This podcast opens a five-part podcast series on Shakespeare’s Problem Plays. These are plays where the structure of comedy ends the plays; i.e. everyone gets married at the end of the day. Yet these were really not happy endings. Equally they are not tragedies either. Usually in the middle is some very dark part, which tests the reader, play-goer or listener with some very difficult subjects. The five we will consider for the remainder of this week are “All’s Well That Ends Well”; “Troilus and Cressida”; “Measure for Measure”; “The See more +

This podcast opens a five-part podcast series on Shakespeare’s Problem Plays. These are plays where the structure of comedy ends the plays; i.e. everyone gets married at the end of the day. Yet these were really not happy endings. Equally they are not tragedies either. Usually in the middle is some very dark part, which tests the reader, play-goer or listener with some very difficult subjects. The five we will consider for the remainder of this week are “All’s Well That Ends Well”; “Troilus and Cressida”; “Measure for Measure”; “The Winter’s Tale”; and finally, “Timon of Athens”.

In “All’s Well That Ends Well” Helena is a low-born ward of a French-Spanish countess. She chases Bertram across Europe, sends another woman into bed with him and then captures his heart by all this aggressive stalking. Yet Helena is largely broken by Bertram’s actions. This informs today's compliance discussion on resilience.

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