In episode 101 of That Shakespeare Life, Cassidy Cash interviews Director of ResoluteJohnFlorio.com to talk about John Florio and his relationship with Vincentio Saviolo, Ben Jonson, and Shakespeare.

Ranked in the Top 100 podcasts in the US for History on Apple Podcasts, That Shakespeare Life is a podcast hosted by Cassidy Cash. Each Monday, she explores the history of William Shakespeare by interviewing the experts who know him best.

In Episode 101, Cassidy Cash interviews Director of Resolutejohnflorio.com, Marianna Iannaccone, to discuss about John Florio:

Fencing language, and indeed the English language’s description of weapons overall, was influenced heavily by a man whose greatness is often eclipsed by that of Shakespeare and Jonson–that man is John Florio. Credited in print by Jonson personally, as well as praised by Salviolo, Henry Wriothesley, Philip Sydney, and other prominent 16th c figures. Here to share the Shakespeare history of John Florio is our guest Marianna Iannaccone, Director at Resolute John Florio.

The term “hand-and-a-half sword” is often used in reference to long-swords but is not considered a historical description of the weapon. There is no evidence of the term “hand-and-a-half” having been used during the Middle Ages when the sword saw its heyday in popularity and there’s no reference to hand and a half sword either in English or other languages before the 16th century. But the term does show up during the life of William Shakespeare. Why is that term appearing at this moment to describe a weapon that never went by that name when the weapon was popular? It seems that fencing language, and indeed the English language’s description of weapons overall, was influenced heavily by a man whose greatness is often eclipsed by that of Shakespeare and Jonson–that man is John Florio.

Words like “hand and a half sword” are just one example of the power Florio’s contributions are to both the English language, and it seems, to early modern plays themselves. Credited in print by Jonson personally, as well as praised and sponsored by by people like Salviolo, Henry Wriothesley, Philip Sydney, and other prominent figures from the 16th century, John Florio operated at the highest levels of English society. 

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Here this week to share with us the unique and often overlooked life of John Florio, how he came to be in England, and the unlikely friendship he seems to have had with Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare, is our guest Marianna Iannaccone.

Interview Transcript:

