That Shakespeare Life
Hosted by Cassidy Cash, That Shakespeare Life takes you behind the curtain and into the real life of William Shakespeare.
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Tools used for Prisoner Torture for the 17th Century
10/12/2026
Tools used for Prisoner Torture for the 17th Century
Shakespeare uses the word torment more than forty times in his plays. For modern listeners, torment often feels internal — guilt, grief, jealousy, remorse. But in Shakespeare’s England, torment could also be something far more literal. It could be inflicted physically, through instruments specifically designed to extract confessions, enforce obedience, or punish those accused of crimes against the Crown. From the gibbet — referenced in Henry IV, Part 1 alongside dead bodies — to threats of racking, scolding tongues, and even Richard Plantagenet’s “strange tortures” in Henry VI, Shakespeare’s works are filled with language that assumes his audience understood the machinery of punishment. We might be tempted to dismiss these images as dramatic devices — grisly inventions suited to the stage. But the surviving artifacts housed in the collections of the Royal Armouries in London tell a different story. Torture in the 16th century was indeed brutal, but it was also astonishingly real. This week, I’m joined by Malcolm Mercer, Curator of Tower Armouries at the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London. Together, we’ll examine seven specific objects from the Armouries’ collections — including devices like the Scavenger’s Daughter, the gibbet, the scold’s bridle, and more— that serve as surviving testaments to how individuals in Shakespeare's England could, and were, be tortured and submitted to torment for crimes against King and Country.
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The Villainous Saffron Murder
10/05/2026
The Villainous Saffron Murder
We begin with one of Shakespeare’s most memorable fashion jokes: Malvolio in Twelfth Night, strutting in his yellow stockings. In the play, the color is comic, even ridiculous. Malvolio believes the stockings will make him attractive and impressive, but to everyone else, they make him look foolish. Shakespeare’s audience would have recognized that clothing could carry meaning, and yellow was not a neutral choice. From there, we step into the real fashion world of Jacobean England, where yellow was not confined to the stage. Among the elite, ruffs and cuffs could be starched, shaped, and even tinted with color. Saffron-yellow starch became fashionable, distinctive, and controversial. What looks to us like a decorative detail was, in Shakespeare’s world, part of a highly visible culture of status, performance, and reputation. At the center of that fashion story was Anne Turner. She was a court-connected widow, businesswoman, and companion to Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset. Turner became especially associated with saffron-yellow starch, which was used to tint fashionable ruffs and cuffs. By the time she was drawn into the Overbury murder trial, that yellow starch had become one of the details that made her notorious. The victim in that scandal was Sir Thomas Overbury, a courtier and poet who was poisoned in the Tower of London in 1613. His death became one of the most sensational cases of Jacobean England. The murder, the trials, the pamphlets, the ballads, and the public spectacle around the case spread through the same London news culture in which Shakespeare lived and worked. The scandal reached deep into the world of the court. Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset, stood at the center of the story, with Anne Turner close beside her. What began with courtly relationships and private ambition became a public drama of poison, fashion, reputation, and execution. By the end, yellow was no longer simply comic or fashionable. In the Overbury scandal, it had become dangerous. So as you listen to today’s conversation, watch how one color moves through Shakespeare’s world: from Malvolio’s humiliating stockings, to fashionable saffron-starched ruffs, to Anne Turner’s trial and execution. In Jacobean England, yellow could make people laugh—but it could also mark a woman for infamy.
