Hamlet to Hamilton: Exploring Verse Drama (Hamlet to Hamilton: Exploring Verse Drama)

It's time to talk LINE BREAKS! From John Barton to Kristin Linklater, from Romeo and Juliet to The Winter's Tale, we're looking at how line endings work, how to act them...and that perennial question:  To enjamb or not to enjamb?

• Featuring verse from: Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Winter's Tale (William Shakespeare), The Mother of God Visits Hell (Daniel Guyton), In Flight (Jenny Lyn Bader), The Lifted Instants Before the Fall: A Tale of Troy (Becca Musser), Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda) and "The Hollow Men" (T. S. Eliot), with reference to Travesties (Tom Stoppard) and The Second Shepherd's Play (The Wakefield Master)
• Featuring text from: Freeing Shakespeare's Voice (Kristen Linklater), John Hadden on line-beginnings (thanks to The Shakespeare Forum), Modern Hamlets & Their Soliloquies (Mary Z. Maher), Playing Shakespeare (John Barton)
  

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s1e6.html

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Season Three, we're talking about Soliloquy. Last time, we saw Hamlet's "Classic Soliloquy" - where a character pours their heart out on stage.  This time, we're rolling through Macbeth's soliloquies...which aren't quite what they seem.  Learn four new ways to write soliloquy by listening to Macbeth.  Including:

1) Cut Soliloquies - Where the speaker "cuts away" from the action of the scene

2) Drift Soliloquies - Where the speaker "drifts away" from speaking to someone to not caring if they're overheard

3) Apostrophe Soliloquies - Where the speaker conjures a person, scene, or object (dagger, anyone?) to "speak to" in soliloquy

4) Villain Soliloquies - Where the speaker turns to the audience...and reveals their dastardly plan!  Exposition, baby!

But how do you write them?  Give a listen to find out.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/

Verse Types: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/what-is-verse.html

Support: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

In our continuing Season Three deep dive into soliloquy, we have come at last to "madness" in soliloquy.  We'll be taking a look at King Lear from Lear, Lady M from Macbeth, and Ophelia from Hamlet.  

CONTENT WARNING: This episode does discuss disassociation, and historically misguided views of "madness" and "hysteria."  There is also mention of suicide as it pertains to the plots of Shakespeare's plays.

What happens when we look at these soliloquies through the eyes of the actors?  How do what we'll call "disassociative" soliloquies function in a play?  What makes them different from the cut or drift soliloquies we see in Macbeth?  And how can we do better in our own contemporary writing?

Learn more: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Season Three is kicking off with an Unhinged Rant about the plays of T. S. Eliot.  Strap in for a wildly biased, barely scholarly, totally unhinged rant from Emily C. A. Snyder.  Hide the kids, and get out your popcorn.

The first two Unhinged Rants will be available for all listeners from your favorite podcatchers.  To access all the Unhinged Rants, become a patron on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Today's Unhinged Rant focuses on Eliot's view of his three major plays, Murder in the Cathedral, The Cocktail Party, and The Family Reunion.  The text used is On Poetry and Poets, essays by Eliot about...well poetry and verse drama and writing and other writers and things.  It's a very good read.  Even if Emily's copy is full of angry marginalia putting a certain poet in his place, TOM.  Book: https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Poets-FSG-Classics/dp/0374531978

Today we're excited to bring you the Tudor master of rhyme, John Skelton and his short and shouty Skeltonics! Thanks to Rob of the Beyond Shakespeare Company for guiding us this season through the history of English verse drama!

Beyond Shakespeare Company

Hamlet to Hamilton

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We're looking at Lucy Nordberg's "King Arthur" from 2009, today - a philosophical and political take on the myth!

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how  English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s2e11.html

Learn More: https://movingpicturestheatre.com/king-arthur/

We're sitting down with the woman herself: Monica Cross sits down with us to chat about character building through line endings.  We're looking at an early modern play and one of Monica's works in progress that makes Hero the heroine of Much Ado About Nothing.

Monica Cross Online: https://monicaatcross.wixsite.com/theroaringgirl

Monica Cross Twitter: https://twitter.com/theroaringgirl

Monica Cross on New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/1040/monica-cross

Website: hamlettohamilton.com

Patreon: patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Get ready to swoon in every single scene, because we're focusing on our first Canadian playwright, William Wilfred Campbell's melodramatic Mordred: A Tragedy in Five Acts.  We're jumping out of windows, we're stealing armor, we're mistaking our identities, and choosing our romantic partners by way of dibs.  Start twirling your moustache and enjoy the melodrama!