[Cassidy] This is episode 101 of That Shakespeare Life. This episode is brought to you in part by Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App. The only audio Shakespeare pronunciation app, which is designed to remove fears about how to speak Shakespeare’s language so that his plays are accessible to everyone. Find out more about this app in today’s show notes and stay tuned after the episode for how you can learn more.
[James] Hi, I’m James Loehlin, Director of the Shakespeare Winedale Program at the University of Texas. Another great method for studying the life of William Shakespeare includes listening to this. It’s That Shakespeare Life with my friend Cassidy cash.
[Mary] These two men were in close contact with each other and they shared the same circles of friends and acquaintances. They were both friends of Samuel Daniel, of Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson. They began under the same patron, Robert Dudley. They finished with the same patron, William Herbert. Florio bequeathed his library to the Pembroke family. They even had the same patron in between: Henry Wriothesley. John Florio lived at Titchfield with Henry, and he dedicated his works to Henry.
[Narrator] Welcome to That Shakespeare Life with Cassidy Cash. Cassidy believes that if you desire to successfully learn or perform Shakespeare’s plays, then understanding the real-life and history of William Shakespeare himself is a must. That Shakespeare Life is the podcast that helps you go beyond the curtain of some of Shakespeare’s most iconic works and explore the world of early modern England as Shakespeare would have lived it learning from the writers, historians, and performers who know it best. And now here’s Cassidy.
[Cassidy] The term hand and a half sword is often used in reference to the long sword, but it’s not a historical description of the weapon because there’s no evidence of this term being applied to long swords during the Middle Ages when the longsword saw its heyday in popularity as a military weapon and was widely used. And that’s not just the English language. There’s no reference to hand and a half sword in English or other languages before the 16th century. The term appears during the life of William Shakespeare. So what happened during the life of William Shakespeare? Why that term appearing at this very moment to describe a weapon tha never went by that name when the weapon was popular? It seems that fencing language and indeed the English language as a whole was heavily influenced by a man whose greatness is often eclipsed by that of Shakespeare and Johnson. The man is John Florio. Words like hand and a half sword is just one example of the power of John Florio’s contributions to the English language, but it seems he also directly contributed to early modern plays themselves including the works of Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare. He’s credited in print by Johnson personally and he’s praised and sponsored by people like Salviolo, Henry Wriothesley, Philip Sidney and other prominent figures from the 16th century. John Florio operated at the highest levels of English society and forever changed the landscape of theater and indeed the very words we use today. Here this week to share with us the unique and often overlooked life of John Florio, how he came to be in England and the unlikely friendship he seems to have had with Ben Johnson and William Shakespeare is our guest Mariana Lannaconne. Mariana Lannaconne is an independent researcher with a master’s degree both in foreign languages as well as literature and drama. She studied in both Italy and London and while she speaks Italian as her native language, she also knows English, Spanish, and French. Today’s interview will be conducted in English. She has studied in drama and screenwriting with her latest short film about John Florio premiering at Brigham Young University in Idaho. She attended the John Florio event at the Globe Theater in Rome, Italy as a speaker on the connection between John Florio, Giordano Bruno, and William Shakespeare. She is the administrator of ResoluteJohnFlorio the website dedicated to the life and history of John Florio. Find out more about Mary and today’s show notes. Before we dive into this week’s episode, I want to tell you about our Experience Shakespeare Digital History Activity kits. These activities are digital kits you can download that let you take a piece of Shakespeare’s history and try it out for yourself. They’re like science labs for history. Each one coordinates with a podcast episode here on That Shakespeare Life and it’s designed to be completed with items you can easily purchase at a local market or may already have at home. The explore, games, recipes, dances, and more that appear in Shakespeare’s plays and after teaching you about the history of that topic, these kits offer you video tutorials and step by step instructions so you can try it out for yourself. Learn more about the kits and the bonus material that’s included and you can even become a member to have one of these kits sent to you each month at cassidycash.com/experience. That’s cassidycash.com/experience. Hello, Mary. Welcome to the show.
[Mary] Hi Cassidy.
[Cassidy] How did John Florio first come to England?
[Mary] John Florio was born in London in 1553. His father was Michelangelo Florio who was a Franciscan Friar who converted to Protestantism and for this reason, he was imprisoned by the Roman Inquisition for two years. But he managed to avoid execution by escaping from prison, and he moved first to Venice and then he moved to England. In London, he began working for Lord Burghley, who appointed Michelangelo to the Italian Protestant Church in London. He was tutor to Lady Jane Grey the queen of the nine days. He was also a tutor to young Queen Elizabeth I. He was an important Protestant reformer and John was born in London. But when he was about 1/2 years old, they had to escape because Mary Tudor, Bloody Mary, ascended to the thrown, and Catholicism was restored. So they had to escape and they came back to Italy, and John spent his childhood in Soglio, which now is in Switzerland, it’s a little village in the mountains. And he was formed by his father Michelangelo, who was a very erudite man with a vast knowledge of the Bible. So John grew up in a very religious environment, and when he was about 10/12 years old, he was sent to Germany by his father to study in a college in Tübingen and then he came back to England at about 18 years old because it was again a Protestant country under Queen Elizabeth I and he got in contact with all the people his father work with. So with Lord Burghley and the Dudley’s family.
[Cassidy] So while John Florio was connected to England and moved back there on purpose, was it common for Italians, in general, to be coming to England because of the situation there with what the Roman Inquisition did? Was there a lot of movement from Italy to England in the 16th century?
[Mary] Yeah, immigration was due mainly to religious persecutions. There were many friends of John Florio who escaped from Italy, his father Michelangelo escaped from the Roman Inquisition, Giordano Bruno who was a friend of John Florio who sadly died at the stake due to the Roman Inquisition, he traveled throughout Europe his whole life and he lived with John Florio in London at the French Embassy for two years. Vincenzo Saviolo too, he was a Protestant and there were many other friends of John Florio of who did the same. Alberico Gentili, who was a professor of law at Oxford, he too was a Protestant and England welcomed Italian Protestants. And there were also many Italian musicians who were called to work at court, for example, the Bassano family or Ferrabosco family, they were Protestant Italians who moved to England, and England welcomed Italian Protestants who enriched the English culture with their talents.
[Cassidy] Was this also happening in reverse because Italy was known the world over for its theater and performance with the Commedia dell’arte and other things. Were the English also going over to Italy to learn these things?
[Mary] Yes. It was very common for the aristocracy to go to Italy, not much for the lower classes. Learn Italian language, learn Italian culture was very popular and prestigious at court. so many English nobles traveled to Italy. For example, Philip Sidney spent one year travelling through the cities of North Italy, from Venice to the University of Padua. Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton, patron of John Florio traveled to Italy as well, and we know that because John Florio published a work in 1598, A World of Words, and he wrote that Henry was not just well versed in English but that he also travelled to Italy. So it was very very common for English nobles to travel to Italy. Italy was the heart of the Renaissance, and theatre was an important focus of attention: Commedia dell’arte was an early form of professional theatre and was very popular, it was spreading all over Europe, and we have the influence