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How Shakespeare’s England Laid the Groundwork for the Witch Panics
09/28/2026
How Shakespeare’s England Laid the Groundwork for the Witch Panics
In the decades that followed Shakepseare's death in 1616, England saw the arrival of events known as witch panics of Civil War–era Britain. It’s easy to think that these witch panics and the heightened fear about witches was something that’s post-Shakespeare, but the reality is that the the legal, religious, and cultural foundations were already being laid during Shakespeare’s lifetime through developments such as the 1604 Witchcraft Act, King James I’s ideas about demonic conspiracy, and growing fears surrounding prophecy, spirits, healing, and the Devil. Our guest today is Marion Gibson, an expert on witches and witchcraft in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the author of Witchland her latest book that explores the witch panics of Civil War–era Britain, revealing how war, religious extremism, local conflict, and earlier beliefs about witchcraft combined to turn suspicion into persecution. For today's episode, we will explore both the terrible events that followed Shakespeare’s lifetime and the earlier beliefs, laws, and conflicts that set the stage for their arrival. From witchfinders and eyewitness testimony to neighborhood quarrels and sudden reversals of reputation, Marion will help us understand how the foundations of England’s later witch panics were being built while Shakespeare was still alive—and how that history can deepen our understanding of the witches and accusations we encounter in his plays
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The First Fashion Magazine of the 16th Century
09/21/2026
The First Fashion Magazine of the 16th Century
Long before fashion magazines, personal style blogs, or carefully curated social media feeds, a 16th century German accountant named Matthäus Schwarz was documenting his wardrobe in extraordinary detail. Between 1520 and 1560, Schwarz commissioned artists to create more than 130 precise watercolor portraits of him on parchment, recording the clothing he wore at different stages of his life. The earliest images, painted by Narziss Renner, reconstructed Schwarz’s appearance from infancy through his school years and apprenticeship. Over the next four decades, he continued adding portraits that captured changing fashions, important occasions, and the way he chose to present himself to the world. The resulting manuscript, known as the Klaidungsbüchlein, or Book of Clothes, has been described as the world’s first fashion book—and, in many ways, the Vogue magazine of its time. Today, we are joined by Ulinka Rublack and Maria Hayward, co-editors of the first English translation of Schwarz’s remarkable work, to explore what this collection reveals about clothing, identity, status, and self-fashioning in the sixteenth century.
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Everyday Objects in Shakespeare’s Plays
09/14/2026
Everyday Objects in Shakespeare’s Plays
As you will know from listening to THat Shakespeare Life, there’s a ruch history behind every small object from the life of William Shakespeare Whether it’s clocks, clothes, pencils, or tablets, we love using the objects of Shakespeare’ world to get closer to the real lives of the people who lived tehre. WHich is why I was delighted to learn abotu Catherine Richardson’s latest book titled Shakespeare’s Objects where she sets out to explore 33 of these objects, all of which are mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays. From beds and perfumes to handkerchiefs, clocks, lutes, torches, and spurs, the book follows these things through the world Shakespeare knew—asking who made them, who owned them, how they were used, where they came from, and what they can reveal about the people who encountered them. Today, we are delighted to have her here on the show to share some of what she uncovered while researching the material world behind Shakespeare’s plays.
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Explore Kronborg Castle: The Real-Life Elsinore of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
09/07/2026
Explore Kronborg Castle: The Real-Life Elsinore of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Immortalised as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Kronborg Castle is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe. A real castle, and historical stronghold that sits in the town of Helsingør, Denmark. Kronborg is as fascinating as it is beautiful. Our guest this week is Laura Kiel, the Operations Coordinator at Kronborg Castle, where she plays a key role in caring for the castle’s remarkable collection — from grand paintings and heavy antique cabinets to exquisite historical costumes. During her 12 years at Kronborg, Laura has also become the castle’s in-house Hamlet expert, having taken part in coordinating many productions of Hamlet staged within the iconic setting of Kronborg itself. Laura joins us today to take us inside Kronborg Castle to understand more about the history of the castle, why it was used in Shakespeare’s play, and what was going on at Kronborg when Shakespeare staged his famous tragedy within it’s gates.
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Turkeys, Pelicans, Falcons, and more! Birds of Shakespeare
08/31/2026
Turkeys, Pelicans, Falcons, and more! Birds of Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s plays and poems are filled with birds—from familiar crows, swans, and sparrows to species that would have seemed rare, exotic, or unusual in Renaissance England. But these birds are more than decorative details. They carry symbolism, reflect the natural world Shakespeare knew, and reveal how people in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries understood the animals around them. In this episode, artist and researcher Missy Dunaway joins us to explore her Birds of Shakespeare project, which documents all sixty-five bird species referenced across Shakespeare’s works. We’ll discover how she identified each bird, the historical sources behind her paintings, the plants and symbolism included in her compositions, and some of the most surprising birds to appear in Shakespeare’s writing.
