Beyond Shakespeare

It's discussing time - this week it's a chat about Every Man Out of His Humour by Ben Jonson, which is getting a production in a couple of weeks in Stratford-upon-Avon. The director is Dr Josh Caldicott, and we have a spoiler free and a spoilerific discussion of the play. The show is performing from 27th to 30th September at the Bear Pit Theatre - tickets can be purchased here - https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/sweet-sorrow-theatre-company/every-man-out-of-his-humour/e-xrarjk The theatre company Sweet Sorrow can be found here - https://www.sweetsorrowtc.com/our-productions Our First Look exploring sessions on the play can be found here - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLflmEwgdfKoKz_-l-i9_Shy_AfacbQ0iC&si=roFpuw_EP-TdfQ7N 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, if you'd like to, buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare Or, if you want to give us some f

More !Spoilers! from The Tragedy of Antony as translated by Mary Sidney from the play by Robert Garnier. This third !Spoilers! episode, works through Act 3, followed by a plain text recording of the Act. The full cast audio adaptation will drop later in the year. With Heydn McCabe as Mark Antony, Rob Myson as Lucilius, plus Robert Crighton and Gillian Horgan as the chorus. If you're interested in more plays by women writers from the period, why not dip into The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary - https://audioboom.com/playlists/4631219-the-tragedy-of-mariam-by-elizabeth-cary There is of course a full Tragedy of Antony playlist with all our work on the podcast to date - https://audioboom.com/playlists/4630912-the-tragedy-of-antony Our patrons received this episode in May 2023 - approx. 3 months early. 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 if you'd like to buy us a coffee at

It's time for a discussion of John Fletcher's Roman plays, with Domenico Lovascio, Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Genoa, who has written two books in this area. John Fletcher's Rome and a new edition of The False One, a play by Fletcher and Massinger. They are both excellent texts - and I wasn't paid to say that, though I did get freebies for this episode so I might be biased. Both books are available via the below links. Manchester University Press have a mailing list, and if you join that, there are discounts available I believe. https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526151636/the-false-one/ https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526157386/john-fletchers-rome/ Domenico Lovascio is Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Genoa, and he is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is the author of John Fletcher’s Rome: Questioning the Classics for the Revels Plays Companion Library and the editor of Fletcher and Massinger’s The False One for

The Jests of George Peele - Episode 10: How George Peele served half a score Citizens. Performed by Sarah Blake A full audiobook reading, performed by Sarah Blake of Sounds Curious Productions, released monthly - followed by an omnibus version. Our patrons have received early access to nearly all the episodes so far, and have exclusive access to our exploring sessions and discussion of the text - join us on the patreon to get more from the world of jest books. Music by Tom Cowell. Produced by Sounds Curious Productions for the Beyond Podcast. Sarah Blake discusses the project with Robert Crighton on the podcast here - https://audioboom.com/posts/8194838-discussing-the-jests-of-george-peele-with-sarah-blake The jests can be found variously online, though none of the ones we looked at were very tidy or void of errors - this is a fairly good option, but feel free to hunt. http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/peele1.html The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and

A quick round up of the shows we have coming up - with early bird discount tickets for our Winter Revels now online - book now to avoid disappointment. Book your Early Bird Season Tickets here! The Beyond Shakespeare Winter Revels 2023 A Season of Tragedy, History, True Crime, Literature & Comedy Tuesday: Dido, Queen of Carthage by Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe – a tragedy Wednesday: Cleopatra by Samuel Daniel – a history play Thursday: Arden of Faversham by the Unknown – a true crime thriller Friday: Beware the Cat by William Baldwin - a Gothic horror story of talking cats Saturday: The Old Wives' Tale by George Peele - the original shaggy dog story for a winter's night. Performing 12th to 16th December 2023 at The White Bear Theatre, Kennington 138 Kennington Park Rd, London SE11 4DJ Book your Early Bird Season Tickets here! Or there are two free events coming up...

More !Spoilers! from The Tragedy of Antony as translated by Mary Sidney from the play by Robert Garnier. This second !Spoilers! episode, works through the rest of Act 2 (Cleopatra's first scene), followed by a plain text recording of scenes. The full cast audio adaptation will drop later in the year. With Pamela Flanagan as Cleopatra, Sarah Golding as Eras, Leigh McDonald as Charmion, Geir Madland as Diomede and Robert Crighton and Gillian Horgan as the chorus. If you're interested in more plays by women writers from the period, why not dip into The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary - https://audioboom.com/playlists/4631219-the-tragedy-of-mariam-by-elizabeth-cary There is of course a full Tragedy of Antony playlist with all our work on the podcast to date - https://audioboom.com/playlists/4630912-the-tragedy-of-antony Our patrons received this episode in May 2023 - approx. 3 months early. The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work

