Beyond Shakespeare

Spoilers: The Life and Death of Jack Straw (Act 2, Scene 1) GOOSE ALERT - GOOSE ALERT Jack Straw is not a long play, but that won't stop us going into ridiculous amounts of detail about it. Act 2, scene 1 is the scene everyone remembers. There isn't enough time in the world to discuss the moral complexity of this deeply intellectual scene. Okay, it's a bit of Pantomime business - but it's great and does tie in (vaguely) with the plot, whilst also giving the audience a bit of light relief. The scene is illustrated via a rough cut of our soon to be released full cast audio adaptation - which languishes in the edit as we post this. The rough cut of Act 2 scene 1 to The Life and Death of Jack Straw is performed by Hugh Weller-Poley and is introduced by your host Robert Crighton. BE WARNED - If you just want to listen to the play as a play, don't listen to the spoilers episodes. Come back later, or don't listen. However, if you find early drama hard to follow, then you will get a good grounding in the action he

Exploring the Chester Mystery Cycle - Play 20 (The Ascension) From our Exploring workshop, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show. We're almost done with the past, for soon we'll be into the future!  This is the Taylors play of the Ascension, where Jesus... ascends. There's a big visual/musical element to this play which we just can't do justice - and there's special effects which get... urm... messy. Let's just say, this play features injury detail. The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon, and Alan Scott – with host, Robert Crighton. There are more versions of the Chester plays than you can shake a stick at - (actually there are eight) - so any text you use to follow will probably be a bit different to ours (for the sticklers, our base text was H, except for play five, where it was just easier to go for a group text (D-or Hm, A, R, B) composite - though some readings may have been borrowed from all). Howeve

Discussing: T is for Tarlton - Early Modern Celebrity with Sophie Shorland. This episode is a discussion with Sophie Shorland about Early Modern Celebrity - specifically looking at Sir Philip Sidney, Moll Cutpurse and - mostly - Richard Tarlton. We look at stories of his life, the myths and half truths, and are introduced to his animal avatar. With recordings of our workshops on Tarlton's Jests - with Leigh MacDonald, Mark Scanlon and Hugh Weller-Poley. We spend much time going over the story of Bankes his horse - of which there is much more to be said in the future. Sophie is an Early Career Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick. She is currently working on celebrity culture in the late Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, exploring what celebrity looked like before the newspaper. She has published in Renaissance Studies, Early Modern Literary Studies, and is currently editing a special issue of the journal Exchanges on metaphorical and literal cannibalisms. Her other research inter

Spoilers: The Life and Death of Jack Straw (Act 1, Scene 4) Jack Straw is not a long play, but that won't stop us going into ridiculous amounts of detail about it. Act 1, scene 4 sees the crown get it together with this whole rebel alliance thing. Enter the royal family to the various lords we've already met. Something, at last, is going to be done. The scene is illustrated via a rough cut of our soon to be released full cast audio adaptation - which languishes in the edit as we post this. The rough cut of Act 1 scene 4 to The Life and Death of Jack Straw is performed by Gillian Horgan as the Queen Mother, Heydn McCabe as The Treasurer, Pamela Flanagan as the Usher, Adam Thurkettle as the Bishop, Geir Madland as Sir John Morton, and Nemonee Stone as Richard II.  Introduced by your host Robert Crighton. BE WARNED - If you just want to listen to the play as a play, don't listen to the spoilers episodes. Come back later, or don't listen. However, if you find early drama hard to follow, then you will get a goo

Exploring: Love Feigned and Unfeigned (A Fragmentary play c.1540 and 1560) Another fragment - and it's a not so short fragment, a couple hundred lines - and it's a play dancing around ideas of conditional and unconditional love (to God, to your friends, etc...) as well as the motivations of deceit and the pretence of friendship. There's more to mine from this than this recording suggests, it was at the end of a session, we were a bit short and cynical about it - but it's, as ever, a start... there is room to create a framework to fit this within as part of a future entertainment. You can follow the text by following a link in the notes - I've only found one published edition in the depths of Archive.org, but other publications may be available. https://archive.org/details/collections01malouoft/page/n11 The Irregulars were Liz Cole, Alan Scott, Mark Scanlon and Richard Fawcett with host Robert Crighton. The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays

Discussing: Volpone by Ben Jonson Host Robert Crighton discusses with Charlie Day of Fresh Life Theatre Company their production of Ben Jonson's play Volpone. The show is coming to Bath in October 2019, and there is a kickstarter campaign to help get it on - support them and their work via the links below. And if you'd like to listen to the prologue to the play - it can be heard here. Support this podcast by going to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare, or follow us @BeyondShakes on Twitter, or visit our website www.beyondshakespeare.org You can find Fresh Life on Twitter @freshlifetheatr or at their website https://www.freshlifetheatre.co.uk/index.html Tickets for the show can be found here - https://bathboxoffice.org.uk/whatson/volpone/ And the kickstarter can be found here - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/volponeflt/volpone

Spoilers: The Life and Death of Jack Straw (Act 1, Scene 3) Jack Straw is not a long play, but that won't stop us going into ridiculous amounts of detail about it. Act 1, scene 3 returns us to the midst of the rebels - and they've been doing a little bit of looting, and have raided at least one castle. The scene is illustrated via a rough cut of our soon to be released full cast audio adaptation - which languishes in the edit as we post this. The rough cut of Act 1 scene 3 to The Life and Death of Jack Straw is performed by Pollie Hall as Jack Straw, Leigh McDonald as Wat Tyler, Hugh Weller-Poley as Tom Miller, Andy Barrett as Hob Carter, Sarah Golding as Nobs. Introduced by your host Robert Crighton. BE WARNED - If you just want to listen to the play as a play, don't listen to the spoilers episodes. Come back later, or don't listen. However, if you find early drama hard to follow, then you will get a good grounding in the action here - especially as we may make changes or cuts for our final version! The pla

Exploring the Chester Mystery Cycle - Play 19 (Lucas and Cleophas & Doubting Thomas) From our Exploring workshop, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show. We're into the home straight now, with the appearance of Jesus to various disciples. The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon, and Alan Scott – with host, Robert Crighton. There are more versions of the Chester plays than you can shake a stick at - (actually there are eight) - so any text you use to follow will probably be a bit different to ours (for the sticklers, our base text was H, except for play five, where it was just easier to go for a group text (D-or Hm, A, R, B) composite - though some readings may have been borrowed from all). However, you don't necessarily need to worry about such things, so here's a nice friendly modern spelling version we found online. http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/plspls/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/index.html The Bey

Antonio and Mellida by John Marston (Epilogue) - Epic Epilogues Performances of the epilogue to Antonio and Mellida by John Marston - a piece of action that will one day be used as a bit of ammunition in the War of the Theatres - because Ben Jonson will steal the image presented here and use it against Marston. Another epilogue to listen to is The Poetaster - it's really fun - though a brief extract featuring Rob Myson is included here. The epilogue is performed (four times, each different!) by Fiona Thraille - a British voice actor, narrator and audio producer who has worked in voiceover, podcasts, and who has narrated and produced over a dozen audiobooks through Audible. She is the founder and producer of Dashing Onions Audio - an audio drama podcast, was co-host and producer of the Audio Drama Production Podcast for a year, and has given lectures and presentations on aspects of audio drama podcast creation. If you'd like to make us to do a full audio production of this play, join us on patreon and choose t

Spoilers: The Life and Death of Jack Straw (Act 1, Scene 2) Jack Straw is not a long play, but that won't stop us going into ridiculous amounts of detail about it. Act 1, scene 2 sees the first reaction to the revolt, and the introduction to some... short lived characters. The scene is illustrated via a rough cut of our soon to be released full cast audio adaptation - which languishes in the edit as we post this. The rough cut of Act 1 scene 2 to The Life and Death of Jack Straw is performed by Heydn McCabe as The Treasurer, Adam Thurkettle as the Archbishop and Simon Nader as the Secretary. The Messenger was played by Alan Scott. Introduced by your host Robert Crighton. BE WARNED - If you just want to listen to the play as a play, don't listen to the spoilers episodes. Come back later, or don't listen. However, if you find early drama hard to follow, then you will get a good grounding in the action here - especially as we may make changes or cuts for our final version! The plain text version is rough in hew