As an extra special bonus, we'll be dropping the Zoom video for this episode for our patrons on Patreon.  To join, visit http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton.com

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how  English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s2e7.html

Welcome to the long-awaited Season 4 of "Hamlet to Hamilton!" This season, we're joined by Robert Crighton of the Beyond Shakespeare Company. Rob will be our guide through the earliest English verse drama, as hosts Emily C. A. Snyder and Colin Kovarik try out scenes from morality plays and mystery cycles and see just how we got from some highly stylized rhyming drama to the blank verse we know and love today.

Hamlet to Hamilton: Website

Beyond Shakespeare Company: Website

It's time for a spicy Lancelot and Guinevere with The Table Round and The Seige Perilous by our very own Emily C. A. Snyder, looking at the 2019 original workshop production script.

Content Warning: Today's play takes seriously questions of sex and consent.  The discussion will also briefly mention sexual coercion and the after effects of incest in the context of the Arthurian myth.

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how  English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s2e13.html

Support: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Welcome to Hamlet to Hamilton: Exploring Verse Drama!

H2H is a weekly podcast, dropping every Wednesday, wherein we'll be exploring how to write and perform verse drama - from Shakespeare to your own voice in verse, and beyond!

H2H is a special project of Turn to Flesh Productions: Audio Division.  TTF is a theatre company in New York City that develops new plays in heightened text with vibrant roles for womxn and those underrepresented in classical art.  So, basically, we create "new Shakespeare plays" for everyone Shakespeare didn't write for!

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We know that poetry isn't the same as verse...but have you realized that prose isn't the same as paragraph form?  Even more exciting: we've identified four different types of verse, all of which perform differently on the stage!  It's a doozy of an episode, but enjoy this deep dive into what verse drama can do.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/

Verse Types: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/what-is-verse.html

Support: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Sometimes art really does come Velveteen Rabbit-alive.  In February 2023, Mary Baldwin University gave the Virginia Premiere of Emily C. A. Snyder's Cupid and Psyche.  Here's Emily's reflection on what it was like to let her artistic baby go, and what it's like to see art grow up and become alive.  

Please Note: What follows is said with all love and respect to anyone who has ever born, lost, or gestated a child in their body.  Metaphors are imperfect.  Experiences grope for words.  Thank you for understanding.

It's a new year and a new Unhinged Rant!  We're returning to T. S. Eliot, looking at his poetry in The Cocktail Party vs. Four Quartets.  The cool thing is Eliot always sounds like Eliot.  The cooler thing is that Ralph Fiennes performed Four Quartets (a poetry cycle) on the English stage in 2021.  The weird thing is that Fiennes' works...and The Cocktail Party doesn't.  What's going on with poetry on-stage anyway?

UNHINGED RANTS are Patreon-only monthly exclusives.  We're unlocking this one for you, dear listeners.  Like what you hear?  Come join us over on patreon.com/hamlettohamilton!

(Listen on Patreon)

Before we jump back into Arthur's world, we want to give you this interview with playwright Caeden Musser!  Caeden is an actor-combatant, playwright, opera singer, and so much more.  Their new Cassandra-inspired play was featured in several of the "Tool Boudoir" episodes from Season One, and Caeden's here today talking about how music and movement influences their writing in verse.

Please note: This interview was recorded in the winter of 2020, when Caeden was known as "Becca" with she/they pronouns.

Learn more about Caeden: https://www.instagram.com/platypusinspace/

Photo: Caeden Musser and Laurel Andersen in a scene from The Lifted Instants Before the Fall: A Tale of Troy. TURN TO FLESH PRODUCTIONS 2019 gala.  Photo courtesy of Lisa LaGrande.

Referencing: 

“In the Forest She Grew Fangs” by Stephen Spotswood on NPX: https://newplayexchange.org/plays/1299/forest-she-grew-fang

Spit and Vigor Theatre: https://www.spitnvigor.com/*

BOOK: “What We See When We Read” by Peter Mendelsund

Colin’s Published Poems: https://macrinamagazine.com/issue-6-general/guest/2021/01/30/visitation-thank-you-note-how-what-if-love/

HOW do you use spelling, typography, punctuation, and spacing to imply cadence? Don't worry. It's sooooooooooooo easy.