We continue our series of explorations on the podcast with a deep dive into the play Arden of Faversham by the Unknown. We're looking at the final scenes, asking the question of how to adapt the text for an audio production. Which is coming to the stage for a live recording at the end of the year! The host was Robert Crighton, with Gregory Musson, Liza Graham, Desna Mackenzie, Tom Helsby and Sarah Blake. There's a First Look Exploring session of the play available on our YouTube channel, with more to come later in the year - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLflmEwgdfKoKNs8EPvSfIj1dqslTdwZdi Our patrons received this episode in April 2023, four months earlier than this release. 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 if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org,

The first !Spoilers! episode of The Tragedy of Antony as translated by Mary Sidney from the play by Robert Garnier. This first !Spoilers! episode, works through Act 1 and the opening of Act 2, followed by a plain text recording of the opening of the play. The full cast audio adaptation will drop later in the year. With Heydn McCabe as Mark Antony, Mark Scanlon as Philostratus, and Robert Crighton, Pamela Flanagan and Seb Ranson as voices in the chorus. The host was Robert Crighton If you're interested in more plays by women writers from the period, why not dip into The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary - https://audioboom.com/playlists/4631219-the-tragedy-of-mariam-by-elizabeth-cary Our patrons received this episode in April 2023 - approx. 4 months early. 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 if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - o

Welcome to this chat with Ricky Dukes of Lazarus Theatre company - discussing their upcoming production of The Changeling by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley at the Southwark Playhouse. Or is that the other way round? We hope to return to Lazarus for more as the show goes into rehearsals. Tickets and show info can be found on their website. Middleton/Rowley Exploring Sessions - September Sign Up - Come and Join Us! Links and twitter handles - https://www.lazarustheatrecompany.co.uk/ @LazarusTheatre Listen to a previous chat with Ricky Dukes and Gavin Harrington-Odedra about staging Marlowe (and other playwrights) - https://audioboom.com/posts/7068343-discussing-staging-marlowe The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Our patrons received this episode first a couple of weeks early. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you w

The Jests of George Peele - Episode 9: How George read a Play-book to a Gentleman. Performed by Sarah Blake A full audiobook reading, performed by Sarah Blake of Sounds Curious Productions, released monthly - followed by an omnibus version. Our patrons have received early access to nearly all the episodes so far, and have exclusive access to our exploring sessions and discussion of the text - join us on the patreon to get more from the world of jest books. Music by Tom Cowell. Produced by Sounds Curious Productions for the Beyond Podcast. Sarah Blake discusses the project with Robert Crighton on the podcast here - https://audioboom.com/posts/8194838-discussing-the-jests-of-george-peele-with-sarah-blake The jests can be found variously online, though none of the ones we looked at were very tidy or void of errors - this is a fairly good option, but feel free to hunt. http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/peele1.html The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you

This production of Noah's Ark - or The Newcastle Noah Play - was produced for us by Sounds Curious Productions, the same home of our continuing Jests of George Peele. There is a !Spoilers! walk through of the oddness of this particular play also available - https://audioboom.com/posts/8316679-spoilers-the-newcastle-noah-s-ark In the Newcastle Noah play: Deus was played by Deeivya Meir, the Angel by Robert Crighton, Noah by William Sutton, Uxor by Sarah Blake, and the Demon by Andre Bullock. The play was directed and produced by Sarah Blake and is a Sounds Curious Production for Beyond Shakespeare. Our patrons received this episode in March 2023 - approx. 4 months early. 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 if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us

We continue our series of explorations on the podcast with a deep dive into the play Arden of Faversham by the Unknown. We've left the first scenes of the play and are now in open waters, looking at scenes ten to thirteen, asking the question of how to adapt the text for an audio production. The host was Robert Crighton, with Alan Scott, Eric Karoulla, Emma Kemp and Sarah Blake. There's a First Look Exploring session of the play available on our YouTube channel, with more to come later in the year - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLflmEwgdfKoKNs8EPvSfIj1dqslTdwZdi Our patrons received this episode in April 2023, three months earlier than this release. 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 if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Fac

This week we continues our work on women's dramatic writing with the attributed translation of a speech from the chorus in Hercules Oetaeus, a play not by Seneca (but everyone thought it was) by Queen Elizabeth the First. It's a difficult speech in the original, and the translation is not easy to follow, but we had a go anyway. The speech is performed by Fiona Thraille, with an alternative contemporary translation by John Studley, a rough reading by Alan Scott taken from our exploring session available on YouTube. This episode, hosted and produced as ever by Robert Crighton. Our patrons received this episode in January 2023 - approx. 6 months early. 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 if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook

