In this final episode, the three co-hosts reconvene to identify their key takeaways from the podcast project. They discuss their hopes for the future of Shakespeare in Canada, isolating some recent examples of innovative productions, including the 1S1 production of Lady M (Margaret) starring Dawn Jani Birley and Shakespeare in the Ruff’s Richard Three. The episode (and series) concludes by returning to our interviewees who share some final words on the work that remains, including references to new projects by Deaf and trans artists, and an important reminder to think about what lies beyond Shakespeare.

This episode features conversations with Cole Alvis, Dawn Jani Birley, Liam Lockhart-Rush Monique Mojica, Kaitlyn Riordan, Marlis Schweitzer, and Hope Van Der Merwe..

Episode 10 ⁠ASL translation⁠ courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. ASL interpretation by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, and Alice Lo.

Here are some links to things discussed in the episode and some suggestions for further reading:

1S1 Theatre - a Deaf-led theatre company founded by Dawn Jani Birley

Short video about 1S1’s production of Lady M (Margaret) (with ASL translation)

Guardian article about the Stratford Festival’s production of Richard II, adapted by Brad Fraser

Toronto Star review of Richard II (2023)

Intermission Magazine review of Shakespeare in the Ruff’s Richard Three 

Engendering the Stage - “an international research project that explores resonances between the history of gendered performance on the early modern stage and our contemporary drive to achieve gender equity in today’s professional theatre industry”

Galatea 101 with Emma Frankland and Andy Kesson (video with ASL translation), 2021

Interview with Emma Frankland about the 2023 production of Galatea

Three volumes of Staging Coyote’s Dream, co-edited by Monique Mojica 

Monique Mojica, Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way

In this episode, co-host Marlis Schweitzer weaves together a series of interviews conducted by actor-playwright and podcast dramaturge Jeff Ho while on tour with members of Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet. First produced in 2017 as part of Why Not Theatre’s 10th anniversary theatre, Prince Hamlet has been widely acclaimed for its dynamic, intersectional approach to Shakespeare, notably its bilingual blend of English and ASL and its centering of the narrative around a Deaf Horatio played by Dawn Jani Birley. The company remounted Prince Hamlet in 2019 at the Banff Centre and then Canadian Stage, as well as a number of other Canadian stops. In Fall 2022, the company reassembled for a major North American tour, including stops in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Quebec City, among others. In what follows, you'll hear company members speak with Jeff about the rehearsal process, the importance of ASL to this distinctly bilingual production, and the kinds of reactions the production elicited in audiences.

This episode features conversations with Dawn Jani Birley, Miriam Fernandes, Barbara Gordon, Jeff Ho, Dante Jemmott, Eli Pauley, and Sturla Alvsväg.

Episode 9 ⁠ASL translation⁠ courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. ⁠ASL interpretation ⁠by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, and Alice Lo.

Here are some links to things discussed in the episode and some suggestions for further reading:

Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet

Toronto Star interview (including video) with Ravi Jain and Dawn Jani Birley on the 2017 production of Prince Hamlet

J. Kelly Nestruck’s review of the 2019 production of Prince Hamlet

Intermission Magazine video interview with Ravi Jain and Dawn Jani Birley on the 2019 production of Prince Hamlet

The Stanford Daily review of the 2022 touring production of Prince Hamlet

Jeff Ho’s interview with Dawn Jani Birley

Shaking Up Shakespeare is a ten-episode podcast series that aims to examine the legacy of William Shakespeare’s work, specifically in the context of Canadian theatre culture and Canadian society more broadly. Building on recent conversations on such topics as diversity and casting practices, colonial structures, celebrity, theatre festivals, outdoor Shakespeare, feminist approaches to Hamlet, accessibility, and intersectional approaches to Shakespeare, the series brings together the voices of many individuals with diverse perspectives on Shakespeare.

The series launches January 15, 2024, with more episodes to follow on January 22 and January 29. Join us!

In this episode, co-host Hope Van Der Merwe speaks with three disabled artists about Cripping Shakespeare, inequities faced by disabled actors in the Canadian theatre industry, and how to create more inclusive, equitable, and accessible rehearsal spaces for disabled artists. This episode highlights how important it is to invest in disabled artists and disabled artist-lead works as we strive to build an industry where everyone – regardless of disability and ability – is celebrated.

This episode features conversations with Faith Andrew, Rachel Arnold, and Debbie Patterson.

Episode 8 ⁠ASL translation⁠ courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. ASL interpretation by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, and Alice Lo.