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Elizabethan Cats and Their Connection with Witches
08/24/2026
Elizabethan Cats and Their Connection with Witches
Shakespeare mentions cats over 30 times in his plays, including to talk about a gib cat, a musk-cat, cats chasing mice and even making perfume. It’s obvious that cats were present for Shakespeare’s lifetime, but what do these references in the plays show us about their place in society and perhaps in people’s homes for Shakespeare’s England? Did Shakespeare keep a pet cat, would they have been useful for fighting against plague, and what exactly did a 16th century cat look like? Here today to help answer these questions and take us through the artifacts, primary documents, and paintings that reveal the feline world of Shakespeare’s England is our guest, Helen Parish. Helen Parish is a Professor of History at the University of Reading and author of, “Paltrie Vermin, Cats, Mise, Toads, and Weasils”: Witches, Familiars, and Human-Animal Interactions in the English Witch Trials” Helen’s work focuses on cats as a witch’s familiar, but her research looks further into the details about how cats lived in the 16th cenutry and today she’s here to help us explore cats for Shakespear's England.
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What was the job of a housewife for Shakespeare’s England?
08/17/2026
What was the job of a housewife for Shakespeare’s England?
Shakespeare mentions “housewife” in his works 14 times, including to identify both a “good housewife” as well as a “false housewife.” These descriptions appear alongside one accusation that a woman was being someone’s “franklin’s housewife.” As an essential part of daily living in Shakespeare’s England, I wanted to track down exactly what was involved in being a 16-17th century housewife, and there was no one better suited to give us the details than Jane Whittle, author of Women’s Work in Rural England, 1500-1700. Jane joins us today to help us explore the 16th century definition of an English housewife, including the nature, jobs, and reptuation were for this position, as well as to help us understand the history behind Shakespeare’s use of that term in his plays.
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New Discoveries About Shakespeare’s Blackfriars with Lucy Munro
08/10/2026
New Discoveries About Shakespeare’s Blackfriars with Lucy Munro
With it estimated that travel from Stratford Upon Avon to London might take days or even weeks depending on the weather and mode of transportation, it’s only logical to think that Shakespeare must have had a place to stay when he was in London for work. There is a court case in which Shakespeare is mentioned by name that places him as a lodger with the Mountjoy family on Silver Street in 1604. There’s also documentary evidence to suggest Shakespeare was neighbors with a young John Fletcher in Bishopsgate. And it only makes sense to expect that Shakespeare might have had a place to stay near The Globe theater in Southwark, but that remains largely a guess. More recently, Matthew Steggle has done new research into the letter written to Mrs. Shakespeare, which places Mr. And Mrs. Shakespeare once again, residing in London. When it comes to his Blackfriars property, however, scholars have been stumped because documentary evidence suggests Shakespeare did own property in the Blackfriars, but no one knew exactly where until now. Our guest this week, Lucy Munro, has uncovered three new documents including a set of floorplans for the Blackfriars building, that reveal not only where Shakespeare’s property was located, but precisely how large it was, and exactly how it was positioned in relation to neighboring structures in the Blackfriars.
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Tankards and Trouble: Alehouses in Shakespeare’s England
07/27/2026
Tankards and Trouble: Alehouses in Shakespeare’s England
In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, there’s a lively scene set in Eastcheap, inside the bustling Boar’s Head Tavern, where the roguish Sir John Falstaff trades wit and wine with the young Prince Hal—England’s future Henry V. To Shakespeare’s audience, this wasn’t some distant or imagined world. Eastcheap was real. The taverns were real. And the cups of ale and small beer passed across those tables were the very same drinks many theatergoers would have enjoyed before walking into the Globe. This week, we’re joined by Mark Hailwood, author of Alehouses and Good Fellowship in Early Modern England, to step through the tavern door and into the noisy, smoky world of 16th- and 17th-century alehouses. Together, we’ll explore the people who ran these establishments, the customs and rules that governed them, the drinks poured across the bar, and the colorful realities behind Shakespeare’s tavern scenes. Was Mistress Quickly inspired by real alehouse keepers? How accurate were Shakespeare’s depictions of tavern life? And what details from the plays ring true—or delightfully false—when held up against the history of early modern England? So pull up a chair by the hearth, mind your purse, and let us pour you a mug of small beer as Mark Hailwood guides us through the history, humor, and lore of Shakespeare’s tavern world.
