Shakespeare Anyone? – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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In this episode, we conclude our exploration of The Tempest by examining three distinct interpretations of Shakespeare's final solo play. We begin with Julie Taymor's 2010 film adaptation, featuring Helen Mirren as Prospera, and reflect on the criticism of it we read about in our episode, The Tempest: Patriarchy, Gender, and Power in Shakespeare's Play. We then turn to The Globe's 2013 stage production, directed by Jeremy Herrin, to discuss how its traditional staging and ensemble approach illuminate the play's theatricality and humor. Finally, we analyze the Donmar Warehouse's 2016 production, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and starring Harriet Walter, which reimagines The Tempest within a women's prison as part of Lloyd's groundbreaking Shakespeare Trilogy. Throughout this episode, we reflect on what (for us) makes an effective production of The Tempest and discuss how these productions can be used to illuminate the text. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

For updates:

• Join our email list
• Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod
• Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

Support the podcast:

• Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone 
• Buy us a coffee
• Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.
• Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link.
• Grab Anthony Hopkins' memoir, We Did Okay, Kid, at Libro.fm or Bookshop.org.

Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Works referenced:

Herrin, Jeremy and Ian Russell, directors. The Tempest. Performance by Roger Allam, et al., Globe Player, Shakespeare's Globe, 2013. https://player.shakespearesglobe.com/productions/the-tempest-2013/. Accessed 2025.

Lloyd, Phyllida, director. The Tempest. Performance by Harriet Walter, et al., Digital Theatre: The Tempest, Digital Theatre+/Donmar Warehouse, 2018, https://www.digitaltheatre.com/watch/vod/37666819/the-tempest. Accessed 2025.

Taymor, Julie, director. The Tempest. Performance by Helen Mirren, et al., Buana Vista Home Entertainment Inc, 2011.

Trueman, Matt. "London Theater Review: Phyllida Lloyd's All-Female 'the Tempest.'" Variety, Variety, 23 Nov. 2016, variety.com/2016/legit/reviews/the-tempest-review-all-female-women-1201925792/.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you.

In this episode, we sit down with Ana Davis to discuss her debut novel, My Keen Knife. Set in a Portugal-inspired country, My Keen Knife follows three teenagers as they strive to achieve their foretold fates. 

We discuss Ana's inspirations for My Keen Knife, her writing process, and how her background in International Affairs influenced the world of her novel. We also discuss how Shakespeare's Macbeth weaves throughout the plot and the Macbeth Easter eggs she's hidden for Shakespeare fans like us. 

My Keen Knife is out now at a bookseller near you! Support Shakespeare Anyone? by purchasing your copy through this link. 

About My Keen Knife

Fair is foul and foul is fair in a country ravaged by the lies of its monarchy. To claim the crown, Adelina, Seba, and Jasibin must learn to be a little wicked…even if it means betraying each other.

All hail Malves, who shall wear crowns.
On the night of her brother's murder, Adelina Malves holds him as he dies, inheriting both his title and the prophecy that spelled out his doom. If she's to avenge him and avoid a similar death, she must claim the crown of Jumaral by ruthlessly cutting down every family member ahead of her in the line of succession and uncover the secret that got her brother killed.

Hail! Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
Ghost-whispering Jasibin holds the key to Adelina's plan to contact her dead brother—if only his strange magic wasn't killing him slowly. To fulfill his own prophecy and protect his brother Seba, he must discover the source of his magic before he's lost to the land of the dead.

All hail, Sebastião, that shall be king hereafter.
Seba is desperate for a way out of Jumaral and the substantial financial debt his dead mother left him. When a witch sees the riches of a king in his future, Adelina's offer of coin in exchange for help feels like fate, pulling Seba into a fake dating plot with Adelina that hides their sinister plans.

In this stunning, innovative retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth set in a Portugal-inspired country, three teenagers will stop at nothing to fulfill their destinies.

About Ana Davis

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

Support the podcast:

• Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone 
• Buy us a coffee
• Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.
• Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link.

Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Works referenced:

Davis, Ana. My Keen Knife. Turner Publishing Company, 2025.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you.

We are now on to our tenth play series! Today we are starting our series on Shakespeare's The Tempest with a synopsis episode. In this episode, we will provide a detailed summary of the plot, breaking down the action of the play scene by scene. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Special thanks to Nat Yonce for editing this episode.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, buying us coffee, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod (we earn a small commission when you use our link and shop bookshop.org).

Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.

Works referenced:

 Shakespeare, William, et al. The Tempest. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011.

This episode is part one of a two part series where we will be looking at the representations of mental health and disability in Shakespeare's King Lear. First, in this week's episode, we will be discussing mental health and disability in Shakespeare's time, specifically early modern treatment of what we would now describe as mental illness, neurodiversity, and disability.  

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was using the stage name "Korey Leigh Smith".

