Overdue: Recent Episodes
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Overdue is a podcast about the books you've been meaning to read. Join Andrew and Craig each week as they tackle a new title from their backlog. Classic literature, obscure plays, goofy children’s books: they'll read it all, one overdue book at a time.
The Magic School Bus series, beloved of 80s and 90s kids as both a book series and a TV show, depicts a school where every day is a field trip and every field trip is actually a fantastical voyage through time and space. I don’t want to think what these permission slips look like. This...
The book that put Murakami on the map in Japan is an intimate tale about youth, love, sex, and grief. So it’s not surprise he settled on a Beatles song for his novel’s title?? Follow @overduepod onInstagramandBluesky Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis. Advertise on Overdue See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy...
Hello, cats and kittypets! If you’re up for a Redwall-y, Watership Down-y exploration of warrior cat societies and territorial conflicts, boy do we have the dozens and dozens of books for you! Follow @overduepod onInstagramandBluesky Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis. Advertise on Overdue See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at...
Communities collide in the Chicken Hill neighborhood of 1930s Pottstown. Will the tensions become more than this town can manage? Since this is a James McBride novel, probably not! His work is characterized by a warmth of spirit that feels optimistic without naivete. So it shouldn’t surprised you that folks of different backgrounds are finding...
Emily Henry’s Beach Read is a romance novel that’s light on the romance, and also on beaches and reading. But it’s still fun! An a good argument against aggressively pigeonholing books or their authors into any given genre box. To join us for future bonus recordings, head topatreon.com/overduepod. Follow @overduepod onInstagramandBluesky Our theme music was...
Garfield creator Jim Davis decided to turn his PAWS, Inc. artists loose on multiple interpretations of our favorite orange feline. Behold, a truly absurd collection of tails — I mean, tales. EXPLICIT CONTENT WARNING: THIS EPISODE CONTAINS DISCUSSION OF AT LEAST ONE ODDLY EXPLICIT TURN OF PHRASE THAT REALLY CONFUSED US. To join us for...
Caw caw! Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a New Age messiah.Or is it? All we know is that this seagull loves to fly and craves perfection — which is somehow an allegory for self-improvement? This episode is also sponsored by Squarespace. Go tosquarespace.com/overduefor 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain. Our theme music...
This podcast is about to REAL! In that we are about to talk about Realism and Naturalism, two things we definitely have an amazing handle on. And did Émile Zola have a handle on them in his notable novel Thérèse Raquin? Tune in to find out. Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis. Follow @overduepod...
Nora Ephron is known mainly for her films, but her voice comes through loud and clear in Heartburn, a thinly-veiled autobiographical novel about love and divorce and how much she doesn’t like Washington DC. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
You find yourself facing a cherry tree. Is it on the level? Is it secretly plotting revenge against the President? Make a choice and dive into this revolutionary tale. Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis. Follow @overduepod onInstagramandBluesky Advertise on Overdue See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
To celebrate Bloomsday (however inadvertently), we decided to make our first foray in the work of James Joyce. His debut novel riffs on themes and characters that feature prominently in the rest of his canon, so join us for a discussion of modernist novel structure, semi-autobiographical lyricism, and what you should run off to smell...
Sometimes you read a book from 1940 and you get a little upset about how relevant its characters and themes remain more than 80 years later. Sometimes! McCullers’ debut novel explores capitalism, alienation, and poverty in the American South at the tail end of the Great Depression. Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis. Follow...
Often grouped with the other plays in García Lorca’s unfinished “rural trilogy,” The House of Bernarda Alba is a claustrophobic drama about control, conformity, and one mother’s intimidating cane. Which daughter will get Pepe? Will that horse stop kicking the wall? Will grandma ever be free?? These questions and more on this week’s episode. This...
Percy Jackson and friends are back for the penultimate entry in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. This installment in Rick Riordan’s mythological mash-up benefits from additional emotional complexity and deepened character relationships. Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis. Follow @overduepod onInstagramandBluesky Advertise on Overdue See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy...
For our latest show-within-a-show, we’ll revisit Ancient Greece through Emily Wilson’s new translation of Homer’s The Iliad. We’ll be reading it a few books at a time and having a more in-depth chat about it than we do about most books. These two episodes cover Books 10-14. Episode 5: It’s time for a three-fer! This...
This week we travel back to Bois Sauvage to revisit the work of acclaimed author Jesmyn Ward. Sing, Unburied, Sing introduces us to a family on hard times, preparing to welcome back a member from prison while also grappling with the ghosts that demand their attention. For more discussion of Jesmyn Ward, head to Ep...