of Commedia dell’arte in English drama as well, as Italian authors like Boccaccio, Bandello, Aretino, who revolutionised literature and theatre as
well. But there was a different mood when Englishmen travelled to Italy because sadly there was also a huge racism in England towards Italians. Learn Italian language, learn Italian culture was a very popular and prestigious act at court. But, if you were Italian, you might also risk being beaten up in the street, and John Florio knew it very well. He had been meeting with adverse criticism his whole life for his Italian sympathies. There was a famous scholar, English scholar, Roger Ascham, who published a book, The Schoolmaster, in which he warned English nobles who travelled to Italy writing that the English Italianate was a devil incarnate. There were other Florio’s contemporaries who thought the same. Thomas Nash was a famous enemy of John Florio who believed English nobles who travelled to Italy returned not just well-versed in Italian language and Italian culture, but apparently also in the vices and loose morals. So in this context, John Florio saw himself as a sort of apostle of Italian Renaissance in England, bringing the Italian culture, the Italian language to the English masses, but this wasn’t always well received. That’s why he was also cautious during his career, but he let nothing stand in his way. That’s why he called himself Resolute John Florio.
[Cassidy] You mentioned Vincentio Saviolo as a friend or at least a colleague of John Florio in that way and Saviolo wrote a Fencing manual in the late 1590s with descriptions and specifically terminology on
fencing. Was John Florio focused on grammar? Did they work together, you think, on that fencing manual?
[Mary] Yes, Saviolo published a fencing manual in 1595 titled Vincentio Saviolo His Practise, in two books, and it is structured as a dialogue between Vincentio Saviolo and his student. It was the first manual on fencing to be available in the English language. The first book is about the use of the rapier and dagger. The second book is about quarrels and honorable quarrels, even if it’s important to say that the second book of Saviolo is more of an English translation of an Italian book by Girolamo Muzio titled Il duello, and there are also many illustrations in the manual made by woodcuts, and Vincentio Saviolo shows his concept on fencing, which was a mix of Italian and Spanish concepts, and it’s interlaced with pleasant conversations. He was a close friend of John Florio. John Florio already mentioned Saviolo four years before this work in his Second Fruits, and it’s likely that John Florio helped Vincentio Saviolo writing this book because there is something important to say: John Florio was an exception but usually, Italians didn’t write in English for a very simple reason, English was a language that was still at its earliest stage, it was language that was still developing, the official language was still Latin, at court ambassadors talk to each other in French or Italian. And as John Florio said in his first work, First Fruits, English was a language that past Dover was worth nothing. It’s weird to believe it today but at the time, English was still developing, so Italians didn’t write in English. John Florio was an exception. And for this very reason, it’s likely that Vincentio Saviolo wrote the treatise in Italian and John Florio translated it in English. Also the fact that the second book of Saviolo is basically a translation of an Italian book written by Girolamo Muzio, it makes you understand that actually someone translated the book from Italian to English for Saviolo and that man is John Florio. So, as usual, John Florio worked as an editor for this work, since he worked as editor his whole life, he was an excellent editor, and so most probably he helped Saviolo writing this book, translating the book from Italian to English, editing and adapting the work for the English audience.
[Cassidy] They did an incredible job of adapting the work for the English audience because this unique fencing terminology from Saviolo’s Treatise shows up in Shakespeare’s Henry IV part one which suggests there was a significant influence of the work into not just fencing terms but the actual English language was influenced by this work. Is it possible that Florio was actually closer to Shakespeare and therefore a more likely influence on that play in particular?
[Mary] Yeah, we find Saviolo fencing language in Henry IV. There are many characters that use Saviolo fencing language. One of them is John Falstaff, for example. Henry IV is not the only play which has the influence of Saviolo fencing manual. There are other plays which have this influence. For example, As you like it, the duel between Orlando and Charles is based on Saviolo fencing manual. As well as Touchstone’s dialogue on The Various Forms of a lie is based on Saviolo’s book, there’s a chapter in which he describes the various form of a lie. And John Florio was in close connection with the theatre. As I said before Vincentio Saviolo didn’t write in English. He was an Italian fencing master after all not a writer, and it’s possible that John Florio was the link between these two worlds between Shakespeare and Saviolo. John Florio too write and use Saviolo fencing language, Saviolo fencing terms in his works, four years before Saviolo’s manual. In Second Fruits, there is a dialogue in which John Florio describes Saviolo, and he borrows words from
Spanish, from Italian and he creates this new linguistic graft using words like pasado, stoccada, embroccada to give more colour, to give more rhythm to the dialogue, and we find this fencing language, the fancy fencing terms years later in Romeo and Juliet with Mercutio. So this actually makes you understand that it was John Florio through his connection and friendship with Vincentio Saviolo to serve as an influence on Shakespeare’s plays in Harry IV and in other Shakespeare’s
plays.
[Cassidy] In 1591, John Florio describes Saviolo fencing school as being “in the little street where the well is… at the sign of the red Lyon.” How close was Saviolo’s fencing school to somewhere like the Globe Theater? Where these in close physical proximity?
[Mary] Yes, it was very close. When Saviolo arrived in London, he went to work at Rocco Bonetti fencing school which was in Blackfriars, so we can safely say that Saviolo was in and around Blackfriars. Then when Bonetti died, he decided to manage the school with his friend Geronimo. It wasn’t too far from The Globe. You had to walk through 10th Street across London Bridge and then you end up in Southwark where The Globe was. So I think it must have been about 20, 30 minutes walk more or less.
[Cassidy] Why was John Florio writing and describing the fencing school at all? Where was this published that he was talking about this?
[Mary] John Florio published a work in 1591, Second Fruits. Second Fruits is a bilingual language lesson manual in Italian and English and it is structure in dramatic dialogues. It’s important to say that John Florio differs very considerably from other Protestant refugees who kept school in London in the 16th Century. Florio didn’t write language lesson manual for schoolchildren or beginners. He aimed rather at the nobility, at the aristocraticy, the themes of his works of First Fruits and Second Fruits are about women, are about love, are about poetry. For example in Second Fruits, we find the first sonnet in the English language. So he wrote ambitious works, and he had a genius for catching the very spirit at the time in which he was writing. And in this context, in Second Fruits, there’s a chapter, chapter 7 in which there are two characters Giordano and Edward, they are in their chamber with the servant, and then suddenly they decide to go out for a walk, and they don’t know what to do and Edward suggests to Giordano to go to the fencing school, and there they see Vincentio Saviolo. So they start to describe him. Giordano says that he is a handsome man, that he’s from Padua, that his father died during the war. Edward answers that he has learned to play at the weapon from Saviolo. And Giordano answers that he looks like Mars himself, and they end the conversation by saying, “I love him with all my heart”,
and I can almost hear Florio saying it behind the character of Giordano. So in this chapter, John Florio describes Saviolo in details and it makes you understand that he was a close friend of Saviolo and he was in close contact with him.