Exploring: John the Evangelist - 1520-57 (printed c.1550) From our Exploring workshop, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show. John the Evangelist is a strange beast, with little in the way of plot it's a series of scenes orbiting the preaching of the titular character. Whilst it's fair to say we didn't warm to the dialogue, the dramaturgy of the play really sparked an interest. There's more to this play than meets the eye.  The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode are Richard Fawcett, Maria Walker and Mark Scanlon, with your host Robert Crighton. You can follow the text via this link - your thoughts and comments are welcome. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45805/45805-h/45805-h.htm The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare or follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or even go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org

God's Promises by John Bale - an omnibus edition of our plain text version. No frills, just the text, all in one episode.  This version was started over six years ago and reflects the evolving working practice of our producers.  One day, we will go back... one day. Online editions of the play are available - here's one, others can and should be searched for. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19481/19481-h/19481-h.htm God's Promises by John Bale - features Annie Eddington as the Prologue, narrator and epilogue; Simon Nader as Adam, Alan Scott as Noah, Geir Madland as Abraham, Rob Myson as Moses, Heydn McCabe as King David, Mark Holtom as Esaias, Cecil Qadir as John the Baptist and Robert Crighton as God. Support the podcast by going to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare and pledge something – or by leaving a review on itunes or whichever podcasting service you use. Or follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or check out our website at www.beyondshakespeare.org - you can even email us if you feel so inclined - admin@be

Spoilers: The Life and Death of Jack Straw (Act 1, Scene 1) Jack Straw is not a long play, but that won't stop us going into ridiculous amounts of detail about it. Act 1, scene 1 sees the beginning of the revolt, and the introduction to a lot of characters. The scene is illustrated via a rough cut of our soon to be released full cast audio adaptation - which languishes in the edit as we post this. The rough cut of Act 1 scene 1 to The Life and Death of Jack Straw is performed by Pollie Hall as Jack Straw, Leigh McDonald as Wat Tyler, Rob Myson as Parson Ball, Hugh Weller-Poley as Tom Miller, Sarah Golding as Nobs, with your host and tax collector Robert Crighton. BE WARNED - If you just want to listen to the play as a play, don't listen to the spoilers episodes. Come back later, or don't listen. However, if you find early drama hard to follow, then you will get a good grounding in the action here - especially as we may make changes or cuts for our final version! The plain text version is rough in hew, it wil

Exploring the Chester Mystery Cycle - Play 18 (The Resurrection) From our Exploring workshop, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show. We're into the home straight now, with the Resurrection play - guarding of the tomb goes bad for the knights, and the disciples get a surprise visitor. The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon, and Alan Scott – with host, Robert Crighton. There are more versions of the Chester plays than you can shake a stick at - (actually there are eight) - so any text you use to follow will probably be a bit different to ours (for the sticklers, our base text was H, except for play five, where it was just easier to go for a group text (D-or Hm, A, R, B) composite - though some readings may have been borrowed from all). However, you don't necessarily need to worry about such things, so here's a nice friendly modern spelling version we found online. http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/plspls/wp-co

Spoilers: Gammer Gurton's Needle (Act 5) Welcome to this spoilery introduction to the play Gammer Gurton's Needle by Mr S. We present a run down of the action, with commentary and clips, followed by a plain text recording of material in the edit for the final full cast audio adaptation (coming soon!) It's Act Five (feel free to go back to the beginning if you want to work chronologically), in which the injured Doctor Rat brings in the LAW, i.e. Baily, whose presence allows all Diccon's lies to come tumbling out.  The plain text version is performed by Heydn McCabe as Diccon the Bedlam, Geir Madland as Hodge, Pamela Flanagan as Dame Chat, Rob Myson as Doctor Rat and Sarah Golding as Gammer Gurton. The host is Robert Crighton, who is filling in the part of Baily for this episode - it will be different in the final cut. BE WARNED - If you just want to listen to the play as a play, don't listen to the spoilers episodes. Come back later, or don't listen. However, if you find early drama hard to follow, then yo