We’re learning how to THINK AND GROW RICH with our good frenemy Napoleon Hill! To join us for future bonus recordings, head topatreon.com/overduepod. Follow @overduepod onInstagramandBluesky Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis. Advertise on Overdue See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Isaac Asimov’s short story collection-turned-novel has very little to do with the mid-2000s Will Smith movie adaptation, which is a good thing. It’s a lot less about robots rising up and killing their creators, and more about the law of unintended consequences. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try atbetterhelp.com/overdueand get...
“We just found this bear at the train station and he seems cool? Like he’s good at shopping and staring at people. Let’s bring him home! Don’t mind all the mess he makes.” That’s probably what the Browns said to themselves upon first spying a charming little bear at Paddington Station. Celebrate Children’s Book Week...
Did you know that before Gillian Flynn brought us the book Gone Girl, the movie Gone Girl, and the concept of “Gone Girl-ing” someone, she wrote a murder mystery about a different kind of unhealthy family dynamic! This episode briefly discusses self-harm. This episode is sponsored by Aura Frames. Visit AuraFrames.com and use code OVERDUE...
This graphic memoir (ahem) This collection of comics chronicles the life of an Iranian girl named Marji, whose experiences are heavily based on those of author Marjane Satrapi. Satrapi lived through the Islamic Revolution in Iran and its authoritarian aftermath, and her story is one of resistance, education, and the difficulty of finding yourself amidst...
Holes! We all need ’em, we all love ’em. This is a book where a boy is sentenced to dig a bunch of holes out in the desert because he was accused and convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. That’s bad! But he also discovers a little something about himself and his family, and...
Lo’s award-winning novel seeks to shine a light on marginalized experiences from mid-century San Francisco. What’s most impressive is how she’s synthesized all of her research into a couple of fresh, compelling characters – allowing the story to honor the historical record without feeling overly bound by it. Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis....
Every week, one of our hosts reads a book and tells the other person (and you, the audience) about it. This week’s book is about the topic of war and also the topic of peace. It has characters and themes. Find out more about all of this and more on this week’s Overdue! This episode...
For our latest show-within-a-show, we’ll revisit Ancient Greece through Emily Wilson’s new translation of Homer’s The Iliad. We’ll be reading it a few books at a time and having a more in-depth chat about it than we do about most books. These two episodes cover Books 5-9. Episode 3: These three books include: gods intervening...
The first rule of podcasting is DON’T TALK ABOUT PODCASTING. The second rule of podcasting is please tell everyone about podcasting and specifically about this episode in which we cover Chuck P’s notorious novel about masculinity, terrorism, and getting punched in the face. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go tosquarespace.com/overduefor 10% of your first...
There There sets itself apart by being a book by and about indigenous Americans in an explicitly contemporary, urban setting. It’s also got a neat perspective-shifting structure and interconnected characters. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Go tosquarespace.com/overduefor 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain. Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis....
This bonus episode was recorded on LEAP DAY! So we leapt into The Mystery at Lilac Inn with our good friend young sleuth Nancy Drew! Let’s play some Hot or Not, I guess?? Also we’re talking Odies 2023! To join us for future bonus recordings, head topatreon.com/overduepod. Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis. Advertise...
The third and final of White’s whimsical children’s books about animals, The Trumpet of the Swan asks important questions like: How do swans learn English? How can we better provide accommodations for those who need them? And how much money could a swan earn at a jazz club in the 1960s? This episode is sponsored...
Modern readers often experience C.S. Lewis as “the Narnia guy,” but he’s also one of the 20th century’s foremost Christian apologetics. The Screwtape Letters, written from the point of view of a demon whose object is to send souls to Hell, is a deeply Christian work but its appeal comes just as much from Lewis’...
Our friends Renata and Kait are back to talk with us about Colleen Hoover and her debut novel Slammed. We dive into her recent reign as Queen of BookTok, the appeal of slam poetry, the lack of dads, and whether or not this work of New Adult Fiction worked for us.
Find more episodes of The Worst Bestsellers at worstbestsellers.com.
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/overdue and get on your way to being your best self.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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You don't end up liking everyone by the end of Madame Bovary, but in kind of a funny way? Come for the book talk, stay for the butchered French pronunciation.
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/overdue and get on your way to being your best self.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Who is Mr. Benedict? And why did he recruit four outstanding orphans to uncover and stop a madman's secret plot to takeover the world? Solve the puzzles hidden in this episode to find out! (Don't worry, you can just listen. There aren't any puzzles...or ARE there?!?)
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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When a book's plot and characters don't break a ton of ground in and of themselves, you're left hoping that the writing and the perspective will be enough to make a book interesting—luckily for us, Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation is insightful and entertaining despite its narrow scope and well-trod material.
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/overdue and get on your way to being your best self.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Bring on the battalion of Dad Books! Cornwell started writing the Richard Sharpe novels because he wanted something like Horatio Hornblower on land. Well, we haven't read any Hornblower yet but we can attest that this book sure is about a British rifleman fighting in the army during the Napoleonic Wars!
