Our commentary on the plays just isn’t enough to hold you from week to week? You would like to hear someone else’s knowledgeable thoughts about Shakespeare’s plays?

OpenCulture offers up a free online course covering some of Shakespeare’s most iconic plays, starting with some sonnets and then Richard II. This is a recording of professor William Flesch’s class at Brandeis University.

The plays covered over the course of his lectures:

• Richard II
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Merchant of Venice
• Hamlet
• King Lear
• Macbeth
• Anthony and Cleopatra
• Winter’s Tale

Of these plays, we’ve only recorded and discussed The Merchant of Venice – but we’ll get to the other ones. And who knows?

The next play could be on this list!

(You will not be required to write an essay at the end of the course. But if you want to write one, I would be happy to read it.)

And sadly, no: Henry Vi, part 1 is not part of his curriculum – or just about any curriculum, for that matter.

You’ll need to stay tuned for the conclusion of Henry VI, part 1 later this week!