Here are some links to things discussed in the episode and some suggestions for further reading:

Shakespeare in the Ruins (SIR)

Sick + Twisted Theatre

Debbie Patterson as Richard III

Arthur Hughes as Richard III

Colm Feore as Richard III

Inclusion: Deaf, disability and Mad arts, the gathering at the NAC in 2016 which Debbie talks about

In this episode, co-host Hope Van Der Merwe interrogates the sexism and misogyny we so frequently see littered throughout Shakespeare’s works. With a focus on Hamlet, we pose the question: is it possible to perform Shakespeare – Hamlet, more specifically – in a way that is considered feminist? This episode also draws on ideas from feminist theorist and scholar, Sara Ahmed, whose notion of the “Feminist Killjoy” inspired the way this episode is structured.

This episode features conversations with: Addy Dolha, Alix Sidaris, Allyson McMackon, Anita La Selva, Christine Horne, Duncan Gibson-Lockhart, Eli Polly, Erin Kelly, Jamie Robinson, Jeff Ho, Keira Loughran, Liz Pentland, Marlis Schwietzer, Peter Parolin, Roberta Barker, and Ziyana Kotadia.

Episode 7 ASL translation courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. ⁠ASL interpretation⁠ by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, and Alice Lo.

Here are some links to things discussed in the episode and some suggestions for further reading:

Living A Feminist Life and T he Promise of Happiness by Sara Ahmed

Women as Hamlet: Performance and Interpretation in Theater, Film, and Fiction by Tony Howard

Hamlet at the Stratford Festival of Ontario, 2022

Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet

Teatro de los Andes’ Hamlet

In this episode, co-host Liam Lockhart-Rush continues the conversation around Shakespeare’s relationship to colonialism in Canada, specifically through looking at some recent adaptations that complicate his work and cultural privilege. Hearing from several prominent playwrights, the conversation focuses on questioning Shakespeare’s authority through the politics of language. This episode contains excerpts from the “Recasting Shakespeare Through Adaptation” and “Grappling with Shakespeare's Colonial Legacy” panels from the (Re)casting Shakespeare in Canada Symposium which took place in April and May 2023. 

This episode features conversations with Jani Lauzon, Yvette Nolan, and PJ Prudat, as well as excerpts of Reneltta Arluk, Jeff Ho, Keira Loughran, Joseph Jomo Pierre, Kaitlyn Riordan, and Erin Shields speaking at the (Re)casting Shakespeare in Canada Symposium. 

Episode 6 ASL translation courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. ASL interpretation by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, and Alice Lo.

Here are links to things mentioned in the episode and some suggestions for further reading:

The (Re)casting Shakespeare in Canada Symposium 

Pawâkan Macbeth by Reneltta Arluk

Queen Goneril by Erin Shields

Portia’s Julius Caesar by Kaitlyn Riordan

Shakespeare’s Nigga by Joseph Jomo Pierre

Cockroach by Jeff Ho

1939 by Jani Lauzon and Kaitlyn Riordan

otîhêw by PJ Prudat

Death of a Chief directed and adapted by Yvette Nolan and Kennedy C. MacKinnon

Dr. Lindsay Lachance

Chief Bev SellarsDecolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

Dean Gabourie

Jessica Carmichael

In this episode, co-host Liam Lockhart-Rush is joined by many diverse perspectives on the topic of Shakespeare and colonialism in Canada, including discussions of Shakespeare’s role in helping to create a national identity founded on oppressive systems, the concept of decolonizing Shakespeare and the Western canon, problematic practices like “stunt casting,” issues of universality, and theories on how to approach producing future Shakespearean productions. 

This episode features conversations with Cole Alvis, Nassim Abu Sarari, Duncan Gibson-Lockhart, Jeff Ho, Ziyana Kotadia, Jani Lauzon, Keira Loughran, Monique Mojica, Yvette Nolan, PJ Prudat, and an excerpt of Kaitlyn Riordan speaking at the (Re)casting Shakespeare in Canada symposium.

Content note: This episode contains discussion of residential schools, colonialism, genocide, white supremacy, and racism. Listener discretion advised.

Episode 5 ASL translation courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. Interpretation by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, Sage Lovell, and Alice Lo.