This week we look at the rules of emotive formatting: rules that are available not only to verse playwrights, but to anyone who's writing anything!

Featuring verse from: "may i feel said he" by e. e. cumming

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

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Sometimes we learn best by learning from other people's mistakes.  Such is the case of Stark Young's 1906 verse play, Guenevere: A Play in Five Acts.  (Don't worry, Young went on to have a very good career in books and film.  Just...not so much verse drama.)

Need to refresh yourself on why line endings matter?  Check out: Whose Line Ending Is It Anyway from Season One.

As an extra special bonus, we'll be dropping the Zoom video for the Melodrama episode for our patrons on Patreon.  To join, visit http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton.com

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how  English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s2e9.html

We're sitting down with Deb Victoroff, the author of the very timely The Tragedy of the Election of the Citrus King.  (PLEASE NOTE: This episode contains very light spoilers for Citrus King.)

Citrus King also referenced in Episode 1: Defining Verse Drama and Episode 3: Schwumpf, There It Is

Citrus King available to read and request performance rights on New Play Exchange

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

BONUS EPISODE: Available early to all $10+ patrons https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/bardtalk1.html

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Playwright Monica Cross is back, chatting about some of the tricks and tips she uses as a neurodivergent person when sitting down to write (and rewrite) her verse drama.

CONTENT WARNING: Monica and Emily do (gently) discuss the script formatting and Monica's direction of Sarah Kane's play, 4:48 Psychosis, a brilliant contemporary verse play which does deal with mental trauma and suicidality. These are mentioned only insofar as they relate to the play.

Make sure to check out Monica's previous interview: S3 E13: Monica Cross Discusses Line Endings!

Monica Cross Online: https://monicaatcross.wixsite.com/theroaringgirl

Monica Cross Twitter: https://twitter.com/theroaringgirl

Monica Cross on New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/1040/monica-cross

Website: hamlettohamilton.com

Patreon: patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

We're looking at the overlap of burlesque and verse drama, with not one - not two - but FOUR iterations of Henry Fielding's Tom Thumb the Great.  From the original publishing of the fairy tale, through to Fielding's two rewrites of his play, to the burlesques (verse musical comedies) that were derived from the same.  Phew!

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Episode Guide: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/episodeguide.html

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton.com

We're finally in the 2000's with verse drama King Arthur plays!  First, we'll take a quick look at how everyone kept "reviving verse drama" in the 1900's (or did they) before reading Lancelot and Guinevere in Matthew Freeman's The Death of Arthur (2001).

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how  English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s2e10.html

You've heard about Peter Oswald's plays...now hear from the man who directed those new verse plays at the Globe!  That's right, Colin and Emily sit down to chat with none other than the Artistic Director of the Shaw Theatre, Tim Carroll.  (And a note from Colin: definitely listen to the end of the episode to hear one of the most heartening pieces of advice for every theatre artist and person we've yet committed to audio.)

In this interview, we'll chat about the Barton/Hall Royal Shakespeare Center approach to text, the experience of directing and collaborating on new verse (such as Peter Oswald's The Golden Ass starring Mark Rylance at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre), and so much more.

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For Shakespeare's Birthday, we're kicking off a mini-season of interviews before we dive into Season Four. Let us introduce you to Kyle J. McCloskey (He/They), a two-time recipient of the Paula Vogel Prize from the Kennedy Center, here to chat with us about Paula Vogel's concepts of plasticity, as well as how soliloquies can be powerful political tools.

Official Website: https://www.kylejmccloskey.com/

New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/576/kyle-j-mccloskey

Paul Vogel Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLqM2xXYbzU

What was the process of writing for some of our living Arthurian playwrights?  How did they approach Lancelot and Guinevere?  Which books did they read?  What did they think of incorporating magic?  Listen to this Round Table of the Round Table, an interview with Lucy Nordberg (King Arthur 2009), Daniel James Roth (The Tragedy of Arthur 2019) and Emily C. A. Snyder (The Table Round and The Siege Perilous 2019), moderated by Colin Kovarik.