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Welcome to our newest show-within-a-show! We're working our way through Neil Gaiman's signature graphic novel series THE SANDMAN. Some Patreon supporters get these episodes monthly, but every two months we'll combine them for general consumption.
In Episode 5: A GAME OF YOU, the story is about Barbie, her fantastical dreams, Barbie's friend Wanda, their neighbors Hazel and Foxglove, a vengeful witch named Thessaly, an authoritarian cuckoo bird, and MARTIN FLIPPING TENBONES.
In Episode 6: FABLES AND REFLECTIONS, Gaiman penned another set of one-off stories. Some are fables, others are reflections. Tune in to find out which is which!
Find out more about how to get these episodes monthly at patreon.com/overduepod.
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Imagine a version of the spaceship from Wall-E, but with racial and class divisions that mirror those in our own society. That's a (dramatically oversimplified) one-line summary of what's going on in this week's book.
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/overdue and get on your way to being your best self.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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It's episode 600, baybee!!! To celebrate, we're embarking on a voyage through Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, some middle-grade fantasy-but-in-the-real-world fiction that passed us by when it came out in 2005. We'll be reading the first five books in the series, starting with The Lightning Thief.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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We're talking Mondays. We're talking lasagna. We're talking annoying dogs and bumbling owners. We're talking Lyman -- wait what? Join us as we dive into the Garfield deep lore (and learn to make a Garf of our very own).
Want to join the chat for future Bonus Episodes? Head to patreon.com/overduepod
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? If you're a wizard of Earthsea, you can make it smell however you want if you know it's TRUE name. LeGuin's beloved fantasy novel is notable for how it plays both against and into common fantasy tropes, delivering a proper hero's journey without the same Sturm und Drang we've come to expect in the genre.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Join us for our 600th episode recording at bit.ly/overdue600. We're talking PERCY JACKSON!
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/overdue and get on your way to being your best self.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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We've covered vaguely spiritual self-help books before on the show, but The Alchemist is unique insofar as it attempts to wrap the broad platitudes of a The Secret up in a there-and-back-again adventure story. Please listen, as long as it fits with your Personal Legend.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Our Patron's Choice Poll for June had a theme: Junebugs! And this novel by Weiss about a roach colony attempting to assert control over the apartment in which they live is uhh...well it won the poll. So Craig read it. And now he's going to talk about it.
Caveat lictor: this book is a strange one (also it's got more explicit sexual content than you might expect!)
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/overdue and get on your way to being your best self.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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It's summer, and we all need water to live, two things that make Sarah Moss's Summerwater feel timely this week. One other thing the book reflects is the Simmering Anxiety of Our Times!
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Meet Gulliver, a traveling English surgeon. First he's big, then he's small. Next he's wise, then he's a Yahoo! To wit, Swift's seminal satire is realer, grosser, and really grosser than either of us knew.
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/overdue and get on your way to being your best self.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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This week’s book tackles aging and writing and the author’s determination to write a book about a gay character who is allowed to experience joy. These are all themes that hit us where we live as we trundle into early middle age ourselves.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Flog the jib and shiver me timbers, it's time to set sail with the first of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels Master and Commander.It's equal parts ship jargon, ship action, and shipmen (aka sailors) pondering themes of isolation and authority. Plus, we get to the bottom of who exactly is the master and who is the commander.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Welcome to our newest show-within-a-show! We're working our way through Neil Gaiman's signature graphic novel series THE SANDMAN. Some Patreon supporters get these episodes monthly, but every two months we'll combine them for general consumption.In Episode 3: DREAM COUNTRY, Gaiman needed a bit of a break after the Doll's House arc, and the result was a series of one-shots that contributed bits and pieces to the series' mythology without telling one larger story. Doesn't mean there isn't a lot to talk about, though!In Episode 4: SEASON OF MISTS, there is a plot! Specifically, a plot about the Devil retiring and giving Dream the key to Hell and a bunch of other supernatural beings pleading their case for why they should get that sweet piece of real estate. Also a little kid sees some ghosts.
Find out more about how to get these episodes monthly at patreon.com/overduepod.
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This week: a non-fiction book that sometimes reads a lot like fiction, The Orchid Thief is only a little about the titular thief and a LOT about Florida and its history and its denizens. Plus, "orchidelirium," the part of the 19th century where the English aristocracy would just go wild for these bad boys.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Mamma Mia! Let's-a go back to the 1990s and discuss Todd Strasser's novelization of the 1993 film adaptation of the Super Mario Bros. videogame franchise. It all makes about as much sense as the sentence you just read!
This episode was recorded with some of our Patreon supporters watching live. Find out how to join us for future episodes at patreon.com/overduepod.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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This novel about a wizarding school and its teen magicians feels like the finale of a series that you've heard about but haven't read. Which is...sort of the point? Born out of an in-universe work of fan fiction from a different Rowell novel, Carry Onprovides a great opportunity to dig into what helps a story inspired by another story succeed.