Exploring the Chester Mystery Cycle - Play 17 (The Harrowing of Hell) From our Exploring workshop, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show. Some really interesting features to this play - it's not all harrowing action, there's some really interesting additional comic business as well. The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon, and Alan Scott – with host, Robert Crighton. There are more versions of the Chester plays than you can shake a stick at - (actually there are eight) - so any text you use to follow will probably be a bit different to ours (for the sticklers, our base text was H, except for play five, where it was just easier to go for a group text (D-or Hm, A, R, B) composite - though some readings may have been borrowed from all). However, you don't necessarily need to worry about such things, so here's a nice friendly modern spelling version we found online. http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/plspls/wp-con

The Malcontent by John Marston (Epilogue) - Epic Epilogues Performances of the epilogue to The Malcontent by John Marston - an act of fascinating arse licking to a one time enemy, Ben Jonson. This epilogue is best heard with the War of the Theatres in mind - because it is related to an earlier public spat with Jonson and others. Other epilogues to listen to are Cynthia's Revels and The Poetaster - they're rather fun - though brief extracts are included here. The epilogue is performed by Fiona Thraille - a British voice actor, narrator and audio producer who has worked in voiceover, podcasts, and who has narrated and produced over a dozen audiobooks through Audible. She is the founder and producer of Dashing Onions Audio - an audio drama podcast, was co-host and producer of the Audio Drama Production Podcast for a year, and has given lectures and presentations on aspects of audio drama podcast creation. If you'd like to make us to do a full audio production of this play, join us on patreon and choose this pla

Spoilers: Gammer Gurton's Needle (Act 4) Welcome to this spoilery introduction to the play Gammer Gurton's Needle by Mr S. We present a run down of the action, with commentary and clips, followed by a plain text recording of material in the edit for the final full cast audio adaptation (coming soon!) It's Act Four (feel free to go back to the beginning if you want to work chronologically), in which Gammer calls in the local parson Doctor Rat - but he is soon dealt with by the cunning of Diccon. The plain text version is performed by Heydn McCabe as Diccon the Bedlam, Geir Madland as Hodge, Pamela Flanagan as Dame Chat, and Sarah Golding as Gammer Gurton. And introducing Rob Myson as Doctor Rat. The host is Robert Crighton. BE WARNED - If you just want to listen to the play as a play, don't listen to the spoilers episodes. Come back later, or don't listen. However, if you find early drama hard to follow, then you will get a good grounding in the action here - especially as we may make changes or cuts for o

Exploring the Chester Mystery Cycle - Play 16a (The Crucifixion) From our Exploring workshop, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show. This is play 16a (preceded, to be confusing, by play 16) of the Crucifixion. Some violence and abusive language. The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon, and Alan Scott – with host, Robert Crighton. There are more versions of the Chester plays than you can shake a stick at - (actually there are eight) - so any text you use to follow will probably be a bit different to ours (for the sticklers, our base text was H, except for play five, where it was just easier to go for a group text (D-or Hm, A, R, B) composite - though some readings may have been borrowed from all). However, you don't necessarily need to worry about such things, so here's a nice friendly modern spelling version we found online. http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/plspls/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/index.html The

The Cambridge Prologue (Fragment) An initial look at the Cambridge Prologue, a 13th Century survival of a lost play, which comes in two flavours - French and English. We focused on the English, performed by Gillian Horgan, who recorded three takes of our version of the text, mixed in with our exploring session looking into the original. More to come on this fascinating survival. The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode are Liz Cole and Alan Scott and your host Robert Crighton. The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare or follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or even go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org