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how  English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s2e14.html

Support: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Welcome to our penultimate episode of Season Four, as we continue our journey through Anglophone verse drama. Today, our H2H hosts Emily and Colin, joined by Rob Crighton of the Beyond Shakespeare Company, get a little silly and imagine muppets performing the flurry of fragments from the 1550's.

Make sure you're subscribed to the Beyond Shakespeare Company Podcast feed to continue the second half of our season, as we look at the first iambic pentameter and blank verse plays, as well as the first "prose" plays in English. (Episodes on the BSC Podcast starting August 2024)

http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

http://www.beyondshakespeare.org

We close out our exploration of creating character through line breaks by looking at Sir Gawain from The Table Round and The Siege Perilous by our own Emily C. A. Snyder.  We're breaking down how a character can go from complete end-stopped thoughts, to open-ended insecurity, as well as how caesura and broken lines can define a character's arc.  Strap in as we look at one character...and then tell us how you're using line endings, caesura and schwumpf in your own work!

PLEASE NOTE: Sir Gawain suffers sexual coersion and two of his speeches touch briefly on his feelings as he puzzles out what he experienced.  These are flagged during the episode, so that the listener can skip if they prefer.

Read the texts: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s3e15.html

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hamlettohamilton

It's time to look at Emily's favorite new author!  Richard Hovey's The Tragedy of Guenevere - as well as the Gilbert and Sullivan-esque The New King Arthur: An Opera Without Music by Edgar Fawcett.

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Episode Guide: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/episodeguide.html

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton.com

What do you do after a show? Go to the pub! In this bonus episode, H2H creators Colin and Emily talk about how the show came to be, networking as an introvert, that one time Emily directed 425 kids in The Wizard of Oz, the virtue of cross country trips, and much more.

PLEASE NOTE: Bar(d) Talk episodes do include swears, but are rather light on drinks.  Bring your own beverage.

ALSO: Yes, the swears were in trochaic tetrameter, not in iambs.  We apologize to all scansionites, as it will invariably happen again.

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

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Twitter @hamlet2hamilton

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In Season Three, we're looking at soliloquy! For the conclusion of our look at Shakespeare's use of soliloquies, we turn to the meta-theatrical soliloquy, from Bottom playing Pyramus to Hamlet declaring that the play is the thing.  

Sure, we know that Characters can perform Soliloquies...but what happens when those Characters "play Characters?"

We're talking about kangaroo pocket dimensions.  We're talking about that one time an Elizabethan actor punched an audience member.  We're talking about meta-theatrical soliloquies!

Support: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Website: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

The patrons have voted, and in Season Three we will be exploring how to write and perform soliloquies!  In today's episode, we begin by defining what a soliloquy is, how it's different from a speech, a monologue, and address...and whether Hamlet ought To Be Or Not To Be alone on stage.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/

Support: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

It's time to explore our Tool Boudoir: that is, all the tools used on a line of verse.  First up?  Scansion, meter, and foot...BUT(!) not as you think you know them.  Introducing repeated, sprung, juxtaposed, and free meter - and how each of them work to help tell your story in verse.

• Featuring verse from: Richard II (William Shakespeare), The Second Shepherd's Play (The Wakefield Master), The Mother of God Visits Hell (Daniel Guyton), The Other, Other Woman (Emily C. A. Snyder), The Table Round (Emily C. A. Snyder), and Murder in the Cathedral (T. S. Eliot)

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s1e5.html

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

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Season Three is kicking off with an Unhinged Rant, laughing for about 30 seconds straight, about Lord Byron and his absolute horro that someone might criticize his plays.  (Which they did.)  Strap in for a wildly biased, barely scholarly, totally unhinged  rant from Emily C. A. Snyder.  Hide the kids, and get out your popcorn.

The first two Unhinged Rants will be available for all listeners from  your favorite podcatchers.  To access all the Unhinged Rants, become a  patron on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

It's time for what Rob Crighton is calling the "most theatrical play ever written!" Get ready for a second look at John Heywood's play...and let us know what you think.

⁠Hamlet to Hamilton⁠

⁠Beyond Shakespeare Company

And now for something completely different:

H2H is partnering with the Beyond Shakespeare Company, and this time we're pleased to present the BSC's full audio cast production of "The Harrowing of Hell" - one of the very first Anglophone verse dramas, from around 1250 CE.

