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!”

Santa or Falstaff?

As the holidays approach, we here at Good Tickle Brain would like to issue a Public Service Announcement: please make sure you are allowing the correct white-bearded individual into your house this Christmas.

Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt

One of them is the anthropomorphic representation of the Christmas holiday season amalgamated from numerous Christian and pagan folk traditions, and the other is a felon.

Sign up for Shakespeare News!

If you want more Shakespeare nerdery and joy in your life right now, I highly recommend signing up for Shakespeare News, a weekly e-mail newsletter round-up of all the Shakespeare stuff that is happening right now. It is brilliantly compiled and written by my consulting pocket dramaturg Kate Pitt, who infuses her trademark blend of dry humor and impeccable research (complete with footnotes) into every issue. It is very possibly the only thing I am ever pleased to see arrive in my Inbox. If you enjoy Good Tickle Brain I am confident you will find a lot to enjoy here too. Sign up now!

Thanks for still reading Good Tickle Brain

If you’re reading this, thanks for still being here! This has been the hardest year of my life so far but I survived. As ever, I’m hoping to get Good Tickle Brain up and running again, but I appreciate your patience and understanding as I continue to wrestle my way through the mental and practical hurdles life has handed to me. I’m sure that 2025 will be a worse year for humanity in general, but I’m hoping that I can figure out how to at least make it a better year for me so I can get back to creating fun Shakespeare comics, because I think we could all use more laughs in our lives right now.