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:

Neely, Carol Thomas. Distracted Subjects: Madness and Gender in Shakespeare and Early Modern Culture. Cornell University Press, 2004. 

Neely, Carol Thomas. "'Documents in Madness': Reading Madness and Gender in Shakespeare's Tragedies and Early Modern Culture." Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 3, [Folger Shakespeare Library, The Shakespeare Association of America, Inc., Johns Hopkins University Press, George Washington University], 1991, pp. 315–38, https://doi.org/10.2307/2870846.

Wood, David Houston, and Allison P. Hobgood. Recovering Disability in Early Modern England. Ohio State University Press, 2013. 

In today's episode, we are exploring the first official publications of Shakespeare's plays: the quartos and the first Folio. What even is a quarto versus a folio? Let's find out!

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was "Korey Leigh Smith".

Episode written and researched by Kourtney Smith.

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:

"An Introduction to This Text: Hamlet." Edited by Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, Folger Shakespeare Library, Accessed on 1 Feb. 2022, from https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/an-introduction-to-this-text/. 

Bryson, Bill. "Ch. 8 Death." Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Harper Perennial, New York, NY, 2007, pp. 156–165.

"DIY Quarto: Printing Quartos in Shakespeare's Time." Edited by Kathleen Lynch and Justine DeCamillis, Folger Shakespeare Library, Folger Shakespeare Library, Accessed on 1 Feb. 2022, from https://www.folger.edu/publishing-shakespeare/diy-quarto. 

Marchant, Kat. "Dr Kat and Holinshed's Chronicles." YouTube, YouTube, 13 Nov. 2020, Accessed 1 Feb. 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WBw3XB-qyo.

Paul, Richard. Shakespeare Unlimited Podcast, performance by Dr. Emma Smith, et al., episode 47, Folger Shakespeare Library, 3 May 2016. Accessed 31 Jan. 2022.

"What Is a First Folio?" Folger Shakespeare Library, Accessed 1 Feb. 2022, from https://www.folger.edu/shakespeare/first-folio/faq.

In this week's episode, we are taking a look at how the patriarchal society and patrilineal anxieties of early modern English society influenced the sexist representations of gender in Shakespeare's King Lear, and how much further more recent productions have comes in terms of representation...or not.

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was using the stage name "Korey Leigh Smith".

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:

Aughterson, Kate, and Ailsa Grant Ferguson. Shakespeare and Gender: Sex and Sexuality in Shakespeare's Drama. The Arden Shakespeare, 2020, pp. 153-171. Accessed 11 Jan. 2022. 

Kelly, Philippa. "See What Breeds about Her Heart: 'King Lear', Feminism, and Performance." Renaissance Drama, vol. 33, [University of Chicago Press, Northwestern University], 2004, pp. 137–57, Accessed 12 Jan. 2022 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41917389.

Rudnytsky, Peter L. "'The Darke and Vicious Place': The Dread of the Vagina in 'King Lear.'" Modern Philology, vol. 96, no. 3, University of Chicago Press, 1999, pp. 291–311, http://www.jstor.org/stable/439219.

Schwarz, Kathryn. "'Fallen Out With My More Headier Will': Dislocation in King Lear." What You Will: Gender, Contract, and Shakespearean Social Space, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011, pp. 181–208, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fh7rv.12.

There's so much to talk about with each play that doesn't fit into the synopsis or into its own episode, so we've decided to cover several topics in this episode. In this episode, we discuss major thematic elements in Shakespeare's King Lear as well as topics that are usually covered or talked about in reference to this play. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was "Korey Leigh Smith".

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:

"Introduction." King Lear, edited by R.A. Foakes, The Arden Shakespeare, 1997, pp. 1–11. Third. Accessed on 27 Nov. 2021.

"Leir of Britain." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Aug. 2021, Accessed on 29 Nov. 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leir_of_Britain. 

SparkNotes Editors. (2005). "SparkNotes: King Lear." SparkNotes.com, SparkNotes LLC, 2005. Accessed 29 Nov. 2021, from https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/lear.

Let's start diving into a play that is widely considered to be one of Shakespeare's best: King Lear. First up, as always, let's review the plot with a synopsis. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was "Korey Leigh Smith".

Episode written by Elyse Sharp and Kourtney Smith.

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:

Shakespeare, William, and R. A. Foakes. King Lear: Arden Third Series. Bloomsbury, 2018.

Patreon patrons will get access to exclusive bonus content throughout the year.  The link is also in the episode description.

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Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Korey Leigh 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

Before we dive into our next play, we are taking the time to revisit both of the plays we covered this year. For this episode, we re-read Twelfth Night and will be discussing what we noticed in the reading and what was different for us after spending six months researching and studying the play. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was "Korey Leigh Smith".

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

Works referenced:

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Arden Shakespeare, 2008.