We'll be back soon with the beginning of the Tudor period as we continue to explore the history of English drama. In the meantime, you can listen to our exploratory session with this text and other Medieval dramas in S4 E1: the Earliest English Verse Drama: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s4e1.html

Beyond Shakespeare: https://beyondshakespeare.org/

What is "Schwumpf?"  Well, it's about making connections.  It's about  bringing ideas, feelings, emotions, facts, heresies, and so much more  together on a single line of verse.

So sit back, grab some tea, pet a cat, and join us as we learn a bit about the philosophy of what verse drama does really, really well.

• Featuring verse from: Hamlet (William Shakespeare), The Tragedy of the Election of the Citrus King (Deb Victoroff)

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s1e3.html

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

BONUS EPISODE: Available early to all $10+ patrons https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/bardtalk1.html 

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Soooo...what is "verse drama" anyway?  Just a bunch of poetry?  Skulls and doublets and hose, oh my?  Or something else?

Season One kicks off with definitions of verse vs. prose drama, examining Hamlet, Hamilton...and our first mystery playwright!

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s1e1.html

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

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Twitter @hamlet2hamilton

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You may know our guest Peter Oswald from his translation of Schiller's Mary Stuart, but we're here to chat with him, in this latest installment of our "Bar(d) Talk" series, about his time as the first new verse dramatist at Shakespeare's Globe, writing for no less than Mark Rylance.  But Oswald's verse career didn't stop there: he's been finishing Schiller's unfinished verse plays, as well as writing more original pieces of his own.  Here he talks about the highs and lows of being one of the first authors to kick off our current 21st Century Renaissance of contemporary verse drama.

Like what you hear? Consider supporting us on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Move over, Hamlet!  Now that we've looked at what a soliloquy is, it's time to dive into how to write the classic soliloquy. Emily guides you through the different parts of a classic soliloquy so that you can begin to write or revise your own work.  

We also share some listener feedback!  Have a comment you'd like to be shared on-air?  You can tweet at us @hamlet2hamilton or contact us at hamlettohamilton@gmail.com.  We love to hear your insights.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode looks at two speeches for characters who are processing through soliloquy sexual aggression.  Isabella in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, and Sir Gawain in Emily C. A. Snyder's The Table Round.  Sexual aggression itself is not dwelt on, except insofar as it relates to the playwright's recognizing the context of the soliloquy they have created.

NEXT EPISODE: "Finding Your Character's Voice"

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Website: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

We're at our Season 3 finale!  Looking at how to use poetic imagery and poetic techniques to enhance your verse drama...or to ruin it.  (Bless you T. S. Eliot, for showing us what not to do.)  We're looking at how Shakespeare succeeds (Antony and Cleopatra) and fails (Romeo and Juliet) at using poetic imagery, as well as how T. S. Eliot uses poetic techniques well in his poetry (Four Quartets)...aaaaand not so well in his plays (The Cocktail Party).  PLUS!  You get to hear Emily laugh for a full minute, before attempting her version of a very posh British accent for good old Eliot's work.

Up next, we're going to be offering you various interviews from contemporary verse dramatists, before we jump into Season 4, which will look at the evolution of the history of Anglophone verse drama from the Medieval Ages through to the closing of the theatres in the 1640's.  That's in conjunction with the brilliant Beyond Shakespeare Company podcast, so check them out while you're waiting for S4 to drop!

Website: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Season Three is taking a deep dive into soliloquy.  And where better to begin by strolling through Hamlet's Seven Soliloquies.  How does "To be" measure up?  Should Shakespeare have used a different type of verse? Should soliloquies be performed to yourself or to the audience? How great is the TV show Sling and Arrows?  All this and more as we look at that role and peasant slave, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/

Verse Types: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/what-is-verse.html

Support: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

HERESY!  Our podcast is on trial for claiming that there are no such things as feminine line endings, iambic pentameter is boring and we'll prove it, and worst of all...Shakespeare doesn't matter.

• Featuring verse from: Measure for Measure (William Shakespeare), The Mother of God Visits Hell (Daniel Guyton)
• Content Warning: Frank discussion of gender politics, the use of the word "queer" as an adjective (not a pejorative), mention of rape (in context of Measure for Measure)
  

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s1e4.html

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

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Season Three we're studying soliloquy!  This week we look at the villain soliloquies.  Or the, "this is what I've done, am doing, will do" soliloquies.  Or the, "I've already got a plan and am letting you in on it" soliloquies.