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Find out what it’s like inside a Tudor Home
07/24/2026
Find out what it’s like inside a Tudor Home
"Close your eyes and imagine yourself in the sixteenth-century English countryside. Sounds of ploughs rattle in distant fields, and the delightful squeals of children at play fill the air. It is quiet, you think, quieter than you are used to, but loud and lively all the same. The air is pure, and it smells sweet with the natural floral fragrances of honeysuckle and apple blossom and lavender. There are no motors here, no planes in the sky, no pylons or wind turbines or television aerials. There is no suffocating smog, air or light pollution. There is little to obscure your view of wild, undulating fields, which, to your surprise, are sparsely inhabited by houses and instead occupied by droves of grazing cattle and sheep. In the distance you hear a horse neigh, and a washerwoman hum as she pegs out her laundry. The smell of woodfire fills the air, delicious aromas of crisping meats and yeasty dough, fresh, juicy fruits and the comforting, creamy smell of curds and whey. Soon will be the call for dinner, and hordes of tired labourers will return home to settle for the evening. Then will come nightfall, and the sounding of curfew bells. It is darker than you expected; much darker. There is no electricity here, and you are unaccustomed to the thin glow of candles as your only form of light. Soon these candles will stop burning, for the night has arrived, and the day has ended. Welcome to the sixteenth century. Welcome to the Tudor home." These are the opening lines of Bethan Watt’s latest book titled Inside the Tudor Home, and we are delighted to have Bethan visit with us today to give us a tour of what it was like to live in an average home for Shakespeare’s lifetime.
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Barbary Pirates, Captivity, and “Turning Turk” in Shakespeare’s England
07/20/2026
Barbary Pirates, Captivity, and “Turning Turk” in Shakespeare’s England
Hamlet wagers 6 Barbary horses against 6 French swords. Falstaff talks about fighting with a Barbary hen. Bassanio in Merchant of Venice talks about travelling merchants going to foreign lands including “Tripolis, Mexico and England, Lisbon, Barbary, and India” There are also an additional 5 references to Barbary horses. The Barbary States were Algeria, Tunisia, Tripolis, and Morroco. These were powerful coastal societies tied in various ways to the Ottoman world, and in Shakespeare’s day they were central to English fears about piracy and captivity. Ships were seized. Sailors were enslaved. Families, merchants, churches, and governments negotiated over the price of a human life. English first hand accounts of the Muslim world and the Barbary States in particular were sparse, even non-existent prior to Richard Knolles publication in 1603 where he writes the History of the Turks, the same year Shakespeare publishes his Ottoman-heavy play with a Moor in the title role, Othello. Today we are joined by Daniel Vitkus, editor of Piracy, Slavery, and Redemption: Barbary Captivity Narratives from Early Modern England, and Abdulhamit Arvas, Associate Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania and expert on early modern Muslims, Barbary pirates, and Shakespeare. They are here to help us explore the place of the Barbary Coast in Shakespeare’s England, to understand the culture of hostages and holding someone ransom, what was happening to Britons that were taken captive and sold into slavery by the Barbary pirates, as well as to explain the surprising dichotomy of being afraid of the Barbary nation while admiring their products, like horses.
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This little house was a neighbor of Shakespeare's
07/13/2026
This little house was a neighbor of Shakespeare's
In Stratford Upon Avon, where William Shakespeare was born, there is a house that was built in 1530, while King Henry VIII was ruling England. This house was there when Shakespeare was living in the town, and the owners have direct connections to Shakespeare himself. Today, the house is known as Wisson House and the thoughtfully preserved historical property has been updated with modern amenities and is offered as a holiday property for anyone visiting the area, or that loves Shakespeare. Of course, when I heard about the property, I wanted to share the history with you. Which is why, today, we are delighted to welcome Amanda Billingsley, the owner of Wisson House, to the show to share the backstory of this property and what it was doing when Shakespeare was alive.