Here are links to things mentioned in the episode and some suggestions for further reading and viewing: 

The (Re)Casting Shakespeare in Canada Symposium 

1939 by Jani Lauzon and Kaitlyn Riordan, produced by the Stratford Festival

Dr. Sorouja Moll

“Shakespeare Through Decolonization” by Farah Karim-Cooper 

Native Earth Performing Arts

Kaha:wi Dance Theatre

Full Circle First Nations Performance

“The Meaning of the Bones” by Michael LaPointe for The Paris Review

“Interrogating the Shakespeare System” by Madeline Sayet for HowlRound Theatre Commons

Where We Belong by Madeline Sayet

Centre for Indigenous Theatre

Between Two Silences by Peter Brook 

Cockroach by Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho), produced by Tarragon Theatre

Titus Andronicus (2014) directed by Keira Loughran and produced by Canadian Stage

In this episode, co-host Marlis Schweitzer considers how the enduring popularity of Shakespeare in the Park and other forms of outdoor Shakespeare continues to guide how Canadians see, hear, and experience Shakespeare. After a short summary of the “open air” movement, which celebrated the virtues of producing Shakespeare outdoors, she speaks with several guests, including the artistic leadership of Toronto’s Shakespeare in the Ruff, about the importance of outdoor Shakespeare today. The second half of the episode focuses more directly on the legacy of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, a company that began producing Shakespeare outdoors - in a tent - and is now arguably the most dominant theatre company in Canada. The episode concludes with a conversation with Melissa Poll, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion dramaturge at Vancouver's Bard on the Beach, interspersed with comments from Cole Alvis, a two-Spirit Michif Metis actor and director, and now casting associate with the Stratford Festival.

This episode features conversations with Patricia Allison, Cole Alvis, Raoul Bhaneja, Karen Fricker, Christine Horne, Erin Kelly, Peter Kuling, Anita La Selva, Keira Loughran, Elizabeth Pentland, Melissa Poll, PJ Prudat, Jamie Robinson, Nassim Abu Sarari, Sara Topham, Jeff Yung

Episode 4 ASL translation courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. Interpretation by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, Sage Lovell, and Alice Lo.

Content note: This episode contains discussion of potlatch bans, colonialism, white supremacy, and racism. Listener discretion advised.

Here are some links to things discussed in the episode and some suggestions for further reading:

Sheldon Cheney, The Open-Air Theatre (1918)

The Potlatch Ban, from The Canadian Encyclopedia 

Some outdoor theatre companies: Bard on the Beach, Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Shakespeare in the Ruins, Shakespeare in the Ruff, Dream in High Park, Shakespeare in the Park, Bard in the Barracks, Shakespeare by the Sea (Halifax), Shakespeare by the Sea Festival (St. John’s)

Stratford Festival timeline

Morten Parker’s Oscar-nominated 1953 documentary, The Stratford Adventure, produced by the National Film Board of Canada

Ian Rae, “The Stratford Festival and Canadian Cultural Nationalism,” from The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Literature, ed. Cynthia Conchita Sugars (2016)

Glossary definition and additional resources on the #inthedressingroom conversation

Bard on the Beach’s Company Commitments

“Ndo-Mshkawgaabwimi - We all are standing strong,” a video with “stories of endurance, resistance and resilience” told by members of the Indigenous Circle at Stratford (2020)

In this episode, co-host Marlis Schweitzer continues to investigate the institutional structures that prop up Shakespeare in Canada, reflecting on the way Canadian ideas of Shakespeare have been informed by British and American cultural products, including film and television. She speaks with guests about their experiences of seeing productions of Shakespeare’s works in London and Stratford, England as well as their early encounters with the films of Kenneth Branaugh, most notably Henry V and Hamlet. Taking up questions of casting and celebrity, some interviewees recall Keanu Reeves appearance as Hamlet in the 1995 production at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, while others consider the impact of Paul Gross’s television series Slings and Arrows. 

This episode features conversations with Sturla Alsväg, Roberta Barker, Raoul Bhaneja, Karen Fricker, Jeff Ho, Stephen Johnson, Erin Kelly, Peter Kuling, Peter Parolin, Elizabeth Pentland, Jamie Robinson, Allyson MacMachon, Sara Topham.

Episode 3 ASL translation courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. Interpretation by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, Sage Lovell, and Alice Lo.