How can you differentiate your villains (or go-getters)?  How can you keep a character's personality in tact when they're giving exposition?  We look at some Shakespearean characters to see how the Bard failed, and eventually succeeded.  Take a walk with us as we compare Richard III (Richard III), Iago (Othello), Edmund (King Lear), Don John (Much Ado About Nothing) and Petruchio (The Taming of the Shrew).

Learn more: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

We sit down with Glyn Maxwell, esteemed poet, librettist, and verse playwright, to chat all things versical - particularly the intersection of the world of poetry and the stage.  

If you haven't, check out his On Poetry - an essential guide for anyone interested in learning more about writing in verse.

To hear a bit of Cyrano de Bergarac by Maxwell, listen here.

To read Claire Helie's article on Glyn Maxwell, see Coup de Theatre.

Like what you hear? Consider supporting us on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

We're hitting pause on our look through Shakespearean soliloquies to take a moment to share our latest discovery!  With the inspiration of Kyara Hunter, a Masters student at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, we're bringing to you the idea of another type of formatting:

Bullet Formatting

What's this? How is it different from verse or paragraph? And how do Abbot and Costello use it in their famous "Who's on First?" routine?

Picture: Abbot and Costello "Who's on First?" - Kate and Petruchio in Gaudete Academy's "Taming of the Shrew" (2010) - "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" at the Old Vic

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Website: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

Our patrons on Patreon got to hear this full interview early.  Now you can hear it too!  Emily sits down with Daniel James Roth and two of his actor friends, Benedetto Robinson and Grace Beardsley, to read out selections his "Tragedy of King Arthur" (2019) and chat about it.

Hamlet to Hamilton is on a brief hiatus, but we're able to release a few bonus episodes for you in the meantime, thanks to our patrons on Patreon.  If you like this podcast and want to make sure we can bring you Season 3, you can join us over at http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

How do you discover your character through the use of line breaks when writing verse?  We're starting a mini-series on that very question, thanks to some great insight from playwright, Monica Cross.  In this episode, we define five different dramatic reasons why a line ends (end stopped, enjambment, silence, stage direction and interruption), and we start looking at primarily end stopped lines.  We also contrast King Arthur in Arthur Phillips' The Tragedy of Arthur, compared to King Henry V in William Shakespeare's Henry V.  (And Emily goes nuts over good poetry.)

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Website: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

Monica Cross Twitter: https://twitter.com/theroaringgirl

Monica Cross on New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/1040/monica-cross

We've talked about the basics of writing soliloquy...but how do you find your character's voice?  In this episode, we look at T. S. Eliot's idea of the "Three Voices of Poetry," as well as examining Abigail Thorn (of PhilosophyTube)'s brilliant use of breaking iambic pentameter in her new verse play, "The Prince."  BONUS!  Emily guides you through exploring prosody.  How do you feel about iambics?  Trochees?  Anapest?  What rhythms do your characters speak in?

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Website: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

Prosody (metric rhythms): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_(prosody)

We've got an extra special episode with guest actors and the playwright himself as we take a look at The Tragedy of King Arthur (2019) by Daniel James Roth.

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how  English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s2e12.html

Support: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

It's time to talk Emotive Formatting (part of the Tool Boudoir), starting with Shakespeare's First Folio!  And who better to help us out, than our own  Esther Williamson, speaking about how punctuation can completely alter  the clarity of a moment of a play.

Featuring verse from: Henry IV and The Tempest (William Shakespeare)

Featuring the voices of:

• Esther Williamson
• Learn more about Esther's masterclass on Macbeth

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s1e8.html

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

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It's our season finale, y'all!...Kinda. Today, we cover plays between Kind Edward to Queen Elizabeth I, as we wrap up the season on this feed, before finishing our season properly on the Beyond Shakespeare Company podcast.

Big thanks to Rob Crighton of Beyond Shakes for guiding us through this season. We're excited to share the remainder of the season (including the introduction of blank verse, iambic pentameter, and prose!) on the Beyond Shakes Podcast feed.

http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

http://www.beyondshakespeare.org

We've had the lectures...and now it's time to have the class interaction!  Colin hosts our new segment, SHAKES NOTES, where he doubles down in conversation with Emily about different ideas the podcast is putting forth.  First up is a discussion of just what "schwumpf" means.