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Elaborate Masque Costumes in Shakespeare’s England
07/06/2026
Elaborate Masque Costumes in Shakespeare’s England
Elaborate theatrical performances in Shakespeare’s lifetime presented before the reigning monarch were known as court masques. These intricate and complex stories were presented in grand fashion, sparing no expense on costumes, props, and special effects. The most famous masque has to be that of Robert Dudley who hired actual performers from the Comedia del Arte in Italy to perform amazing feats of light, sound, and performance in an effort to propose marriage to the Queen of England. While it makes sense that Dudley would go out of his way to be over the top in his endeavors, the other masques taking place in Shakespeare’s lifetime were no less sensational. From Ben Jonson to Inigo Jones and the decorated halls of Whitehall Palace, masques of any stripe were the creme del creme of performances. For this reason, their costumes were not only breathlessly expensive, but they often pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable to wear in public, and included fabric, accessories, design, and presentation that showcased art and story as primary. In many ways, court masque costume and clothing were the high fashion world of Shakespeare’s England. This week, our guest, Sarah Jane Downing, fashion historian and author of Fashion in Shakespeare’s England, takes us back to the 16-17th century court masques under Elizabeth I and James I to take an up close look at the outfits, the scandals, and the expensive price tag that went along with costuming the most opulent nights of entertainment in all of early modern England.
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17th Century English Spangles Found at Jamestown, Virginia
06/29/2026
17th Century English Spangles Found at Jamestown, Virginia
In Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Puck has a line that says “And now they never meet in grove or green, By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen...” In Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio uses this term again saying, “What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty...” In a similar description again from Midsummer, Lysander says “Fair Helena, who more engilds the night Than all you fiery oes and eyes of light.” If you’re not familiar with Engilding the night, that’s a word that means “to make bright…often referring to a golden light.” It’s been around since the 15th century, but what all of these references have in common is they are talking about making something shiny, and in Shakespeare’s England the best way to make something look like it glittered was to attach what’s called a “spangle” or an “Oe” spelled “oe.” Essentially, these were early modern sequins. Some surviving examples of 17th century spangles were discovered in Jamestown, Virginia, and are housed inside the collections at Jamestown Rediscovery, which jointly manages Historic Jamestowne alongside the National Park Service. One of the curators involved in that project, Janene Johnston, is here with us today to explain how spangles worked, the history of the ones they found in Virginia, and what the surviving artifacts reveal about how spangles were used in Shakespeare’s lifetime.
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Dark Renaissance and The Death of Christopher Marlowe
06/22/2026
Dark Renaissance and The Death of Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe is one of the most fascinating—and mysterious—figures of Shakespeare’s lifetime. A university-educated playwright at a time when that alone set him apart, Marlowe rose quickly through London’s theater world, dazzling audiences with bold language, ambitious characters, and stories that pushed the boundaries of what the stage could do. But Marlowe’s life wasn’t confined to poetry and playhouses. Evidence suggests he was also moving in far more dangerous circles—working as a government agent in the shadowy world of Elizabethan espionage, where loyalty, religion, and politics were matters of life and death. And then, just as suddenly as he rose to fame, his life came to a violent end—killed in a Deptford lodging house under circumstances that remain deeply suspicious. Officially, it was a dispute over a bill. But for a man entangled in secrets, intrigue, and power, that explanation has never quite been wholly satisfying, nor completely accepted. Today, we’re diving deep into the underworld to look inside the extraordinary life and abrupt death of Christopher Marlowe—from the university halls of Cambridge to the murky underworld of espionage, and onto the stages that helped shape the future of English drama. Our guest is Stephen Greenblatt, author of Dark Renaissance a book that portrays Marlowe as the father of Renaissance theater and as innovative as he was intriguing. Stephen's work brings together history, literature, and the hidden forces that shaped the Renaissance world Marlowe inhabited, and we’re delighted to have him be our guide this week as we step into the brilliant, dangerous, and ultimately tragic life of Christopher Marlowe.
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How was Midsummer and St. John's Day Celebrated in Elizabethan England?
06/15/2026
How was Midsummer and St. John's Day Celebrated in Elizabethan England?
