Talene Monahon on Her New Revenge Comedy, Jane Anger

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.7 • 837 Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Talene Monahon’s new play Jane Anger, a narcissistic William Shakespeare is wrestling with writers’ block while working on King Lear. When Will’s former flame Jane Anger shows up, he knows she can help him finish the play. But Jane wants something in return. She needs Will’s help to publish a pamphlet she’s written that calls out sexist male playwrights for the wrongs they’ve done to women everywhere. That pamphlet is a real historical document: “Jane Anger: Her Protection for Women,” published in 1589. The true identity of the historical Jane Anger is still unknown. Monahon has taken that historical blank page and written on it a revenge farce that’s savagely funny, comically violent, and seriously outraged. It manages to take in present-day concerns like #MeToo and the pandemic, and makes room for ecstatically silly bathroom humor. Jane Anger is onstage through January 8 at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. We talk to Monahon, who also plays Anne Hathaway in the show, about how she discovered Jane Anger’s pamphlet, her depiction of Shakespeare, and more. She is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published December 20, 2022. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from Andrew Logan in Washington and Jenna McClellan at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Picture this. William Shakespeare sitting at his desk, quill in hand, preparing to write his next masterpiece.
0:08.0	But what's really on his mind is the cool earring he just got.
0:13.0	Nothing is coming. I've been so on.
0:16.0	No!
0:17.0	Yes, I am ancient.
0:18.0	You are but a strapping 42, sir. The average life expectancy in Jacovia, England is 42.
0:24.8	A perspective.
0:26.8	Think of it's strapping, though.
0:28.9	In a new play called Jane Anger, it's Shakespeare in love by way of Monty Python.
0:41.3	Thank you. way of Monty Python. From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.
0:45.3	I'm Michael Whitmore, the Folgers director.
0:47.3	The play, Jane Anger, stars Michael Yuri as a narcissistic William Shakespeare,
0:53.3	locked down in London for the plague with his assistant
0:56.0	Frankie, played by Ryan Spahn. Will is trying to write King Lear, but he's desperately blocked.
1:03.5	When Will's former flame, Jane Anger shows up, he knows she can help him finish the play. But Jane
1:10.2	wants something in return.
1:12.6	She needs Will's help to publish a pamphlet she's written that calls out sexist male playwrights
1:17.6	for the wrongs they've done to women everywhere.
1:22.3	After a run off Broadway in New York, Jane Anger is currently playing in Washington, D.C. at the Shakespeare
1:28.3	Theatre Company. The playwright is Talline Monaghan, who also appears in the play as Anne
1:34.2	Hathaway, Shakespeare's neglected wife. The pamphlet at the center of the play's action is a real
1:40.1	historical document, Jane Anger, Her Protection for Women, published in 1589.
	...

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