[Cassidy] With it being so closely located to the Globe Theater with Bonetti school being at the Blackfriars and this is the same Blackfriars that would go on to become a theater later with Shakespeare and the Burbage’s. What other evidence is there to tell us whether or not Florio might have been close friends with English playwrights like Johnson and Shakespeare?

[Mary] Well, there have been some hints in Shakespeare and Jonson’s biographies that Florio was a close friend of both. But from Shakespeare scholars, this relationship, Florio and Shakespeare, has always been distorted throughout the centuries, basically giving a misleading picture of both men and writing a fiction story of Shakespeare and Florio fighting each other, or hating each other, with Florio being the bad guy and
Shakespeare the genius who hated Florio. I’ve read some really entertaining stories about them. But few of these are true. These two men were in close contact with each other and they share the same circles of friends and acquaintances. They were both friends of Samuel Daniel, Philip Sidney, of Ben Jonson. They began under the same patron, Robert Dudley. They finished with the same patron, William Herbert. Florio bequeathed his library to the Pembroke family. They even had the same patron in between, Henry Wriothesley. John Florio lived at Titchfield with Henry, and he dedicated his works to Henry. They shared the same official rank of Groom of the Privy chamber under Queen Anne’s of Denmark. They both had Thomas Thorpe as a close friend. They had the same engraver William Hole, they had the same publisher Edward Blount. I mean, it’s impossible not to think these two men didn’t casually meet at least once in their lifetime. So, there is a close connection between these two men. Shakespeare was also influenced by John Florio’s works, by the dramatic dialogues of First Fruits and Second Fruits, as well as from A World of Words and Montaigne’s Essays, that we know it was a source of inspiration for the Tempest but also for other Shakespeare plays like King Lear or Hamlet. Florio was also a passionate reader of plays. He had a huge library and he had about 40, 50 plays. Comedies, tragedies, pastoral comedies, old Commedia dell’arte, as well as books by Bandello, Aretino, Ariosto, Sannazaro, that we know where a source of inspiration for some Shakespeare plays. So there is a connection between these two men and it cannot be explained by portraying them as two men fighting each other or hating each other. Most importantly, it cannot be explained by portraying John Florio who was such a gifted writer prised by the most important writers and nobles of the time as the silly boring pedant or teacher. He had strongly marked personality. He published brilliant works and the mudslinging that he suffered throughout the centuries was clearly done to diminish the important contribution that he gave to literature and drama. John Florio was a close friend of Ben Jonson, and he helped Ben Johnson writing Volpone and we know that because Ben
Johnson wrote a beautiful dedication for John Florio in a copy of Volpone that he gave to him, praising him as “his loving father and worthy friend” and the “Ayde of His Muses” which is a huge compliment, it makes you understand that Ben Johnson admired John Florio, that he was a close friend of him and that John Florio helped Ben Johnson writing Volpone. He defined him the “Ayde of His Muses” which makes you understand that Florio was the “aid” of many other Muses. And this throw a light upon the role that John Florio had in theatre. So, there is a connection it is very well documented, and it cannot be explained by portraying these two men hating each other or fighting each other, or by giving John Florio the mere role of the silly boring teacher who supplied his friends of banal informations about Italian folklore.