The Jests of George Peele - Episode 8: How George gulled a Punk, otherwise called a Croshabell Performed by Sarah Blake A full audiobook reading, performed by Sarah Blake of Sounds Curious Productions, released monthly - followed by an omnibus version. Our patrons have received early access to nearly all the episodes so far, and have exclusive access to our exploring sessions and discussion of the text - join us on the patreon to get more from the world of jest books. Music by Tom Cowell. Produced by Sounds Curious Productions for the Beyond Podcast. Sarah Blake discusses the project with Robert Crighton on the podcast here - https://audioboom.com/posts/8194838-discussing-the-jests-of-george-peele-with-sarah-blake The jests can be found variously online, though none of the ones we looked at were very tidy or void of errors - this is a fairly good option, but feel free to hunt. http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/peele1.html The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a pa

It's time for our last fragment from the pen of George Puttenham, The Wooer. This is the third of three fragments which comprise the complete dramatic works of George Puttenham, (following Gynaeocratica and Lusty London). It was originally written somewhere between 1570 and 1588, when George included some of the text as an example in his book The Art of Poesy. With Simon Nader as The Wooer and Fiona Thraille as the Nurse and other speaker - your host, as ever, Robert Crighton. Our patrons received this episode in January 2023 - approx. 6 months early. 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 if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org You can also subscr

We continue our series of explorations on the podcast with a deep dive into the play Arden of Faversham by the Unknown. We've left the first scenes of the play and are now in open waters, looking at scenes three to nine, asking the question of how to adapt the text for an audio adaptation. The host was Robert Crighton, with Gregory Musson, Eric Karoulla, Liza Graham, Tom Helsby and Sarah Blake. There's a First Look Exploring session of the play available on our YouTube channel, with more to come later in the year - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLflmEwgdfKoKNs8EPvSfIj1dqslTdwZdi Our patrons received this episode in February 2023, over four months earlier than this release. 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 if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, f

A surprise pop up minisode discussing episode as we chat with director of The Chester Mystery Cycle 2023 John Young, about the challenges of pulling together a massive community production of these plays. John Young (Romeo and Juliet and The Merry Wives of Windsor - Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, To Dream Again - Polka Theatre and Theatr Clwyd, staff director Kerry Jackson - National Theatre Watch the Trailer on YouTube - https://youtu.be/zIMxG2J0jiM Produced only once every five years, the Chester Mystery Plays tell Biblical tales of love, death, betrayal and redemption, as told by the medieval freemen and guilds of the city.  Presented in traverse with the stage running down the cathedral's central aisle, the audience will never be more than four rows from the action. The 2023 production is told in one narrative from The Creation to the Last Judgment. The script for the 2023 cycle is an adaptation, by John Young, of Edward Burns' Chester Mystery Plays, a new staging text (1987) and they will be presente

Spoilers for Noah's Ark, the Shipwrights' Ancient Play or Dirge, or The Newcastle Noah Play. A new spoilers episode for a new full cast audio adaptation of Noah's Ark, an unattached solo mystery play from Newcastle - dating around 1450/1736, depending on how accurate you think the transcription is. Produced for the podcast by Sarah Blake of Sounds Curious Productions. With Deeivya Meir as God, William Sutton as Noah, Andre Bullock as the Demon, Robert Crighton as Angel, and Sarah Blake as Noah’s wife. The host was Robert Crighton. Our patrons received this episode in February 2022 - approx. 4 months early. 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 if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our

The Jests of George Peele - Episode 7: How George gulled a Punk, otherwise called a Croshabell Performed by Sarah Blake A full audiobook reading, performed by Sarah Blake of Sounds Curious Productions, released monthly - followed by an omnibus version. Our patrons have received early access to nearly all the episodes so far, and have exclusive access to our exploring sessions and discussion of the text - join us on the patreon to get more from the world of jest books. Music by Tom Cowell. Produced by Sounds Curious Productions for the Beyond Podcast. Sarah Blake discusses the project with Robert Crighton on the podcast here - https://audioboom.com/posts/8194838-discussing-the-jests-of-george-peele-with-sarah-blake The jests can be found variously online, though none of the ones we looked at were very tidy or void of errors - this is a fairly good option, but feel free to hunt. http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/peele1.html The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a pa

It's time for another fragment from the pen of George Puttenham, Lusty London. This is the second of three fragments which comprise the complete dramatic works of George Puttenham, (following last months Gynaeocratica). It was originally written somewhere between 1570 and 1588, when George included some of the text as an example in his book The Art of Poesy. With Simon Nader and Rob Myson as Sergeants and Yeomen and Clowns - your host, as ever, Robert Crighton. Our patrons received this episode in December 2022 - approx. 5 months early. 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 if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org You can also subscribe to our You