Everyday Shakespeare

Everyday Shakespeare

Caroline Bicks & Michelle Ephraim

Episodes 29
Avg. Duration 37m
Activity Declining
Since Apr 2023
Latest Episode Sep 2025

Publishing Details

Schedule
Monthly
Format
Episodic
Hosting
feeds.libsyn.com

Contact & Outreach

About This Podcast

Hosts Caroline Bicks and Michelle Ephraim are Shakespeare professors and close friends who love to bond over the ways Shakespeare's plays help them through their everyday dramas. In each episode, they go back to Shakespeare's day to bring you some funny, fresh insights into a pressing modern problem. They'll explore popular Renaissance writings – from parenting books to cosmetics manuals – and, of course, plays – and talk about their uncanny connections to our everyday struggles. Whether you're dealing with an aging libido, a pandemic, or a dysfunctional family gathering, you'll feel a little bit better when Bard meets life. Caroline is the Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine, and Michelle is Professor of English at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. They've shared their unique brand of Bard-meets-life humor everywhere from the New York Times and the Moth Radio Hour to McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and are the co-authors of Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas. Who says an English major is useless? "The Everyday Shakespeare Podcast" is produced by Jill Ruby.

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Recent Episodes

S3 Power Couples from Instagram to Alexandria

Sep 15, 2025 39m

It's human nature to love the spectacle of a power couple, whether it's a celebrity marriage proposal or corporate heavyweights having some adulterous fun at a Coldplay concert. But how did people…

S3 Birthdays, and Breechings, and Bed Parties—Oh, My!

Jul 07, 2025 39m

We've gone a little nuts when it comes to celebrating our kids' milestones, like their birthdays and graduations. We've even started inventing new ones (hello, Bed Parties??), which means we're…

S3 Filmmaker Timothy Bogart on his new film, "Juliet and Romeo"

May 05, 2025 29m

Why mess with Shakespeare's perfectly good script of Romeo and Juliet? In this interview, Tim Bogart, writer and director of Juliet and Romeo (release date, May 9, 2025), explains his…

S3 Winter's Tales

Feb 13, 2025 31m

From Frankenstein to The Shining, tales of extreme wintery conditions have always been a hit. In this episode, we talk about some of the real-life fun people had when things got very cold in…

S3 "To track, or not to track?"

Dec 02, 2024 27m

Thanks to modern technology, tracking your children (and anyone else willing to join your Life360 Circle) has never been easier. But even in Shakespeare's pre-iphone days, people found ways to keep…

S3 Childless Cat Ladies of Yore

Oct 28, 2024 36m

We're getting our Season Three Party started by exploring the origins of a terrifying creature: the Childless Cat Lady. Whether she has warts and a broom, or she's selling out concert stadiums, this…

James Shapiro on theater, democracy, and the making of an American culture war

Jun 24, 2024 48m

In this episode, James Shapiro, award-winning author and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, joins us to talk about his most recent book, The Playbook: A Story of…

S2 Much Ado About Polyamory

May 27, 2024 40m

These days, everyone seems to be talking about polyamory-- the practice of engaging simultaneously in more than one romantic and/or sexual relationship, with the full consent of everyone involved.…

S2 Shakespeare's Unsung Moms

Apr 29, 2024 26m

It's time to bust out the dried macaroni, glitter glue, and home-made Foot Rub "Coupons," because Mother's Day is just around the corner. Mothers are missing from a lot of Shakespeare's plays, but…

S2 Ye olde Varsity Blues

Apr 08, 2024 32m

Long before Photoshop and the Varsity Blues scandal, wealthy families have been trying to game the college admissions process. In this episode, we explore why affluent families started to outnumber…

S2 "Think me not vain for writing my life"

Mar 11, 2024 37m

They may not have called it "memoir," but early modern English authors were producing all kinds of life-writing, from snarky private diaries to published accounts of religious conversion and…

S2 Reduced Shakespeare with Austin Tichenor

Feb 19, 2024 39m

In this episode, we're talking with Austin Tichenor, co-Artistic Director of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and longtime actor, author, podcaster, and Folger Shakespeare Library blogger. Austin…

S2 Shakespeare's Books: Live!

Feb 06, 2024 50m

We're kicking off our second season by spotlighting the work of bookmakers and booksellers — in Shakespeare's day and ours. We recorded this episode in front of a live audience at the Brookline…

S2 Staging "History": The Case of Richard III

Jan 22, 2024 42m

Ever wonder where the line "My kingdom for a horse!" came from? Shakespeare wrote it for King Richard III when he decided to dramatize England's bloodiest civil war, ending it with the tyrant Richard…

S2 Lady Macbeth's Fitbit, and Other New Year's Resolutions

Jan 01, 2024 36m

For many of us, the New Year means new resolutions about getting in shape. But often the goal isn't just to improve our health: there's a lot of magical thinking at work telling us that shedding five…

S2 Home for the Holidays

Dec 04, 2023 34m

Shakespeare wasn't eating leftover Thanksgiving turkey and doing online shopping on Black Friday, but he definitely would have been gearing up for the Christmas season, which included twelve full…

Shana Tova with Shakespeare

Sep 25, 2023 41m

It's the Jewish High Holiday season, and we're wrapping up our first season with a look back at what Shakespeare and his contemporaries would have known and thought about Jews and their religious…

"If music be the food of love ..."

Sep 11, 2023 29m

We're excited to introduce you to Play On Podcasts—epic audio adventures that harness the power of live performance. Enjoy this act from Twelfth Night, directed by Christopher Liam Moore and starring…

James Shapiro on Shakespeare in America

Aug 28, 2023 38m

In this episode, New York Times-bestselling author and Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro joins us to talk about his book Shakespeare in a Divided America and his work with the New York Public…

What to Expect When You're Expecting

Aug 14, 2023 44m

Beliefs about labor, delivery, and postpartum care differ widely between cultures and eras. In this episode, we talk about how these stages were experienced and imagined in Shakespeare's day. We…

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Everyday Shakespeare have?

Everyday Shakespeare has published 29 episodes since April 2023, covering topics in Arts, Books.

Is Everyday Shakespeare still active?

Everyday Shakespeare is currently declining with new episodes monthly. Average episode length is 37m.

How do I contact Everyday Shakespeare for sponsorship or guest appearances?

Sign up on Grep.FM to access contact details for Everyday Shakespeare, including email and social media links.

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