Was Shakespeare Queer?

Happy Pride Month! Let’s take a look at one of the big questions people always ask about Shakespeare.

Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt

If you want to learn more about Shakespeare’s queerness I recommend Straight Acting: The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare, by Will Tosh. I’ve just started it but so far it’s doing a great job examining what queerness looked like in Shakespeare’s time.

Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival

I will be at the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival this weekend, June 13-14, at the Downtown Ann Arbor District Library. I will also be running a “how to draw stick-figures” workshop on Saturday, June 13 at 11:30am. I realize that (a) this is very late notice, and (b) most of you aren’t in the Ann Arbor area, but if you are… stop by and say hello! I will have printed mini-comic versions of the above comic available!

Shakespeare Anyone? Podcast

I had the pleasure of talking with Elyse and Kourtney of the Shakespeare Anyone? podcast a few weeks ago and the episode featuring me is up now! Give it a listen if you have time; it was a fun conversation and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Shakespearean Six-Sevens

Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! 6-7 the meme, too famous to live long.

Today’s comic is dedicated to all theatre and classroom educators who have weathered the last year of unrelenting 6-7s with grace, patience, and probably just a little bit of murder in their hearts. You are the true heroes.

Giddy Minds

It’s no secret that I love Shakespeare’s history plays. When I was a kid I loved them for their numerous sword fights and battle scenes. Now I love them for everything else. And also the sword fights.

This scene is from Henry IV, part 2, which is admittedly my least favorite part of Henry IV. This deathbed scene between Henry IV and his son, Prince Hal, however, is pure gold. Henry IV’s reign has been overshadowed by the fact that he usurped the throne from his predecessor, Richard II, and was directly or indirectly responsible for his death. As a result, Henry IV’s reign has been plagued by political discontent and outright rebellion. Fortunately he has a really solid plan to fix everything:

Anyways, Prince Hal becomes Henry V and invades France and distracts everybody from his domestic troubles and everything is fine forever.

Just don’t look at what happens in the three parts of Henry VI… 😬

Golden (as sung by Hamlet)

Exorcising all my earworms for this year by turning them into Shakespeare songs…

In case you don’t have any kids in your life, here is the original song:

And in case you want MORE Shakespeare-themed song parodies, check out my holiday songbook, full of Shakespearean twists on seasonal classics complete with ukulele chords and murder.

The Shakespearean Holiday Songbook, vol. 1
The Shakespearean Holiday Songbook, vol. 1
$8.00

IN STOCK NOW! Chestnuts and open fires. Hot chocolate and marshmallows. Holiday songs and… Shakespeare?

That’s right! This 28-page volume contains 10 of my best Shakespeare-themed holiday song parodies, most of them with expanded verses, plus two brand new compositions, each accompanied by hopefully-charming stick-figure illustrations. Spice up your caroling with the dulcet tones of Titus Andronicus, or the cheerful and upbeat rampage of Richard III!

While it is absolutely NOT necessary to play the ukulele in order to enjoy this songbook, all songs come with easy ukulele chord suggestions and, to be perfectly honestly, they all sound hilarious when accompanied by the plinky-plink cheerfulness of a uke. You should give it a try.

Song List:

  • Hamlet the Danish Princeling (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) *expanded*

  • O Birnam Wood (O Christmas Tree) *expanded*

  • Dip Our Hands in Blood of Caesar (Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly) *expanded*

  • We Three Kings of Lancaster Are (We Three Kings of Orient Are) *expanded*

  • Baby I Love You So (Baby It's Cold Outside)

  • O Romeo and Juliet (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen) *expanded*

  • Old King Lear's Dividing His Crown (Santa Claus is Coming to Town)

  • Have Yourself a Merry Wife of Windsor (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas)

  • Richard Third (Jingle Bells) *expanded*

  • Violent Night (Silent Night) *new*

  • All I Want for Crispin's Is France (All I Want for Christmas is You) *new*

  • I'm Dreaming of a Midsummer (I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas)

Popular (as sung by Lady Macbeth)

With all the talk of Wicked: For Good going around I thought it would be a good time to revisit the classic Shakespearean tale of witches. And so today I’m presenting a song from Wicked: For Bad.

(Original song here, if by some miracle you’re not aggressively familiar with it already.)

“Once I’m with King Duncan
My whole life will shine,
’Cause when I kill King Duncan
His crown will be mine!”

Fun & Polyps: A Beginner's Guide to Colonoscopies

I know this is primarily a Shakespeare webcomic, but I thought I would take a moment today to share something that’s been at the forefront of my mind lately… colonoscopies!

If you really need a Shakespearean hook to pull you in, think that I am simply showing you how, as Hamlet says, “a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.”

Please feel free to share this comic with everyone you know and spread the good word about colonoscopies. You can also download a PDF of it, print it, and fold it into a little booklet, like so:

Print it portrait, double-sided, flip on long side. All I ask is that you don’t resell it or use it for commercial purposes. Now, go out there and be good to your guts!