In Shakespeare’s England, the middle of summer was a time of celebration. While the summer season begins at May Day, the longest day of the year, from June 23 into the 24th, was celebrated as the holiday of Midsummer, and Christianized as St. John’s Eve and St. John’s Day. It was the longest day of the year, and for the life of William Shakespeare, this holiday was marked with celebrations of feasting, dancing, and bonfires. Shakespeare himself immortalizes the spirit of the festivities in Twelfth Night when Olivia says “Why, this is very midsummer madness.” Here today to help us unpack what Midsummer celebrations would have been like in the 16-17th century England, as well as to explain for us how seemingly heathen celebration to celebrate the summer solstice lined up with the celebration of the venerable St. John, is our guest and historian, Bill Petro.
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Doublets, French Hose, and Plunging 16th Century Necklines
06/08/2026
Doublets, French Hose, and Plunging 16th Century Necklines
Shakespeare is famous for his costume changes in his plays, including characters that swap genders and seemingly fool the world as their true identity simply by a change of clothes. Since Shakespeare’s playing companies were all male, and still manage to portray some of the most powerful women characters ever created on the stage, we have to think there was indeed great power in costume. What was it about women’s clothes versus men’s designs that made them instantly recognizable on stage for the Elizabethan era? During this time, women were seeing their fashions change rapidly in the design and function of everything from bum rolls to chin clouts, and even the acceptable necklines of this period. Of course, men were seeing similar transitions in their fashions, with the French introducing English men to the famous poofy shorts that Shakespeare is so famous for wearing. The clothes, along with the sumptuary laws of this period, landed men and women on the wrong side of the law when it came to what they chose to get dressed in each morning. Here today to help us unpack the world of clothing and the laws that regulated them, along with how Shakespeare was able to portray all levels of society on stage without getting into legal trouble, is our guest, and author of the book Fashion in the Time of William Shakewsspeare, SarahJane Downing.
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Shampoo: How to wash your hair in Shakespeare’s England
06/01/2026
Shampoo: How to wash your hair in Shakespeare’s England
In Shakespeare’s plays, there are over 150 references to the word “hair” across which Shakespeare talks about a barber fixing someone’s hair, about hair being dyed, about losing your hair being a natural product of old age, combing your hair, and even the weight of someone’s hair. Clearly, there was a significant cultural focus on the care and maintenance of one’s carefully selected coif. But exactly what did it look like for someone to care for their hair? Was there such a thing as soap, or dare we guess—Shampoo—that might have been used to keep your hair clean in the Tudor period? To find out more about what one would use in the 16-17th century if you decided to wash your hair, we are meeting with our guest, Julia Martins. Julia is here this week to tell us all about products used to cleanse, care, and manage a head full of hair in Shakespeare’s lifetime, as well as the manuals and advice that was given in the 16-17th century for the best hair care methods of the Elizabethan era.
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The History, Design, and Fashion Culture of Gauntlet Gloves
05/25/2026
The History, Design, and Fashion Culture of Gauntlet Gloves
In Shakespeare’s plays, he uses the word “gauntlet” a total of 6 times. In one instance, the stage directions declare that a character “throws down his gauntlet.” In Hamlet, stage directions again refer to a gauntlet by saying that attendants bring "foils and gauntlets” into the scene of Act V. But do you know what you should be seeing on stage in these moments? Do you know what object Shakespeare expected the characters to be carrying for these scenes? Gauntlet sounds like a military exercise or maybe a very difficult journey through several tough obstacles, and there’s a variation of this word which means exactly that—but that kind of gauntlet is for another episode. Today, we’re looking at the kind of gauntlet that was actually an article of clothing—a glove, to be precise. A highly decorated ornate glove that came all the way up to the wrist of the wearer and was designed to protect the hand against wounds. To find out more about what these gloves were made from, who made them, and exactly why a character would throw one down on the ground in Shakespeare’s Henry VI, we are talking with Hannah Marples, clothing historian and author of the project “Experimental Archeology: testing the wearability of a pair of gloves worn by Henry Cary in a painting by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, 1603” Hannah joins us today to help us explore the history of gauntlet gloves, and how they connect with Shakespeare and his plays.