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/overdue and get on your way to being your best self.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Several People Are Typing was mostly written pre-pandemic but failed to garner publisher interest until a virus locked us all inside our homes with nothing to turn to but our jobs and our friend-Slacks. It manages to perfectly encapsulate what it feels like to use Slack for anything, with a dash of creepypasta for good measure.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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To celebrate this year's Children's Book Week, we decided to discuss the work of children's author and illustrator Sandra Boynton, whose board books we both have and which are well known for their fun illustrations and whimsical poetry. Since they're each pretty short we decided to talk about a bunch of them, including:
- Doggies2. Dinosaur Dance!3. Barnyard Dance!4. Pajama Time!5. Blue Hat, Green Hat6. Moo, Baa, La La La!7. The Going to Bed Book
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/overdue and get on your way to being your best self.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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We're talking about candy for the second week in a row, but this time the candy is literal, and the building is a factory and not a house. Willy Wonka is a mad candy scientist who flouts labor regulations and inflicts misery on children he deems insufficiently deserving. It's a fantabulous, scrumdiddlyumptious romp!
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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It only took 500-or-so episodes to revisit the world of Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Visit from the Goon Squad. We did, of course, have to wait for Egan to write her sequel (sort of) novel. This follow-up to a post-postmodern classic is focused on memories (digital and otherwise) and relationships (virtual and otherwise). It's got "what if the Meta but for everyone's memories" okay??
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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This week's book is all about duality: science against magic, love vs. hurt, book about middle school alienation and also near-future climate apocalypse. And also there are birds!
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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What if thirty hours of history took place JUST beyond the doors of your hotel? And what if you weren't allowed to leave that hotel? And, get this, the hotel is in Moscow.
The beloved bestseller A Gentleman in Moscow fills its historical fiction with charming characters that you want to root for. But can we (or should we) figure out what it's trying to say?
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Welcome to our newest show-within-a-show! In case you can't tell by the name, we're reading a selection of eight spooktacular books from R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series. Some Patreon supporters get these episodes monthly, but every two months we'll combine them for general consumption.
In Episode 1, we do some table-setting on the series, Stine, and Scholastic books -- then we dive into the first entry in this long-running series of kids' horror books: Welcome to Dead House.
In Episode 2, we try to figure out what kind of grow operation Dad's got cooking up in the basement in Stay Out of the Basement!
Find out more about how to get these episodes monthly at patreon.com/overduepod.
Also, here's the full GOOSEBUMS reading list:
- Welcome to Dead House
- Stay Out of the Basement
- Monster Blood
- Say Cheese and Die - Again!
- Night of the Living Dummy
- The Haunted Mask
- A Night in Terror Tower
- Egg Monsters from Mars
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Whether you're a fan of Netflix's Bridgerton series or you just want an Austen novel with more modern language and more explicit sex scenes, the first novel in Julia Quinn's series about the Bridgerton family has something for you. Just, uh, watch out for the nonconsensual sexual encounter!! Oops!!
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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Who wants to celebrate April with some modernist poetry??? This month, we allude to many of the allusions in T.S. Eliot's landmark poem.
Thank you to the Patreon supporters who joined us as we navigated this tricksy poem. Find out how to join us for bonus recordings at patreon.com/overduepod.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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August Wilson wrote a whole bunch of plays, all of which contain dialogue and take place at certain points in history. He's most notable for his Pittsburgh aka Century Cycle, so we decided to talk about one of the standouts: Fences.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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The first of four books in the Circle of Magic series, Sandry's Book feels a bit less self-contained than first-books-in-a-series normally do. You'll meet likable and well-drawn characters, but be prepared to finish the series if you want a more satisfying story.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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The inspiration for the hit trilogy of DreamWorks films isratherdifferent than you might expect. It's still about a boy named Hiccup and his dragon Toothless, but the original has more burping, farting, and Dragonese than the films dared to show -- which is odd because those are the guys what made Shrek.
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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The thrilling conclusion to the Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest continues most of the plot threads introduced in the previous book. If you thought that The Girl Who Played With Fire was lacking in secondary and tertiary characters, boy have we got good news for you!
Our theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.
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This award-winning novel by a real writer's writer has elicited a broad range of responses, with some folks praising the prose and structure and others bouncing off its characters and style. But maybe that range of reactions was inevitable given the way Trust Exercise explores the slipperiness of memory and narrative.
Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis.
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Is The Winter's Tale a tragicomedy? A dramedy? A romance? A problem play? Who knows! But we can say for certain it's a play about a king who gets jealous and makes bad decisions. Also a bear eats someone.
Our theme music was composed byNick Lerangis.
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