[Cassidy] We’ve established pretty well that they were friends and they were connected. Obviously the influence is there absolutely but I’ve read descriptions of John Florio that describe him specifically with the word poet and this struck out to me because it’s often a description that’s applied to Shakespeare himself and I wondered what your opinion was about how involved in theater John Florio might has been?
[Mary] Well, John Florio was involved in theatre since he arrived in London. He was about 18 years old when he arrived in London, and after seven years, we have his first work, First Fruits, which contains poems by the whole company of the Leicester men. So actors Like Richard Tartlon, Robert Wilson, John Bentley, praising him and thanking Florio for having worked with them. Volpone was published almost 30 years later, and we find Ben Johnson, again, praising him and thanking Florio for having work with him. Florio spent his whole career in theatre. This is an aspect that very few scholars talk about. And he was defined many times an ingenious writer and a poet when writing and translating. Sometimes critics have pointed out the John Florio didn’t really translate but sometimes he wrote whole new books. I’ll make one example, Montaigne’s Essays is a classic of literature. It’s among the greatest work of the 17th Century, up there with King James Bible, and FLorio style is
beautiful. It is melodious, it is sonorous, his love for word patterns and sound patterns, the use of different languages to enrich the English language, his love for pomposity, for rhetorical ornament, for alliteration, they are all ingredients of Florio’s strong style that made him genuinely a poet. And this aspect has not been fully investigated, and requires serious attention. And the fact that he has been sometimes described as the pedant or the teacher should instead open your eyes and makes you wonder that why they have tried so hard to relegate to him to obscurity.
[Cassidy] So it sounds like John Florio was much more than a writer who influenced works like Jonson’s Volpone and Shakespeare’s Henry IV, but instead was actively involved with these men as they were creating these plays that’s fascinating to me. I know we would love to learn more about this topic and to explore the life of John Florio further. What are some of your recommended books and resources that we should look at when we want to learn more about him?
[Mary] Well, if you just want to know more about John Florio, about his life and his works, there is Frances Yates’s biography: “John Florio, the Life of an Italian in Shakespeare’s England”, that I hugely recommend because it’s the most important biography about John Florio still today, even if some things are a bit outdated but due to more recent discoveries made about John Florio. Francis Yates published his biography in 1934 so we have had more recent discoveries about his life, but it’s still today the most important book and biography about John Florio. If just want to know about the importance of foreign languages and how they enriched the English language, so the importance of protestant refugees and the important role that John Florio had in shaping and in the development of tbe English language, I recommend John Gallagher’s book “Learning Languages in Early Modern England” which gives an extensive analysis of how learning languages, foreign languages was important for the developing of English language and John Florio has a huge role, and it makes you understand that he really stood out from the crowd. He really is the hero of this book. And instead, if you just want to know the influence of Florio’s First Fruits, Second Fruits and of Saviolo’s work in Shakespeare plays, there is a really interesting analysis made by Rinaldo Simonini from North Carolina, the book is “Italian Scholarship In Renaissance England” in which he describes in details the influence of the dramatic dialogues of First Fruits and Second Fruits as well a Saviolo’s book in Shakespeare’s plays, and the relationship between Florio and Ben Johnson.

[Cassidy] We will link to all of these resources in the show notes for today’s episode as well as to Mary’s website about Jon Florio called ResoluteJohnFlorio.com. So make sure you check out the show notes for
links to all of these resources. Thank you Mary. Now we ask everyone this next question here at That Shakespeare Life and that’s what’s the one book you would take with you on a deserted island? My friends in England tell me I’m supposed to allow you the complete works of Shakespeare and a copy of the Bible. So your choice would be an addition to those.
[Mary] Well, since I really like Boccaccio’s Decameron, I will bring with me the English translation that John Florio published anonymously of Boccaccio’s Decameron because I haven’t read it fully and I would
like to read the whole book. So that book would be my choice.
[Cassidy] That’s an excellent choice. You’d be well set up there on your deserted island. I think that’s a great choice. So what’s next for you? What are you Not now that you’re excited about?
[Mary] Well, I’m working on some new documents about John Florio, about the period in which he was a Private Secretary to Queen Anne of Denmark. He dealt often with foreign ambassadors, with Italian ambassadors, so the letters and documents that he received. And about the period in which he retired and he lived in Fulham, the period is 1623, 1624, a couple of years before his death. John Florio didn’t receive the pension that he deserved because King James faced huge economic problems, so John Florio lived the very few years before his death with economic problems, but he was still writing, he was still involved in some huge literary undertaken, and I’m working on documents and letters that he received a couple of years before his death.
[Cassidy] That’s fascinating. I know we look forward to following your work on that. It’s amazing to me that John Florio was so ambitious and came over at 18 and ended up working directly for the Queen of England is fascinating to me. We will look forward to exploring all of these resources. Mary, thank you so much for being here today and helping us take a look at the life of John Florio. This has been a really fun conversation.

[Mary] Thank you! Thank you very much!
[Cassidy] To add your voice to our conversation or to look at the full transcript of today’s episode, be sure to head over to the show notes. You can leave a comment, download transcripts, and each week we pack the show notes full of more history. There’s images, links to resources and information that you can use to explore this week’s topic further. So if you want to find out more about John Florio, his life, his connection to Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare as well as his time as groom of the privy chamber under Queen Anne of Denmark, the wife of James I, you can find all of this information on Mary the ResoluteJohnFlorio website and copies of First and Second Fruits, Salviolo, Blackfriars and more at cassidycash.com/ep101. That’s cassidycash.com/ep101.

[Cassidy] When I first started studying Shakespeare, especially as an American, where the English language is very different on this side of the pond than where Shakespeare was writing, I often mispronounced some of the words that you find in the plays, like originally I said Gloukester instead of Gloucester. Well, that’s why I downloaded Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App. It’s an easy-to-use, straightforward app that you can download to your phone or tablet on iTunes as well as Google Play and it lets you search any word from Shakespeare and then it tells you exactly how to say it with a playable audio guide built right in. Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App is like having a professional voice coach that you can carry in your pocket. Explore all the features of this app and download it right now at cassidycash.com/shakespeareapp. That’s cassidycash.com/shakespeareapp. That’s it for this week. I’m Cassidy Cash, and I hope you learned something new about the Bard. I’ll see you next week. Bye.
[Narrator] Thank you for listening to That Shakespeare Life. As always, the best conversations happen after the episode over at cassidycash.com. Become a part of a vibrant Shakespeare conversation by adding your voice over at the website. Until next time, remember when you want to know William Shakespeare, you have to go behind the curtain and into That Shakespeare Life.