NHB 163 - Shakespeare's Canon Power Rankings, Part I

Dan and Kevin go through the top fifty Shakespeare characters (based on line load) and create their individual Top 25 power rankings of which roles are the most impressive to play.

NHB 162 - 'Twas A Rough Night

This week we’ll rough it out, seek motivation, and tip our cap to Ian McKellan and his retirement from Shakespeare, as he has promised his current run of King Lear will be his final spin with the Bard (and no one ever goes back on saying they’re retired from one specific type of performance). 

NHB 161 - So You're Going To See THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

Are you on the way to see a production of THE COMEDY OF ERRORS? This episode will get you up to speed on the play in a variety of ways to insure that you'll be the best little audience member you can be.

NHB 160 - Give Me My Sin Again

This week we’ll sin, question a sequel, and pat Tom Hanks on the back for riffing on Shakespeare for four minutes, here on hour 125 or so of our original Bard-related BS.

NHB 159 - So You're Going To See HENRY VI PART THREE

Are you on the way to see a production of HENRY VI PART THREE? This episode will get you up to speed on the play in a variety of ways to insure that you'll be the best little audience member you can be.

NHB 158 - NHB Predicts Good Tickle Brain's Shakespeare World Cup

Inspired by Good Tickle Brain's Shakespeare World Cup 2018 (https://goodticklebrain.com/home/2018/6/7/shakespeare-world-cup-2018-the-teams), the boys put on their best sports radio voices and break down the brackets to decide who they think would bring home the Bard's gold.

NHB 157 - The Antoniad Debrief

Dan and Kevin welcome special and long overdue guest Christine Penney as the three discuss the highs and lows of the Seven Stages Shakespeare Company's Antoniad, a continuous one-day, seven-ish hour presentation of the plays linked in the Antonio fan theory we discussed way back in Episode 21 - Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, and Much Ado About Nothing.

NHB 156 - Pluck Up, My Heart, And Be Sad

This week we’ll pluck up, explore Juliet’s options, and apologize profusely for our two-weeks absence from your podcast dials. 

NHB 155 - Four Motif Clover

Inspired by a request from Emily Gams, the boys create a chain of motifs linking all 38 plays in the Canon one by one.

NHB 154 - I Like Not Fair Terms And A Villain's Mind

This week we’ll negotiate fair terms, gain from reading, and celebrate our 154th episode by breaking some legitimate Shakespeare news based on recent discoveries from your boys at NHB.

NHB 153 - Best Of The Duel IV (Episodes 49-70)

We keep our monthly Wildcard episode but so-so this week as we take a trip down memory lane to revisit our favorite Duel answers from Episodes 49-70.

NHB 152 - Holy Sh*t It's Ben Crystal

For this month's Wildcard episode we throw ten duel questions at Ben Crystal, co-writer of Shakespeare's Words and The Shakespeare Miscellany, author of Shakespeare on Toast - Getting A Taste for the Bard, explorer of original practices in Shakespeare rehearsal and production, producer, actor, and actual listener of the podcast. You can check out Ben's work at the recently revised ShakespearesWords.com or his personal website at bencrystal.com.

NHB 151 - Sonnet Exploder (#40)

Inspired by the hit podcast Song Exploder, Kevin and Dan spend this episode breaking down and analyzing Shakespeare's Sonnet #40.

Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all;
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;
All mine was thine before thou hadst this more.
Then, if for my love thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee for my love thou usest;
But yet be blamed, if thou thyself deceivest
By wilful taste of what thyself refusest.
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,
Although thou steal thee all my poverty:
And yet, love knows, it is a greater grief
To bear love’s wrong than hate’s known injury.
     Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
     Kill me with spites; yet we must not be foes.

NHB 150 - What Madness Rules in Brainsick Men

This week we’ll be brained madly, explore gateway Shakespeare, and dig in on the text of the eighth Shakespearian Star Wars adaptation, Jedi the Last, which came out this month.

NHB 149 - So You're Going To See HENRY VI PART TWO

Are you on the way to see a production of HENRY VI PART TWO? This episode will get you up to speed on the play in a variety of ways to insure that you'll be the best little audience member you can be.

NHB 148 - What Fool Hath Added Water To The Sea

This week we'll add water to the sea, become tragic avengers, and give our reviews of the 113-second video in which Andrew Scott makes it through 12.5 lines of verse that is taking the Shakespeare internet community by storm.

NHB 147 - So You're Going To See HENRY VI PART ONE

Are you on the way to see a production of HENRY VI PART ONE? This episode will get you up to speed on the play in a variety of ways to insure that you'll be the best little audience member you can be.

NHB 146 - The Cause Is In My Will

This week we’ll will our causes, find a common theme, and go after Shakespeare for reports that he himself may have annotated a copy of the 16th century copy of one of the source texts for Hamlet, since we came up with annotating copies of Shakespeare plays first.

NHB 145 - Holy Sh*t It's Madeline Sayet

For this month's Wildcard episode we throw ten duel questions at Madeline Sayet, a recipient of the White House Champion of Change award and a member of the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list. You can find Madeline at https://www.madelinesayet.com.

NHB 144 - Much Virtue In If

This week we’ll power our ifs, go gulling, and offer our tutoring services to Tom Hanks in advance of his upcoming Los Angeles theater debut as he takes on Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV.