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PODCAST

Will: What Is He Good For?

Classics on the Rocks

At ”Will: What Is He Good For?” We seek to explore the question of who was the Real Shakespeare - who wrote his beautiful words - because understanding who he was can unlock the key to understanding his works and words in a new way. It also can help to inform the argument - who is he for? Is Shakespeare an old relic - only the academics, those of his time, and the cultural “elite.” Or is he indeed for everyone who wants to know and experience his plays? Throughout our series, we’ll explore the Man

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All Episodes

25:56

Season 4, Episode 3: From Scattered to Sorted(?)

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2026/02/11

After the chaos of the 1619 “False Folio,” Shakespeare’s friends John Heminges and Henry Condell decided enough was enough. If anyone was going to collect Will’s plays properly, it would be the men who’d spent over twenty years in the trenches with him.In this episode, we trace their likely first steps, from digging through the King’s Men’s prompt books and cue scripts to tracking down the “good” quartos of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. Along the way: bootlegs, brand management in the 1590s, and the

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36:13

Episode 2 - Quartos and Chaos

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2025/12/17

After Shakespeare’s death, his plays didn’t immediately become sacred texts, they became commodities. In this episode, we dive into the publishing chaos of the early 1600s, where bad quartos, cash grabs, and loose copyrights threatened to fracture his legacy. Enter John Heminges and Henry Condell, two friends determined to wrestle Shakespeare’s work back from the mess. Along the way, we unpack how Ben Jonson’s audacious move to publish his own complete works, the original literary box set, helped

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31:26

Season 4 Episode 1: The End of the Road

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2025/11/05

By 1609, William Shakespeare had been writing plays for nearly two decades. He was a household name in London, his company—now the King’s Men—enjoyed royal patronage, and their new indoor stage at Blackfriars promised a fresh era of theatrical success. By all accounts, Shakespeare was still at the height of his career.But behind the curtain, things were shifting. The endless grind of plague closures had slowed his output. His family life was changing—his daughter Susanna married, his mother passed,

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2:03

Season 4, Teaser: Will: What Is He Good For? - The...

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2025/09/29

Shakespeare’s death in 1616 could have meant the loss of his words forever. Many of his plays existed only in fragile manuscripts and cheap, error-filled quartos. Then, seven years later, two of his fellow actors—John Heminges and Henry Condell—took on the monumental task of preserving their friend’s work.Their project became the First Folio of 1623: the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. Without it, we would have no Macbeth, no Twelfth Night, no The Tempest. With it, Shakespeare’s

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35:00

He Had a Blank Space (Baby)

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2025/08/16

In the Season 3 finale of Will: What is He Good For? we explore how Shakespeare’s writing was shaped not only by the theaters and venues where his plays were performed, but also by the monarchy and the shifting tastes of his audiences.We trace his evolution from writing for traveling troupes—where simple staging and minimal sets were a necessity—to the grandeur of the Globe, where plays like Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and Hamlet thrived on the energy of large, dynamic spaces. Later,

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20:55

We Believe, the Children are our Future

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2025/02/04

Along with the adult acting troupes, such as the Queen's Men, there was another genre of acting troupes that influenced Shakespeare and his writing. Children's, or boy acting troupes and their rise in popularity caught Shakespeare's attention and caused him to elevate his writing.

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20:45

Season 3, Episode 2: Not the Billing, The Bill.

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2025/01/14

On February 2nd in 1585, Shakespeare signs a baptismal certificate for his twin children Judith and Hamnet. This is the last record we have of what he is doing for the next seven years and beginning what scholars call his “lost years” There are many, many theories of what he was doing during this time. In this episode, we explore the story of William Knell and the Queen’s Men, and how it may shed some light on the unexpected journey the young man from Stratford would ultimately embark on.

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18:55

Season 3, Episode 1: Now, That's Entertainment

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2024/12/22

This season, we're taking a deeper look at the evolving theatre scene of the 1500-1600s and how the way plays were produced influenced what ended up in the final texts we have of William Shakespeare. In our first episode, we explore one of the earliest influences on the young Bard: traveling and touring theater companies. Listen in to learn more about the types of productions being produced in the late 1500s and the way those touring productions shaped the written texts we know today.

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01:23

Introducing Season 3: From the Stage to the Page

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2024/12/07

Season 3 of Will: What is He Good For? is coming soon! Join us for another fun-filled series of Shakespeare history and an exploration of his plays. This season we're taking deeper look at the landscape of Elizabethan theatre, who was performing what and how. Listen to our teaser episode to learn more about what to expect from this season. From the traveling acting troupes that he would eventually join, to the children’s acting troupes that rivaled his own Lord’s Chamberlain's Men in popularity,

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11:18

Bonus Episode: Get to know the team behind The Merry...

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2024/06/03

In this bonus episode of "Will: What is He Good For?", hosts Victoria Gomez Wood and William Downes sit down with Rachel Purcell Fountain, the director of Classics on the Rocks' upcoming summer 2024 production of "The Merry Wives of Windsor." The trio delves into the unique challenges and exciting elements of bringing this beloved Shakespearean comedy to life. Rachel shares her vision for the production and the ways in which modern audiences can connect with the humor and themes of the play. Listen

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18:43

Soo... Good Talk?

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2024/02/21

Over the past several episodes, we've explored some of the common themes presented in Shakespeare's married couples that hint at how he felt about marriage.In Julius Caesar, Calpurnia and Portia are clear examples of what happens when you don't listen to your wife. From Portia and Bassanio to Jessica and Lorenzo in Merchant of Venice - marriage doesn't guarantee a happily ever after - but in finding common ground and a shared vision for life with your partner - happiness is within reach. As

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32:57

Who you talking Shrew?

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2024/02/05

Most of this season we have attempted to give new perspective to the traditional narrative that Shakespeare viewed marriage negatively having been forced into marriage in his personal life. We have even come dangerously close to calling him a feminist. In this episode, we double down and talk about what most would call his least progressive and most misogynistic play, Taming of the Shrew.

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23:13

And They All Lived Happily Ever After?

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2023/12/30

In the last episode, we felt pretty confident saying that Shakespeare believed that a good marriage was one of true partnership filled with respect, trust, communication, and most importantly love. However, in Elizabethan England, the act of getting married was still predominantly a business transaction. While courtship mattered to a degree, you married for three reasons: increased social status, monetary gain, or occasionally love. But could a transactional marriage lead to a true happily ever

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22:14

Always Listen to Your Wife

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2023/12/14

It’s one of the most tried and true storylines, the husband makes bad decisions that his wife warns him not to, the husband does it anyway and shenanigans ensue. Today, it’s more of a setup for comedies than dramas but Shakespeare used this theme throughout the canon. In this episode, we take a look at a couple of couples from one of Shakespeare’s cornerstone plays to see what their relationships can tell us about Shakespeare's views on marriage and partnership.

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21:41

The Will of Will

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2023/11/28

On this season of Will: What is He Good For?, we will explore Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway and explore his general attitude towards marriage through his personal history and textual clues. There is an academic discussion that because he was pushed into marriage after Anne Hathaway became pregnant and that he gave her the "second best bed" in his will that he had a negative view of marriage. And that this negative view is why he often portrays domineering and destructive marriages. But we

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01:24

Season 2 Coming Soon!

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2023/11/10

Season 2 of Will: What is He Good For? is coming soon! Join us for another fun-filled series of Shakespeare history and an exploration of his plays. This season, we're talking Shakespeare and marriage. What did Shakespeare really think about love and marriage? And was giving his wife, Ann Hathaway, the "second best bed" a dying man's final bitter burn or the gift of a loving and caring husband? Find out in Season 2.... stay tuned.

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13:20

Bonus Episode!

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2023/07/18

As we get ready to open our summer production of Henry the Fifth, our Artistic Director, William Downes, and Company Manager, Sharon Stevens sit down and quickly chat about the play, the process and 10 years of Classics on the Rocks.

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28:11

Episode 5: The End of an Era

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2023/02/11

March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I dies, and without an heir or a clear line of succession she is succeeded by James I, her second cousin. With a new monarch and family line in place, it’s time for Shakespeare to cozy up to James (just like he did with Elizabeth). In our 5th and final episode of the season, we talk about how “the Scottish play", and Shakespeare's later plays bring his epic life to a close.

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30:42

Episode 4: Nirvana, or Something Like It

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2023/02/11

After an 18-month plague-induced lockdown London’s theatres begin to open up again and the acting companies make their way back on stage. This is the time Shakespeare begins his career in earnest as the pre-eminent playwright of the Elizabethan stage. In episode 4, we explore how the globe theatre and the key actors of the time helped to inspire Shakespeare's work and define the man he would become.

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31:24

Episode 3: Welcome Back, Will!

Will: What Is He Good For? ·

2023/01/13

After a 7-year absence from public record, Shakespeare reappears in London, where he is referenced by a rival dramatist, Robert Greene in his bitter deathbed pamphlet, "A Groats-worth of Witte" gaining the moniker “upstart crow." Shakespeare's early years in London are a fascinating time filled with plays, plagues, and poetry. In episode 3, we explore how this period of time helped that man from Stratford to become the playwright we know and love.

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