A podcast tracing the development of theatre from ancient Greece to the present day through the places and people who made theatre happen. More than just dates and lists of plays we'll learn about the social. political and historical context that fostered the creation of dramatic art.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
After 18 years of closure, English theatres reopened in 1660 under Charles II, leading to the creation of two patent companies. This period saw significant changes, including the introduction of actresses, movable scenery, and indoor playhouses. Shakespeare's plays formed a vital part of the repertoire but were frequently adapted by figures like William Davenant to suit the new theatrical conditions and performers. The discussion explores specific adaptations like The Tempest and Macbeth, alongside the place of other playwrights such as Ben Jonson.
Episode 170: The dating of the play The tradition of the queen Elizabeth commission The tradition of the connection to the Garter Ceremony The Question of who played Falstaff A summary of the plot The early publication history of the play in short quarto editions The sources for the play The very specific location of the play The character of Falstaff The way the dominating prose of the play is used to define characters The change in Mistress Quickly and her use of language The stereotypical com...
Episode 169 A welcome return for Kyle Thomas to the podcast where we discussed Kyle’s work on preparing three of the York Cycle plays for performance this summer in Toronto. As you will hear Kyle is part of a team that are going to perform the fifty-play cycle on the 7th June 2025 in the grounds of the University of Toronto. Link to the York Cycle Plays performed at Toronto University in June 2025: https://www.yorkplays.ca Link to Kyle’s projects: Ensemble Member: Stage Left Theatre Reviewer for...
Episode 168: Although Shakespeare's completion of the events of Henry IV’s reign is very much a continuation of the story from part one it is a play with a very different vibe. The vigour of the battle scenes and the exuberance of prince Hal and Falstaff’s relationship are replaced in part two with a more sombre and elegiac tone. The effects of old age and the passing to time hang over the play and even at its ending, where the coronation of Henry V could have been treated as a big party full of...
Episode 167 A conversation with Kyle Thomas where we discussed the long transition period between Roman theatre and medieval theatre. As you may remember from my episodes on the medieval theatre this is a very opaque period where details are few and far between. In my episodes in season three of the podcast I mostly followed the view that medieval theatre grew out of parts of the church liturgy that became dramatized as very simple, short plays. As you will hear in our conversation Kyle puts a m...
Episode 166: As with 'Richard II' 'Henry IV part 1' handles some complex English history as it examines the relationships between the King, his son and the powerful Percy family. After the deposition of Richard II Henry ruled for fourteen years until his death. Having ended 'Richard II' with Henry’s accession to the throne and Richard’s death in prison Shakespeare opens this play just a few years later, but with a vision of a tired king and a country dissatisfied with his rule. The setting for t...
Episode 165 In today’s guest episode it is a very welcome return to the podcast for Darren Freebury-Jones. Darren appeared previously to discuss his book ‘Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers’ and I asked him back on this occasion because his earlier book ‘Shakespeare’s Tutor: The Influence of Thomas Kyd’ is now published in a paperback edition by Manchester University Press, making it a much more accessible resource for any enthusiast of early modern theatre. In our conversation about the book Darre...
Episode 164 Fate, as in Romeo and Juliet, plays a large part in ‘The Merchant of Venice’, as do deep seated grudges, but these are more societal than familial. We are still in Italy, but no longer in close knit Verona, but mercantile and outward looking Venice. As Shakespeare wrote this play London was becoming orientated around increasing global trade and English trading ships were regularly making their way to Venice as a major trading hub, so perhaps it is no surprise that Venice, with its ey...
Episode 163 My background reading while preparing the episode on Romeo and Juliet took me to many stories about and thoughts on the afterlife of the play and its continuing influence on western culture, what follows is just a few stories and thoughts that illustrate that continuing influence. Verona and Juliet’s Statue Juliet’s tomb Cibber’s Juliet Franco Zeffirelli’s film for the ‘love generation’ West Side Story Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.patreon.com/thoetp...
