How do you solve a problem like Helena? In Episode 12 of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel Fishbane discusses the good and the bad about one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies. Also: the show gets a one minute summary and the 1999, 1968, and 1935 films are discussed.
Read MoreDespite popular opinion, there is nothing timeless about Romeo and Juliet - and the lovers are the least interesting part of the play. In Episode 11 of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel Fishbane examines the greatest love story ever told. Also: a one minute summary and reviews of the films by Baz Luhrman and Franco Zefferelli.
Read MoreRichard II is one of Shakespeare's greatest works and if it was put in the Colosseum with King Lear or Hamlet, the odds would be pretty even about which of them would win. In this episode of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel Fishbane examines this underrated masterpiece. Also: the show is summarized and a review of a production featuring David Tennant.
Read MoreThe Comedy of Errors may be an early comedy, but it is a sophisticated one and if you didn't have a timeline to look at, you might guess it was written by a writer at the top of his game.
Read MoreLove's Labour's Lost is a play with no plot, no villains, and no happy ending - and yet the play has such a charming premise that Joel Fishbane is enchanted everytime the play crosses his path. Also: a one minute summary and both the 2000 film and 2013 musical are discussed.
Read MoreHorror is not a popular genre for theatre or for Shakespeare, but he tackled it in Titus Andronicus and, if taken from that perspective, it becomes a show far more unique than its detractors might think. In this episode of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel Fishbane discusses this bloody and brutal play.
Word of warning: this episode of Shakespeare Unbard discuses Titus Andronicus, a play that deals in adult themes. Viewer discretion is advised.
Read MoreAfter nearly half a dozen plays of dubious merit, Shakespeare finally found his legs in this story of the hunchbacked man who would be king. In Episode 06 of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel Fishbane discusses why he - and the rest of the world - has never truly tired of Richard III.
Read More
Henry VI Part III might have had a better fate if Shakespeare had called it Richard III, Part One. Although Richard III has become one of the more popular plays in the canon, it is a far more rewarding work when one studies it in relation to Henry VI Part Three.
Read MoreWhile Henry VI Part II is an improvement on its predecessor, Shakespeare still wasn't able to conquer the problem he encountered in Henry VI Part 1. In the latest episode of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel Fishbane examines the second part of Shakespeare's ill-favored Henry the Sixth trilogy. Also: the show is summarized and a review of Age of Kings and the Hollow Crown.
Read MoreOften maligned, not just in this century, but in all of them, Henry VI Part One is considered to be such a bad play that there's a popular theory that Shakespeare didn't write it. Joel Fishbane suspects the theory was developed more to spare the scholar than out of concern for Shakespeare's ego. In the third episode of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel Fishbane examines this question. Also: the show is summarized in one minute and the adaptations An Age of Kings and The HollowCrown are discussed.
Read More