30 Days of Shakespeare, Day 23: Straford-upon-Avon

It’s Shakespeare’s (possible) birthday! To celebrate, let’s take these 30 Days of Shakespeare back to his hometown.

Not long after I started drawing Good Tickle Brian, Lisa Peter, then working with the education department at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, contacted me and asked to commission some illustrations for SBT educational handouts. This was the first big piece of external validation I received from the Shakespeare world, and the first time I thought "wow... maybe this stupid little comic I'm drawing has some value beyond just amusing myself". Today you can find my stick figures all over various SBT teaching resources. Being able to visit Stratford in 2019 and have Lisa and her colleague, the amazing Cait Fannin-Peel, show me around was a dream come true. I still remember every bit of it vividly.

Come Together (Write Now)

We interrupt your Shakespearean bingo cards to bring you a song to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday tomorrow! (If you’re not familiar with the tune, get caught up here first.) ALL TOGETHER NOW!

Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt

For more fun Shakespeare birthday content, check out my brand new Man From Stratford archive page!

The Man From Stratford

A collection of stick-figure comics featuring William Shakespeare, by Good Tickle Brain.

You're the (Shakespearean) Top!

It’s Shakespeare’s (kind of) birthday again! Let’s celebrate with a rousing song ripped off from Cole Porter!

Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt

In search of some more Shakespeare birthday cheer? Check out:

• 2014: Happy 450th Birthday, Shakespeare!

• 2016: The Game of Shakespeare’s Life

• 2016: Which Shakespeare Play Should You See?

• 2016: Happy 400th Deathday, Shakespeare!

• 2017: My Plot (a Hamilton/Shakespeare parody)

• 2018: Will Will Survive (a Disco Shakespeare parody)

• 2018: Shakespeare Month

  • The Timeline

  • The Youth

  • The Lost Years

  • The Playwright

  • The Theatres

  • The End

  • The Legacy

• 2019: Stick Figure Iconography: Shakespeare

Happy birthday, big guy. Thanks for the enjoyment and the employment.

Stick Figure Iconography: Shakespeare

It’s Shakespeare’s birthday! To celebrate, here’s a look at Shakespeare’s iconography.

If that’s not enough to satiate your Shakespeare Birthday cravings, check out these other celebratory comics!

• Happy 450th Birthday, Shakespeare!

• The Game of Shakespeare’s Life

• Which Shakespeare Play Should You See?

• Happy 400th Deathday, Shakespeare!

• My Plot (a Hamilton/Shakespeare parody)

• Will Will Survive (a Disco Shakespeare parody)

• Shakespeare Month 2018

  • The Timeline

  • The Youth

  • The Lost Years

  • The Playwright

  • The Theatres

  • The End

  • The Legacy

Will Will Survive

It's SHAKESPEARE'S 454th BIRTHDAY! To celebrate, here's Shakespeare singing his own personal disco anthem:

Happy birthday, Will. Keep on keepin' on. 

My Plot (a Shakespearean Hamilton parody)

Dear old Shakespeare's birthday/deathday is coming up this Sunday! To celebrate, I've written him a little song.

....OK, I've stolen a song from Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton and then rewritten all the lyrics. 

Happy Birthday, Shakespeare!

For other Shakespearean Hamilton parodies, check out

• Wait For It (Hamlet)

• I'm Hunchbacked (Richard III)

• The Tomb Where It Happened (Romeo & Juliet)

And for other Shakespeare birthday comics, check out

• Happy 450th Birthday, Shakespeare!

• Happy 451st Birthday, Shakespeare!

• The Game of Shakespeare's Life

• Happy Deathday, Shakespeare!

• Which Shakespeare Play Should I See? An Illustrated Flow Chart

Happy Deathday, Shakespeare!

It's finally April 23rd, 2016! Or, as millions of Shakespeare geeks around the world call it, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death!

Thanks a bunch, Bill. It's all been so much fun, and there's no end in sight.

For more Shakespeare 400 fun, be sure to check out my Shakespeare Play Flowchart and my Board Game of Shakespeare's Life! Also, be sure to sign up for my weekly e-mail newsletter to be notified of when posters of my flowchart will be made available.

And remember, if you're in D.C. you should come see me speak and do some live-drawing on stage at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Friday, April 29th at 6:00pm!

The Game of Shakespeare's Life!

Continuing our epic journey towards Shakespeare's 400th death anniversary on Saturday, here is a handy-dandy board game that allows you to relive all the exciting ups and downs of this master playwright's eventful life!

For all my fellow board game geeks out there: I know this is a totally rudimentary roll-and-move luck-fest with no strategy. I'm sorry. I actually started out designing a slightly more interesting game, but it was clear that I couldn't both draw a comic and design a functional board game within the space of two days, so this is what you get.

Also, so many of you were gratifying excited about my Shakespeare Play Flowchart from Tuesday that I WILL be making a poster of it available. I have to re-design it a bit to make it more poster friendly, so it might be a little while. If you want to stay updated on the poster, as well as all other Good Tickle Brain news, sign up for my weekly newsletter. In addition to news, you get a weekly digest of my comics plus exclusive behind-the-scenes peeks and book/DVD reviews. 

Good Tickle Brain at the Folger Library!

In just 8 DAYS I will be speaking at the Folger Shakespeare Library! In case you've missed my previous announcements on this, here are the basic facts:

• WHO: Me!

• WHAT: Talking about my comic and live-drawing on stage

• WHERE: The Folger Theater, Washington D.C.

• WHEN: Friday, April 29, at 6:00pm

• WHY: Because it's going to be REALLY SUPER FUN

• HOW MUCH: Nothing! It's absolutely FREE! You can reserve a FREE ticket at the Folger website.