Episode 162 In today’s episode I look at Shakespeare’s early tragedy and one of his enduringly popular plays ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The dating of the play The early printings of the play in quarto editions The origins of the story and Shakespeare’s direct sources The opening chorus Violence and the hand of fate underlying the action The opening brawl and the threat of violence to women The calming voice of women in the play Romeo as a Petrarchan hero Juliet as an innovative character who drives the...
Episode 161 In today’s guest episode I will be discussing Shakespeare’s characterisations of the lower classes and looking at the role they play with Stephen Unwin, who’s book ‘Poor Naked Wretches’ explores the variety of working people in Shakespeare's plays as well as a vast range of cultural sources from which they were drawn and argues that the robust realism of these characters makes them so much more than mere Comic Relief. Stephen Unwin is an award-winning British theatre and opera direct...
Episode 160 A synopsis of the play The sources and dating of the play The problems with a historical drama in verse The historical accuracy of the play King John as neither a hero nor anti-hero Philip the bastard as a central character in the play The theme of self-identity and changing fortune in the play Blanche as a representation of innocence manipulated Queen Eleanor as the power behind the throne Constance in grief and, maybe, madness, but eloquent Movement towards the personal in the seco...
Episode 159 For today’s guest episode we are going back to the Italian renaissance theatre and the world of the Commedia Dell’arte. You will remember that I covered the Commedia and other early Italian theatre in season five of the podcast, but in this conversation with Serena Laiena we have much more detail about a particular theatrical couple and the world of 16thcentury Italian theatre. In her book ‘The Theatre Couple in Early Modern Italy: Self-Fashioning and Mutual Marketing’ Serena looks a...
Episode 158 Picking up the journey through Shakespeare's plays with 'Richard II' A brief summary of the play The early performance history of the play The early print history of the play The variations in the quarto editions concerning the deposition scene The sources for the play The role of the play in the Essex rebellion The historical accuracy of the play The dramatic arcs travelled by Richard and Bolingbroke The political represented in the personal through the female roles The significant ...
In the fifth part of this short series of guest episodes before we get back to continuing the journey through the Shakespeare and Jonson cannon I had the chance to speak with Dr Ian McCormick about the collection of essays he edited, which pulls together recent Shakespeare criticism in the framework of woke and anti-woke culture and the culture wars of recent years. It is a wide ranging and thought provoking collection. Ian McCormick, was a Professor in the Department of English for the School o...
In the fourth part of this short series of guest episodes before we get back to continuing the journey through the Shakespeare and Jonson cannon today’s episode is a repeat of episode 32 of the podcast, first released in late 2020. Having just produced an episode on satyr play on the main podcast and another on the papyologists who rediscovered the play Trackers for the fledgling Patreon account I was very pleased to be able to talk to theatre director Jimmy Walters who have produced a revival o...
In the third part of this series of guest episodes before we get back to continuing the journey through the Shakespeare and Jonson cannon, we are going deep into the world of the renaissance period boy actors, or perhaps, as they should more properly be called, apprentice players. The habit of the period of young actors playing female roles is well known, but when I had the chance to talk to Roberta Barker about her study of apprentice players it soon became very clear that there is a lot more t...
Episode 154 As you know form last week’s episode I’m running a short series of guest episodes before we get back to continuing the journey through the Shakespeare and Jonson cannon. Today’s episode is a repeat of episode 30 of the podcast, first released in late 2020. At the time I was discussing the early theatre of Rome and with the Ancient Greek theatre already under my belt I had started to reach out to academics and authors who could add depth and colour to the research that I had been able...
Episode 153 Today’s guest episode serves as a great precursor to what is to come. The discussion that you are about to hear with Charles Mosely focusses on Shakespeare as a man of the theatre and discusses how the plays were created for and affected by the Theatre, the Audience and the conventions of the time. And that brief description does not do this wide ranging and detailed discussion any sort of justice. I think all of the thoughts that Charles discusses are well worth holding I mind as we...
