Hi, what do you want to do?
Crash Course
Rules, Rule-Breaking, and French Neoclassicism: Crash Course Theater #20
Everyone knows, you need a bunch of rules to make good theater. That's what the French thought in the 17th century, anyway. The French Neoclassical revival had a BUNCH of French playwrights following a bunch of rules. Unsurprisingly,...
Crash Course
English Theater After Shakespeare: Crash Course Theater #17
This week on Crash Course Theater, Shakespeare is dead. Long live Shakespeare. Well, long live English theater, anyway. Actually, it's about to get banned. Anyway, we're discussing where English theater went post-1616. We'll talk about...
Crash Course
Straight Outta Stratford-Upon-Avon - Shakespeare's Early Days: Crash Course Theater #14
This is the story of how a young Englishman named William Shakespeare stormed London's theater scene in the late 16th century, and wrote a bunch of plays and poems that have had pretty good staying power. We'll learn about Shakespeare's...
Crash Course
Greek Comedy, Satyrs, and Aristophanes: Crash Course Theater #4
Get ready for hilarity, because this week, we're diving head first into Greek Comedy. Actually, though, maybe don't get TOO ready for hilarity. Taste in humor has changed a little over the last couple of thousand years. You already know...
Crash Course
Shakespeare's Tragedies and an Acting Lesson: Crash Course Theater #15
Shakespeare's tragedies...were tragic. But they had some jokes. They also changed the way tragedies were written. Characters like Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear had tragic outcomes, but they were sympathetic characters in a lot of ways....
Curated Video
William Shakespeare for Kids
William Shakespeare is one of the most influential playwrights and poets in history. Born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, he wrote 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and countless poems that continue to be studied and performed worldwide....
Curated Video
Identifying the Tragic Hero
A video entitled “Identifying the Tragic Hero” which explores common characteristics of tragic heroes featured in plays.
Curated Video
Is Measure for Measure a Comedy | Genre in Shakespeare | Shakespeare Play by Play Season 1
Is Measure for Measure a Comedy? I hope to answer that here. This is the final episode of a full analysis of every Act of Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure through different themes.
Curated Video
Ancient Greek Theater
Greece was home to hundreds of open-air arenas where citizens came together to discuss the important issues of the day. Like Broadway today, they were a place for both entertainment and important social commentary.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
2020 Britannica Year in Review
In 2020 the world experienced unprecedented hardships alongside joy and celebration. Britannica's readers sought out numerous topics that helped them to put 2020's events into context and better understand an astonishing year.
TED-Ed
Why Should You Read "Hamlet"?
Romeo may appeal to more romantic students, but the broodier teenagers in your class are bound to relate to the melancholic, inward-facing Hamlet. Show an enthralling video that summarizes plot elements, characterization, and the...
Crash Course
Shakespeare's Tragedies and an Acting Lesson: Crash Course Theater #15
Who doesn't love a play where most of the characters die? Such deaths are a defining characteristic of many of Shakespeare's tragedies, the topic of an informational video on the Bard and his works. Along with outlining the plot elements...
The School of Life
Gustave Flaubert
How is it possible that an author can create sympathy in the minds of readers for characters who behave in ways that we disdain? Gustave Flaubert was able to accomplish such a goal with Madame Bovary. Introduce readers to this...
Crash Course
Love or Lust? Romeo and Juliet Part II
"Do you believe that fate is inescapable, or that people forge their own lives?" This is the essential question at the heart of Romeo and Juliet, according to the narrator of a series on Shakespeare's tragedy. Short but dense, the video...
Crash Course
Ophelia, Gertrude, and Regicide - Hamlet II
In Part Two of a video course in Hamlet, narrator John Green looks at the gender dynamics in the play. He presents Ophelia and Gertrude as powerful characters and argues that these women do have options that affect the course of the...
Crash Course
Tragedy Lessons from Aristotle: Crash Course Theater #3
Guts! Gore! Murder! Human flaws! Aristotle considered all elements of a tragedy. Crash Course Theater's third video covers the Greek philosopher's views on the art form and also explains alternating perspectives on the topic. Engaging...
Crash Course
Crash Course Theater #15: Shakespeare's Tragedies and an Acting Lesson
A video describing how Shakespeare's tragic characters like Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear changed the way tragedies were written. Learn how these plays were very different from the way Seneca and the Greeks wrote tragedies. Even though...