Comments

I am always keen to hear your thoughts, feedback and recommendations, so please post any responses below and I shall endeavour to get back to you.

25 comments

  1. My son was lucky enough to have been taught by you. But I’ve only just discovered your podcasts for myself. I’m helping an A level student who is struggling with Measure for Measure. Your podcasts on that, plus the Christopher Ricks tip, are really helpful. Thank you.

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    1. Hello Paul,

      Good to hear from you. I would say the podcast is on an “extended hiatus”. I took a full-time teaching job in September and whilst the work is very interesting it takes up a great deal of my time and I feel unable to do justice to Shakespeare on my current timetable. However, as and when I do make time to start podcasting again, in whatever format that is, I will be sure to make plenty of noise about it.

      Thanks for your support so far and I hope Shakespeare continues to keep you occupied.

      Best in the meantime,

      J

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      1. Congratulations on the job, James. Your students are lucky to have you. I want to thank you on behalf of all of your listeners. Your podcasts were consistently excellent and we appreciate your time, commitment, intelligence, and service. Hope to hear from you again down the line. Wishing you well and please take care, -PC

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      2. I’ve also greatly enjoyed the podcasts and look forward to their return. Best of luck on your new adventure!

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  4. Hello James,

    I hope you’re doing well and having an enjoyable hiatus from your podcast. But mostly I hope you come back!

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  5. I really enjoy these podcasts, but they seem to have stopped. Is it because you are very busy or are they not going to continue?

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    1. Hello Kris,

      Thanks for listening. I’m glad you enjoy the podcasts. For various reasons, I took a full-time teaching job in September which has taken up, as I’m sure you appreciate, a great deal of time. They are on a permanent hiatus for the foreseeable, but if they do restart I will be sure to make plenty of noise about it.

      Best,

      J

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  6. I’m still enjoying (and looking forward to) the podcasts James,
    I/we’re about to see our eleventh play (Othello) at the RST in June.

    I’d like to suggest a podcast covering Shakespeare’s sonnets. I find them fascinating but a bit too mysterious. Maybe you might be so kind as to give us listeners some thoughts?

    Also, where would I find the link enabling me to buy you a beer?

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    1. Hello Ian,

      My apologies for the slowness of my reply. I’m tremendously glad that you’re still tuning in and seeing Shakespeare. I hope Hugh Quarshie is/was everything we would hope for.
      I agree entirely that a podcast on the Sonnets is needed. I will put it on the list. I am about to embark on 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV and Henry V on the trot (or so goes the ambition), but after that the Sonnets will be in my sight. Thanks for the spur to action.

      And I am just about to put that link on a ‘Donate’ page of its own.

      J

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  7. The discussion on the concept and history of amity as well as the too brief piece on Falstaff were so thoughtfully done that I have been thinking of both continuously for several days now. Even though some of us may not have access to a conference on ideal friendship I hope that Mr. Sheldrake’s podcast on the subject will lead us to consider deepening our own. It’s lovely and really ought to be done. Now I cannot wait to enter again into the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries to have a look at the dynamics of friends and learn from them. As for Falstaff, many of us think we get at who this man is, and we do, but to hear the January 12th Short SoS, well, we learn there are deeper reserves there in Sir John and in Shakespeare than sometimes we recognize or recall. Looking forward to the longer piece. Great work. Thank you very kindly. Best wishes to you this year.

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    1. Kind words, Paul. Glad the podcasts have provoked some thinking. And I too am looking forward to hearing what else I find to say about Falstaff.

      Thank you very much indeed for listening.

      J

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  8. Thank you James for your series of podcasts. I have found them really stimulating and thought provoking. I think your review of Jonathan Bates’s ‘The Genius of Shakespeare’ is an excellent addition to your series. I will certainly pick up a copy of this tome on your recommendation. I hope you are planning some more book reviews – given the plethora of books on Shakespeare it is good to have recommendations from someone whose judgement demands respect. Also, I appreciate your tip-offs on what to look out for in the coming weeks such as tv and radio programmes. Here is a tip-off of my own – Sky Arts in collaboration with the OU are televising a series of Shakespeare programmes, six in total with each one focusing on a separate play. This week it is Joseph Fiennes on Romeo and Juliet. Well worth a watch.

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    1. Thanks for the tip-off Joe. My apologies for taking so long to get back to you. I am currently re-thinking the format (hence the pause in broadcasts) to fit in more and better book-reviews of exactly that kind. Thanks for your support so far and I hope the hiatus is not too irritating.

      J

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  9. Fantastic series James! You have reignited my interest in Shakespeare and caused me to look at some of the plays in completely new way. Keep up the great work.

    N

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  10. Many thanks James,
    I’m really, really enjoying the podcasts. My girlfriend and I are about to see our seventh Shakespeare play at the RST (‘Going to the theatre is compulsory’). Your efforts are firing my desire to see more plays and are enabling me to better understand them.

    I wish there was a new podcast every day instead of every week !

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    1. Gosh, thanks Ian. I’m glad I’m making such a tangible difference.

      Enjoy your trip to the RST. It’s certainly one of the best places to get stuck into Shakespeare. If you get half as much fun out of Shakespeare as I have done, he will be a splendidly enriching force.

      Thanks again,

      J

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  11. Absolutely love the podcast, please continue forever! Ok I do feel I’ve gone overboard there but I am really enjoying them.

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