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How to Insult Someone Like Shakespeare
05/18/2026
How to Insult Someone Like Shakespeare
Zounds! Your Bunched Back toad! In Shakespeare’s plays we find a hoard of truly fabulous one liners, zingers, and impressive insults that frequent the lips of our favorite characters. When they were written in the 16th century, some of the words we find most hilarious today were actually bordering on a line between legal and illegal, and even sometimes blasphemous, which in a Protestant England wracked by religious tensions and wars, was often worse than merely illegal. Here today to take us back to turn of the 17th century England and explore some of the words that could land you in hot water, or express your anger, frustration, or dismay in the most colorful way imaginable this side of actual obscenities, is our guest and historical linguist, Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin.
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Painting Your Lips, Bleaching Your Skin, and Other Cosmetic Treatments for Renaissance Women
05/11/2026
Painting Your Lips, Bleaching Your Skin, and Other Cosmetic Treatments for Renaissance Women
In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet declares “Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face, Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek” Katharina in Taming of the SHrew talks about painting your face, and Timon of Athens makes a connection between painting and your face saying “wear them, betray with them: whore still; Paint till a horse may mire upon your face, A pox of wrinkles!” And of course, Hamlet has the most famous facial disguise quote when he says “God has given you one face but you make yourself another.” All of these references underpin what we know about cosmetics and facial care in Shakespeare’s England. Famously, Queen Elizabeth herself kept her face quite decadently forever striving after that porcelain skinned ideal that was a hallmark of the Elizabethan Era. But what did women use to take care of their faces in the Elizabethan era, and in a. Culture where people like Hamlet were suspicious of women who disguised their true form, how was makeup received? Was it something normal and every day, or were there instances when applying makeup, or perhaps even the wrong makeup, could get someone into trouble? To find out more and explore the intricate and complex world of makeup, cosmetics, and facial care for women of Shakespeare’s lifetime, we’re delighted to welcome historian and author of Beauty and Cosmetics, 1550–1950, Sarah Jane Downing to the show this week. She’s here to take us behind the makeup counters of Tudor women and share with us what we might there.
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Evil May Day and Sir Thomas More
05/04/2026
Evil May Day and Sir Thomas More
Immigration, labor tensions, and social unrest were pressing realities in Shakespeare’s England—and few events capture that strain more vividly than the 1517 uprising known as Evil May Day. In this week’s episode, historian Shannon McSheffrey joins us to unpack the economic frustrations, guild restrictions, and growing immigrant communities that fueled this riot in Tudor London. From the role of the city’s “liberties” to the political response of Henry VIII and the event’s lasting legacy in chronicles and drama like Sir Thomas More, we explore how this moment of unrest shaped the world Shakespeare knew—and how its echoes can still be felt in the plays today.
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Homelessness and Vagrancy in Shakespeare's England
04/27/2026
Homelessness and Vagrancy in Shakespeare's England
For the 16th century, a vagrant was someone who operated outside of societal norms, someone who moved around without a fixed home, or produced a profit without the oversight of a noble patron. In a culture that highly prized both hierarchy and organization, someone who fell outside these categories was cast under severe scrutiny, seen as a potential threat, and faced harsh punishments specifically aimed at preventing vagrancy. During Shakespeare’s lifetime, new laws were being passed to aggressively define and control the vagrant, casting a net that often saw players and playwrights like William Shakespeare caught right up in the chaos. To help us understand how those categories worked — and why they mattered — we’re joined by Dr. David Hitchcock, Reader in Early Modern History at Canterbury Christ Church University. Dr. Hitchcock’s research focuses on poverty, mobility, and the cultural meaning of vagrancy in early modern England. He’s here today to help us explore why early modern England was so focused on vagrancy, what the laws were that tried to prevent it, and how these laws impacted theater, and Shakespeare specifically.
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Starlings in Shakespeare's England
04/20/2026
Starlings in Shakespeare's England
In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Hotspur delivers a chilling threat against King Richard: “I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak Nothing but ‘Mortimer,’ and give it him To keep his anger still in motion.” It’s a line rooted in the politics of kingship and rebellion—but it also hinges on something strikingly practical. The idea of teaching a starling to speak wasn’t poetic fancy. It was entirely possible. In fact, it was happening in Shakespeare’s lifetime. This week, we’re stepping beyond the metaphor to explore the real bird behind the threat. What was the behavior, temperament, and reputation of the starling in early modern England? Were they truly trained to mimic speech? Were they kept as pets—or even raised for the table alongside other fowl? Here to guide us into the world of the early modern starling is Lee Raye, author of Creatures of Story and Song: Tracing Britain’s Lost Species. Lee’s work traces the historical presence of wild animals and plants, and today, they help us uncover how fact and drama intersect in the history of one of the world’s most fascinating birds.