Here are links to things mentioned in the episode and some suggestions for further reading:

Case notes and photographs of Adrian Noble’s 1983 production of Measure for Measure for the Royal Shakespeare Company, featuring Juliet Stevenson as Isabella

Kenneth Branagh giving the “St. Crispin’s Day” speech in Henry V (1989)

Hamlet (1996) directed by Kenneth Branagh

Hamlet (solo) adapted and performed by Raoul Bhaneja 

Brian D. Johnson’s 1995 Maclean’s review of Keanu Reeves’s Hamlet, courtesy of the Canadian Encyclopedia

Slings and Arrows on CBC Gem

In this episode, co-host Liam Lockhart-Rush takes us back to school to learn about Shakespeare’s  dominance in Canadian educational institutions. Before that, we hear how many people were first introduced to Shakespeare. Some interviewees share positive experiences with parents and teachers, and others share negative experiences, detailing how what they were taught about Shakespeare was difficult, careless, and potentially harmful. Whether good or bad, it is certain that Shakespeare’s impression as a god-like literary figure was not lost on anyone. Later in the episode, educators and students critique Shakespeare's role in education and offer ideas for how Shakespeare can be taught to students in an inclusive and robust way.

This episode features conversations with Nassim Abu Sarari, Cole Alvis, Rachel Arnold, Roberta Barker, Dawn Jani Birley, Adelaide Dolha, Miriam Fernandes, Duncan Gibson-Lockhart, Jeff Ho, Christine Horne, Stephen Johnson, Erin Kelly, Ziyana Kotadia, Peter Kuling, Anita La Selva, Jani Lauzon, Keira Loughran, Yvette Nolan, Laurel Paetz, Peter Parolin, Elizabeth Pentland, PJ Prudat, Jamie Robinson, Alix Sideris, Sara Topham, and Jeff Yung.

Episode 2 ASL translation courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. Interpretation by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, Sage Lovell, and Alice Lo.

Here are links to things mentioned in the episode and some suggestions for further reading:

Hamlet (1996) directed by Kenneth Branagh

Program for Centaur Theatre’s Antony and Cleopatra (1996)

Shakespeare & Company

“The Astor Place riot: Shakespeare as a flashpoint for class conflict in 1849” from the Folger Shakespeare Library

Shakedown Shakespeare by Yvette Nolan

“TDSB makes Indigenous authors course mandatory for Grade 11 English credit” by CBC News

⁠Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)⁠ by Ann-Marie MacDonald

““I’ve had friends say Shakespeare is irrelevant”: Meet the Grade 12 student who changed the TDSB’s English curriculum” by Mathew Silver for Toronto Life

Harlem Duet by Djanet Sears

Welcome to Shaking Up Shakespeare, a podcast dedicated to examining the legacy of William Shakespeare's work, specifically in the context of Canadian theatre culture and Canadian society more broadly. Building on recent conversations about diversity and casting practices, colonial structures, and accessibility, this podcast brings together the voices of many individuals with diverse perspectives on Shakespeare. In this introductory episode, co-hosts Marlis Schweitzer, Liam Lockhart-Rush, and Hope Van Der Merwe chat about their first experiences with Shakespeare, their hopes for the series, and their reflections on podcasting as a practice. 

This episode also features brief greetings from the following folks who sat for interviews with us: Patricia Allison, Sturla Alvsväg, Cole Alvis, Faith Andrew, Roberta Barker, Raoul Bhaneja, Dawn Jani Birley, Peter Kuling, Adelaide Dolha, Miriam Fernandes, Karen Fricker, Duncan Gibson-Lockhart, Barbara Gordon, Jeff Ho, Christine Horne, Dante Jemmott, Stephen Johnson, Erin Kelly, Ziyana Kotadia, Keira Loughran, Jani Lauzon, Allyson MacMachon, Monique Mojica, Yvette Nolan, Laurel Paetz, Peter Parolin, Debbie Patterson, Eli Pauley, Elizabeth Pentland, Melissa Poll, PJ Prudat, Jamie Robinson, Nassim Abu Sarari, Alix Sideris, Sara Topham, Jeff Yung. The series also includes excerpts from the (Re)casting Shakespeare in Canada symposium where you’ll hear from Reneltta Arluk, Kaitlyn Riordan, Erin Shields, and Joseph Jomo Pierre.

Episode 1 ASL translation courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. Interpretation by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, Sage Lovell, and Alice Lo.

Here are links to things mentioned in the episode and some suggestions for further reading:

(Re)Setting the Stage: The Past, Present, and Future of Casting Practices in Canada

(Re)casting Shakespeare in Canada symposium

Trailer for Baz Lurhmann's Romeo + Juliet

(Re)casting Shakespeare in Canada symposium

“Crash course” syllabus

“Romeo and Juliet actors sue Paramount for child abuse,” from the Guardian