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Website: http://www.hamlettothamilton.com

Welcome to Season Two: "Arthur Through the Ages," where we'll be looking through King Arthur-inspired English language verse plays from 1587-2019.  Welcome season cohosts, Nick Ritacco and Colin Kovarik, as we jump into our first play, The Misfortunes of Arthur by Sir Thomas Hughes, written in 1587.

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/shownotes.html

FULL PLAY: https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/hughes-misfortunes-of-arthur

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

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Season Three we're talking about soliloquy! We've covered how Shakespeare has used soliloquy, but we can learn so much more from how musical theatre employs soliloquy.  From Howard Ashman's iconic "I want" song, such as in The Little Mermaid, to the much-anticipated "double soliloquy" such as the final number of The Last Five Years, we've got some fun ideas for you writers out there.

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Website: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

It's time to dive in to Lancelot and Guinevere scenes with Reithmuller's The Misfortunes of Arthur and Akhurst's Burlesque Extravaganza!  We've got the noble knight jumping out of casements and dishing out puns as we continue looking at Arthur Through the Ages.

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Episode Guide: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/episodeguide.html

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton.com

It's time to look at morality plays. What are they? How wacky can they get? Rob Crighton of the Beyond Shakespeare Company continues this tour through the History of English Verse Drama, along with your hosts Emily C. A. Snyder and Colin Kovarik.

⁠Hamlet to Hamilton: Website⁠

⁠Beyond Shakespeare Company: Website

As we draw near the end of the Middle Ages, we take a look at interlude and debate plays. Rob Crighton of the Beyond Shakespeare Company continues this tour through the History of English Verse Drama, along with your hosts Emily C. A. Snyder and Colin Kovarik.

⁠⁠Hamlet to Hamilton: Website⁠⁠

⁠⁠Beyond Shakespeare Company: Website

We're continuing through the beginnings of print culture with John Rastell and John Heywood. Season Four we're examining the origins of Anglophone drama, in crossover with the Beyond Shakespeare Company Podcast!

Hamlet to Hamilton

Beyond Shakespeare Company

What happens when you get a bunch of actors to try out some end-stopped and open-ended lines?  This episode, obviously!

So often, we rely on the magic of actors to fix our verse drama, that it's time to let the actors give their honest opinion about what they need from a line of verse.

Looking at King Arthur verse from 1587 to the 2008 Cupid and Psyche "Bad Quarto", we're moving gently and with laughter through the good, the bad, and the unactable in verse drama.

Featuring verse from: The Misfortunes of Arthur (Sir Thomas Hughes), and Cupid and Psyche (Emily C. A. Snyder)

Featuring the voices of:

• Andrew Barrett
• Nick Ritacco
• Evan Sachs
• Vanessa Wendt

As promised, the 2008 "Bad Quarto" and the 2014 NYC Revision of Cupid and Psyche are available for $15+ patrons.  Check it out!

BAD QUARTO: https://www.patreon.com/posts/45167460

BUY ON AMAZON: https://amzn.to/34of6ra

~*~

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s1e7.html

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

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Full episodes of Unhinged Rants are available monthly to our Patrons over at http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

This month's Unhinged Rant: in honor of kicking off Season Three on soliloquy, Emily takes her own "Bad Quarto" to task - laughing at her baby playwright missteps, and explaining how her actors helped make everything All Better.  (Well, more better.  Betterer.)

Basically: I was writing speeches that were clever, but weren't appropriate for the moment.  I mean, if you're being stalked by a Beast, are you going to suddenly stop and say: "Hmmm, let me give a little TED Talk on the nature of vanity?"

Eidetic.
Adetosic.
Stichic.
Protean.
Morphic.

What the *hell* do all these words mean?
What are they and how do they work?
How might they interact with the concepts we dug into last week: schwumpf and uvriel?

Colin asks Emily all of this and more in another installment of SHAKES NOTES. Join us in finding out the answers AND, for free, get a dose of fascinating conversation on much more than *merely* verse drama!

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Website: http://www.hamlettothamilton.com

Today we're looking at a truly interesting and pivotal moment in the development of verse drama as we know it, as we delve into the origins of the verse "opera," with John Dryden's King Arthur, Or The British Worthy.

