Shakespeare Anyone?

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In this episode, we examine Shakespeare's As You Like It as a piece of satire, one that pokes fun at the pastoral romantic comedy genre and the pastoral ideals so popular in early modern English court. We look at how Shakespeare undermines the tropes of the genre, subverts some of the negative stereotypes about country life that were common in the pastoral tradition, and what that suggests about his own relationship to the genre.
We then turn to exploring further evidence that suggests that the play was first performed at court on Shrovetide in 1599 (so much more than just the explaining the pancake joke!), and we consider what a court performance on this date would have meant for both the players staging it and the audience watching it.
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
For updates:
Join our email list
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod
Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
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Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone 
Buy us a coffee
Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.
Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link.
Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.
Works referenced:
Cirillo, Albert R. "As You Like It: Pastoralism Gone Awry." ELH, vol. 38, no. 1, 1971, pp. 19–39. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2872361. Accessed 3 Aug. 2026.

Dusinberre, Juliet. "Pancakes and a Date for 'As You like It.'" Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 4, 2003, pp. 371–405. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3844055. Accessed 29 July 2026.
Kronenfeld, Judy Z. "Social Rank and the Pastoral Ideals of As You Like It." Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 3, 1978, pp. 333–48. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2869144. Accessed 29 July 2026.
Samuk, Tristan. "Satire and the Aesthetic in As You Like It." Renaissance Drama, vol. 43, no. 2, 2015, pp. 117–42. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1086/683106. Accessed 3 Aug. 2026.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you.
In this week's episode, we explore the role of music and songs in Shakespeare's plays. We look at how songs were woven into the fabric of early modern culture, from tavern ballads to church liturgies to courtly masques, and consider how this musical culture influenced the music of Shakespeare's plays. We'll also explain how scholars and historians have pieced together bits and pieces of information to discover what we know about which instruments were popular and what the popular music of Shakespeare's day sounded like. 
We'll also dive into the logistics of music in a theatrical performance and how musicians and actors would bring these songs to life in the original productions of Shakespeare's plays. 
Looking for the image of the virginal/spinet we mention? Here you go!
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
For updates:
Join our email list
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod
Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
Support the podcast:
Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone 
Buy us a coffee
Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.
Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link.
Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.
Works referenced:
Bogaev, Barbara, interviewer. Christopher Marsh and Angela McShane, guests. "Top Pop Songs of the 1600s." Shakespeare Unlimited. Episode 259. Folger Shakespeare Library. https://www.folger.edu/podcasts/shakespeare-unlimited/top-pop-songs-of-the-1600s/. Accessed 26 July 2026.
Cash, Cassidy, host. "Episode 33: Music in Shakespeare's Plays with Mary Springfels." That Shakespeare Life. episode 33, https://www.cassidycash.com/ep33/. Accessed 26 July 2026.
Cash, Cassidy, host. "Ep 96: Catherine Loomis and Music on Shakespeare's Stage." That Shakespeare Life. episode 96, https://www.cassidycash.com/ep-96-catherine-loomis-and-music-on-shakespeares-stage/. Accessed 26 July 2026.
Colley, John Scott. "Music in the Elizabethan Private Theatres." The Yearbook of English Studies, vol. 4, 1974, pp. 62–69. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3506682. Accessed 26 July 2026.
 
Munro, Lucy, ' Music and Sound', in Richard Dutton (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theatre (2011; online edn, Oxford Academic, 18 Sept. 2012), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697861.013.0033, accessed 25 July 2026.
 
Phillips, James E. "The Vocal Songs in the Plays of Shakespeare. A Critical History. Peter J. Seng." Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 3, 1968, pp. 359-361. Chicago Journals, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.2307/2859441. Accessed 26 July 2026.
 
Sheir, Rebecca, host. Ross W. Duffin, guest. "Music in Shakespeare." Shakespeare Unlimited. Episode 11. Folger Shakespeare Library. https://www.folger.edu/podcasts/shakespeare-unlimited/music-in-shakespeare/. Accessed 26 July 2026.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you.
In this episode, we turn our attention to Touchstone, the sharp-tongued clown who trades the court for the Forest of Arden. We begin by revisiting what we already know about fools in Shakespeare's plays and the real-life clowns and jesters of early modern England. This sets the stage for us to explore what makes Touchstone stand apart from the rest of Shakespeare's fools. We then dig into how Touchstone functions less as pure comic relief and more as a fun-house mirror for the play itself, parodying the romantic entanglements and pastoral fantasies unfolding around him. Finally, we consider the meaning behind his name and what it reveals about his behavior throughout the play and what it means to be a touchstone in the Forest of Arden. 
And a special note: this is our 150th episode! Thank you for everyone who has listened and supported us along the way!
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
For updates:
Join our email list
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod
Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
Support the podcast:
Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone 
Buy us a coffee
Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.
Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link.
Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.
Works referenced:
BELL, ROBERT H. "Motley to the View: The Shakespearean Performance of Folly." Southwest Review, vol. 95, no. 1/2, 2010, pp. 44–62. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43473037. Accessed 10 July 2026.
Frail, David. "To the Point of Folly: Touchstone's Function in 'As You like It.'" The Massachusetts Review, vol. 22, no. 4, 1981, pp. 695–717. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25089211. Accessed 8 July 2026.
Goldsmith, Robert Hillis. "Touchstone: Critic in Motley." PMLA, vol. 68, no. 4, 1953, pp. 884–95. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/459804. Accessed 8 July 2026.
Weindling, Lauren. "'I Do Play the Touch': Touchstone and Testing in As You Like It." Studies in Philology, vol. 121, no. 1, 2024, pp. 135–62. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27311436. Accessed 11 July 2026.

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you.
As we start off another one of Shakespeare's plays, we will first take a look at the themes, motifs,  and production history of As You Like It in this Stuff to Chew On episode. This will provide a basis for future conversations as we dive deeper in later episodes. Think about it like As You Like It 101!
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
For updates:
Join our email list
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod
Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
Support the podcast:
Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone 
Buy us a coffee
Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.
Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link.
Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.
Works referenced:
Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. Edited by Juliet Dusinberre, Arden Shakespeare, 2006.
SparkNotes Editors. "As You Like It" SparkNotes.com, SparkNotes LLC, 2005, https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/asyoulikeit/

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you.
It's time for our twelfth play! Today we are starting our series on Shakespeare's As You Like It with a synopsis episode. In this episode, we will provide a detailed summary of the plot, breaking down the action of the play scene by scene. 
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Special thanks to Nat Yonce for editing this episode. 
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
For updates:
Join our email list
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod
Visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
Support the podcast:
Become a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone 
Buy us a coffee
Bookshop.org: Since 2020, Bookshop.org has raised more than $38 million for independent bookstores. Shop our Shakespeare Anyone? storefront to find books featured on the podcast, books by our guests, and other Shakespeare-related books and gifts. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.
Libro.fm: Libro.fm makes it possible to purchase audiobooks through your local bookshop of choice. Use our link for 2 free audiobooks when you sign up for a new Libro.fm membership using our link.
Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree.
Works referenced:
Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. Edited by Juliet Dusinberre. Arden Shakespeare, 2006.