Explore every episode of the podcast Slices of Shakespeare

This tense scene is the pivot point of the famous story of Macbeth. The awful deed - the murder of Duncan - has been done and from here on everything descends further into horror and paranoia. Macbeth is filled with guilt, confusion, and dread, and feels he will never sleep again. For other people, sleep is the great restorative - but not for him. His sleeve will be forever ravell'd. Why "sleeve"? It seems an unnusual metaphor to pick - one of the several things we will follow up in the discussion.

In our scene performance today we have Eric Brennan as Macbeth, and Rachel Bhandari as Lady Macbeth. Following this, our conversation guest is Pippa Goldschmidt. Pippa is a novelist, but she started her career as an astrophysicist. She is interested in the differences between modern and early modern writing.

The artwork is a print made from an engraving by Charles Rolls, which in turn is based on a painting by Henry Corbould, depicting our scene today - Macbeth about to stab Duncan, the sleeping grooms, and Lady Macbeth worried whether it's being done right. The print is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The scene that contains the quote is Act II Scene 2 of Macbeth. You can find the text at Open Source Shakespeare: https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=macbeth&Act=2&Scene=2&Scope=scene

The book referred to in the discussion is "The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street" by Charles Nicholl.

In this famous opening scene from King Lear, the ageing King is trying to get his three daughters to flatter him in order to gain favour as he divides up his kingdom. The youngest, Cordelia, doesn't play the game and says nothing. Then we have the famous line - "nothing can come of nothing" - and Cordelia is banished with no inheritance. The rest of the play shows us Lear's world falling part and his descent into madness. Lear is one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, but as our guest Eoin Price explains, for years after Shakespeare's death it was thought too grim to perform. Today however we value Lear for its emotional depth and honesty.

Performing the scene we have Karen Rydings as Goneril, Rachel Bhandari as Regan, Janet West as Cordelia, Michael Flett as a merged Gloucester and Kent, and myself as King Lear. Our conversation guest Eoin Price is a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. He specialises in early modern Theatre.

The artwork is a cropped version of "Three Daughters of King Lear" by Gustav Pope, c. 1875-1876. As usual, this has been sourced from wikimedia, but the painting itself is held in the Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico.

The scene that contains the quote is from Act I Scene 1 of King Lear. You can find the text at Open Source Shakespeare: https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=kinglear&Act=1&Scene=1&Scope=scene

In this episode we explore one of Andy's favourite quotes. It sounds like it's about Astronomy - but its not. Its about seizing control of your own destiny. The quote is from Julius Caesar, and is spoken by Cassius, who is scornful of Caesar, and is trying to persuade Brutus to join the conspirators who will assassinate him. It's gripping stuff and full of themes that resonate today. To explore these themes, Andy is joined by Director and playwright Justin Greene. Performing the scene we have Eric Brennan as Brutus, and Andy as Cassius.

Justin Greene is perhaps best known for the hit musical "Spend Spend Spend", but early in his career he wrote an eerily prescient play called "Trump". The classic book he refers to near the end of the duscussion is "Shakespeare our Contemporary", by Jan Kott, published by W.W.Norton and Company, 1974.

The scene that contains the quote is from Act I Scene 2 of Julius Caesar. You can find the text at Open Source Shakespeare: https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=juliuscaesar&Act=1&Scene=2&Scope=scene

In this opening episode we look at a familiar everyday phrase. We think we know what it means today - but it's not what Shakespeare meant when he wrote it! The quote is from The Merry Wives of Windsor, a play about the infamous rogue Falstaff getting his come-uppance. Joining Andy to chat about about the play, and how this quote reversed its meaning, is the well known Shakespeare scholar Dr Emma Smith, from the University of Oxford. The performers today are Michael Flett, Rachel Bhandari, and Andy himself.

Emma Smith's most popular book is "This is Shakespeare: How to Read the World's Most Famous Playwright", published by Pelican.

The artwork shows Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, from the cover of a Victorian magazine called The Sketch, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 489, June 11, 1902. Sourced from wikimedia, provided by the London Stereoscopic Company.

You can read the scene our quote comes from - Act II Scene 2 of the Merry Wives of Windsor - at

https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=merrywives&Act=2&Scene=2&Scope=scene

In this short introduction Andy explains his love of Shakespeare, and his plan for this podcast - half hour episodes introducing a famous quote, performing a short scene, and exploring the quote, the scene and the play with a guest. Less than a whole play, but more than just fragment - a slice of Shakespeare.

The artwork shows the portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout, from the title page of the First Folio, 1623. Image from wikimedia, courtesy of the Elizabethan Club and the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University.

First proper episode due in a couple of days - "The World is Mine Oyster"

A very short trailer for the podcast. Andy explains that his day job is exploring the Universe but his passion is for Shakespeare. He will bring together other lovers of Shakespeare and explore famous quotes, with performance, explanation, and conversation.

Background image: Andromeda Nebula, by Mark Phillips

Shakespeare image: Chandos Portrait, Wikimedia Commons

Andy image: portrait by Max Alexander