Show Notes: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Let's look at some hyper contemporary verse to see how line endings are used in some Broadway and Off-Broadway plays.  We're delving into Lucas Hnath's A Doll House, Pt. 2 and Jeremy O. Harris' Slave Play to see how enjambment and end stopped lines work when we're not in iambic pentameter.  

(Note: Fear not! Although Slave Play contains difficult material, there is no content warning for this episode as the portion quoted is a neutral and not charged speech.  Phew!)

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Website: http://www.hamlettohamilton.com

Why is Hamilton the superior musical to 1776?  What makes Heathers soar, while Mean Girls is just okay?  Why are we talking so much about musicals, when we should be talking about verse?

Because the question we're answering today is: When should we be writing in verse?  Well, we'll take our cue from Uncle Stephen Sondheim, who told us quite succinctly:

CONTENT DICTATES FORM.

• Light Spoilers for: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Community, Heathers, Mean Girls, Les Miserables, Hamilton
• Featuring verse from: Hamlet (William Shakespeare), Merry Widows of Windsor (Emily C. A. Snyder), Go to Ground (Stuart Spencer)

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s1e2.html

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

BONUS EPISODE: Available early to all $10+ patrons https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/bardtalk1.html

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Our patrons on Patreon have opened up another bonus episode for you!  This one from November 2020, when Colin and Emily sat down to chat more about the creation of this podcast, the Odyssey, and verse drama in general.

If you're enjoying this and would like to hear more, you can become a patron on Patreon over at http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

(CW: frank discussion of coercion, sexual violence, and incest as they pertain to world mythology.)

Do you love Richard Hovey as much as our hosts do?  Because it's time to see how he did as he wrote his sequel to "The Marriage of Guenevere" with his "Birth of Galahad."  

This episode was previously only available to our patrons on Patreon.  Thanks to them, we're able to bring this episode to you!

If you're enjoying this and would like to hear more, you can become a patron on Patreon over at http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

Did you know Gilbert and Sullivan wrote a King Arthur play?  Well, okay, that Sir Arthur Sullivan provided music for a King Arthur play in new verse, which was such a hit that it toured the UK and the US? And did you know that it was only one of three plays either performed or published in 1895?  We did!  Today, we take a look at King Arthur: A Drama in a Prologue and Four Acts, with verse by J. Comyns Carr and music by Sir Arthur Sullivan, as well as Mordred: A Tragedy by Henry Newbolt.

As an extra special bonus, we'll be dropping the Zoom video for the Melodrama episode for our patrons on Patreon.  To join, visit http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton.com

Season Two we're looking at Arthur Through the Ages, looking at how  English verse playwrights took on the King Arthur myth, from 1587-2019.

Show Notes and Texts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/s2e8.html

We're finishing our survey of the Tool Boudoir with a look at silences, spacing, stage directions and shared lines, as we come to the end of Season One of Hamlet to Hamilton!

Featuring verse from: Hamlet and King John by William Shakespeare, Our Town by Thornton Wilder, The Lifted Instants Before the Fall by Becca Musser, The Other, Other Woman, Cupid and Psyche, and The Siege Perilous by Emily C. A. Snyder

ACCESS SHOW NOTES to texts, links, and full transcripts: https://www.hamlettohamilton.com/

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/hamlettohamilton

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Facebook @hamlettohamilton Twitter @hamlet2hamilton

#HamlettoHamilton #H2H

It's time to talk international verse drama with none other than Dr. Kasia Lech! Her new book, Dramaturgy of Form: Performing Verse in Contemporary Theatre looks at new fusions of verse drama, hiphop, slam poetry, multilingual artists and more.

H2H LISTENERS: Use the code FLY21 for a discount code when you buy the book today!

Learn more at: hamlettohamilton.com

Follow Dr. Kasia Lech on Twitter

What was the importance of manuscripts, and the impact of the printing press on late Medieval drama? This episode introduces our first named playwright, John Lydgate, and his 1465 play, "Mankind."

Rob Crighton of the Beyond Shakespeare Company continues this tour through the History of English Verse Drama, along with your hosts Emily C. A. Snyder and Colin Kovarik.

⁠⁠⁠Hamlet to Hamilton: Website⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Beyond Shakespeare Company: Website

We're back with the Beyond Shakespeare Podcast to (finally!) look at early Tudor drama. Specifically, we're looking at Rhyme Royal, which you can learn more about here!

Hamlet to Hamilton

Beyond Shakespeare Company