speeches of Lear, Goneril, Cordelia, Regan, and a section of Hamlet's "Oh what a rogue am I…" soliloquy are also performed.
Active Audience
Most modern drama is based on the simple premise that the actors are active and the audience is passive. One of the joys of Shakespeare is that the audience is at times considered an extension of the fictional world. The actors interact with the audience in a number of ways. David Ritchie uses such characters as Claudius, Henry V, Hecuba and Hamlet to demonstrate this and also to present the more interesting side of soliloquies.
Shakespeare and Society
Flirting with danger was Shakespeare’s forte. Examining the risks that playwrights and actors frequently took while presenting a play in a theatre which, in Shakespeare's time, also known as the early modern period, was a major political arena. David Ritchie highlights the edge and danger of the texts. The madness of King Lear and the joy and energy of Shakespeare’s language are also presented with comparisons between Elizabethan England society and the present day.
Popular Culture
Shakespeare's audience, the Globe Theatre playhouse masses, consisted
of a cross-section of society from peasants to aristocrats. They were both
barbaric and sophisticated, and so are Shakespeare's plays. David Ritchie
explains that to rival other forms of entertainment, such as bull fighting,
visits to the lunatic asylum, acting competitions and public executions,
Shakespeare incorporated them into his plays. With discussions on the sword
fights, madness, monologues, Ophelia, Tybalt and Mercutio, David Ritchie proves that
Shakespeare was, and still can be, considered popular culture.
Future episodes of Shake will also explore such characters as Cleopatra, Macbeth, Ophelia, Hecate, Richard III, Sir John Falstaff, Prospero, Joan of Arc, Ulysses, Cassius and many others. If you haven’t seen an episode yet, click here.
Shakespeare’s Plays
The Comedies
The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Measure for Measure, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, The Taming Of The Shrew, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, Pericles Prince Of Tyre, A Winter’s Tale.
The Histories
King John, Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, Henry V, Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 2, Richard III, King Henry VIII,
The Tragedies
Coriolanus, Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, Hamlet, Macbeth (The Scottish Play), Julius Caesar, King Lear, Othello, Anthony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline, Troilus and Cressida.
Short Biography of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1564 and died there in 1616. His body was interred in the Holy Trinity Church Stratford-Upon-Avon on 25th April 1616 so it is assumed that he died on his birthday 23rd April.
He attended Stratford Grammar School before marrying pregnant Anne Hathaway when he was 18 in 1582. He had 3 children with her.
He began his career in London in 1588, and he and his company became so successful that he moved his plays to the Globe Theatre in the mid 1590s. Over the course of his life, he entertained various Kings, Queens and heads of state with his plays, before retiring to Stratford. His and Anne’s houses still stand there and are well known tourist attractions.
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Shake episodes are added regularly so come back often to BananaTV and click on Shakespeare.
Shake makes learning Shakespeare compelling and fun.
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