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Seige of Famagusta and Shakespeare's Othello
04/13/2026
Seige of Famagusta and Shakespeare's Othello
In Shakespeare’s Othello, the Second Senator in Act One warns of a Turkish fleet bearing down on Cyprus. Later in that same scene, the Duke of Venice remarks, “The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude of the place is best known to you.” References to Cyprus appear again and again throughout the dialogue—calling attention to wars, naval battles, and the conflicts surrounding the island, including, as Iago puts it, the struggle between “grounds Christian and heathen.” Shakespeare places Othello in Cyprus at a moment of extreme tension. In the play, the island has just faced an imminent invasion by the Ottoman Turks. The Venetian fleet is mobilized, generals are dispatched, and Cyprus is on high alert. It makes for an exciting story—but what’s even more compelling is that the setting Shakespeare chose mirrors real history almost exactly. In 1570 and 1571, Cyprus—then a Venetian possession—was attacked by the Ottoman Empire. The final and most famous stronghold was a city called Famagusta, whose siege became infamous across Europe. For Shakespeare’s audience, Cyprus under Turkish threat was not fictional—it was recent news. When Othello opens with fears of invasion, Shakespeare is tapping into a collective memory of terror and loss that was still emotionally raw. To help us explore how the play connects to the real history Shakespeare’s audience would have recognized immediately, I’m delighted to welcome our guest today, Michael Walsh.
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Courts, Rackets, Balls, and Rules: The Game of Tennis in the 16th Century
04/06/2026
Courts, Rackets, Balls, and Rules: The Game of Tennis in the 16th Century
In Shakespeare’s plays, we see 6 total references to tennis. Polonius mentions an argument over a tennis game in Hamlet. Henry V and Pericles talk about tennis courts and there’s even a couple of references to “tennis balls” showing up in Shakespeare’s other plays, talking about them being played with at the game of tennis, as well as being stuffed as part of the process of making a tennis ball. We can tell that Shakespeare and his contemporaries knew about the game of tennis, but where did it come from? How was it played? Do we know anything about these tennis courts they used? To find out more about the history of tennis from Shakespeare’s lifetime, today we’re talking with Laurence Grove. Laurence is a Professor of French and Text/Image Studies at the University of Glasgow, and was recently the guest expert for an article inside PBS’s report into newly discovered images that reveal some interesting new findings about the 16th century history of tennis. Laurence joins us today to share these findings, as well as to explain what tennis would have been like for Shakespeare.
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Easter in Shakespeare’s England: Faith, Feasting, and a New Doublet
03/30/2026
Easter in Shakespeare’s England: Faith, Feasting, and a New Doublet
Shakespeare’s only reference to Easter comes up in Romeo and Juliet Act III when Mercutio talks about buying a new doublet for Easter. Despite only a single reference to this holiday, for the people of 16-17th century England, Easter was a major event. Holidays in Shakespeare’s lifetime largely followed the life of Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus that is celebrated on Easter Sunday was a high point of the year’s festivities. Here today to share with us the customs, foods, and yes, the clothing like a new doublet, that would have been staples for the observance of the Easter Holidays in Shakespeare’s lifetime, is our guest, and author of Reformation England 1480-1642, Peter Marshall.
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Monkeys and Apes in Shakespeare's England
03/23/2026
Monkeys and Apes in Shakespeare's England
In this episode of That Shakespeare Life, we explore the surprising presence of monkeys, apes, and baboons in early modern England and the role these animals played in the culture of Shakespeare’s world. Shakespeare refers to primates dozens of times in his plays, and those references were not purely imaginative—exotic animals were arriving in England through global trade, kept as fashionable pets by elites, and even trained to perform tricks for public entertainment. By examining travel narratives, natural history books like Edward Topsell’s The History of Four-Footed Beasts, and records of animal performances near the London theatres, we uncover how early modern audiences understood these creatures and why primates became such vivid symbols in Renaissance literature and stage culture.
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