Episode 152 Following on from my thoughts on A Midsummer Night’s Dream last time I’m very pleased to welcome back Rachel Aanstad to the podcast for further thoughts on the play. You may remember from our previous conversation about Twelfth Night that Rachel has devoted a lifetime to both the study and presentation of Shakespeare plays and as with Twelfth Night she has written an Illustrated Handbook and Encyclopaedia on ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. This includes a complete rendition of the play ...
Episode 151 Having finished with Ben Jonson’s biography we can now go back in time just a little to work through Shakespeare’s and Jonson’s plays in more detail. By the early 1590s was then the man of the theatrical moment, no longer the young upstart, but the proven playmaker and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ surely did nothing but enhance that reputation and it has been popular ever since. A brief synopsis of the play The dating of the play Suggested settings for the play as a wedding celebratio...
Episode 150: For this very appropriately timed guest episode, which is released on the 6th January, Rachel Aanstad kindly agreed to come on the podcast and talk about the Elizabethan twelfth night traditions and Shakespeare’s play of the same name. As you will hear our discussion became very much more wide ranging than that, as is often the way when we talk about Shakespeare. Rachel’s close study of the play came about not only because she has written on the play in her book 'A Bawdy Twelfth Nig...
Episode 149 The life story of Ben Jonson concludes with events after the publication of his first folio to his death in 1637. ‘Bartholomew Fair’, a different sort of Jonson play. The finances of the court become more problematic, and Jonson earns and spends money. The trend for ‘projectors’ and Jonson becomes involved with Sir Willian Cockayne. ‘The Devil is an Ass’ satires money making projects. Jonson is honoured by Oxford and Cambridge universities. Jonson devotes a decade to poetry and schol...
'Will, Ben and Tom at Christmas' is an affectionate pastiche, with my very best wishes to you all for Christmas and the New Year. Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.patreon.com/thoetp www.ko-fi.com/thoetp Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Episode 148: The life of Ben Jonson continues after he is released from prison after the publication of 'Eastward Ho!' Jonson’s possible involvement in the gunpowder plot and it’s aftermath. Jonson writes a masque for the marriage of Frances Howard and Robert Devereaux. Jonson defends his religious position in the face of recusancy fines. ‘Volpone’ is performed at The Globe as Jonson continues to produce masques. ‘Epicene or the Silent Woman’ is performed at the Whitefriars Theatre. ‘The Alchemi...
One of the generally accepted facts about theatre in the time of Shakespeare and Jonson is that boy actors took female roles and women were banned from appearing on the stage. This is in fact only partly true and my guest for today’s episode has made a study of how early modern actresses, from traditions on the European continent, influenced the English stage. During out conversation we covered aspects of European theatre from the early 1500’s, and Commedia Dell’arte in particular. You will find...
Episode 146: The banning of printed satire. ‘Every Man Out of His Humour’ is produced by The Lord Chamberlin’s Men. ‘Cynthia’s Revels’ is performed at court but is not well received. ‘Poetester’ is performed at the Blackfriars and sparks ‘the war of the poets’ with Dekker and Marston. ‘Sejanus: His Fall’ fails to impress. Jonson cultivates friendships with nobility close to the Stuart dynasty. The death of Elizabeth. Entertainments for the arrival of Queen Anne in England. Jonson’s contribution ...
Episode 145: Continuing the story of Ben Jonson’s life from the point where just as he starts to make his mark in the theatre scene everything goes very badly wrong for him. ‘The Isle of Dogs’ at the Swan Theatre The closure of the London Theatres Jonson in prison How the London theatres reopened The Swan and Pembroke’s Men Speculation on the content of ‘The Isle of Dogs’ Jonson’s other early work for the theatre Jonson and the Lord Chamberlin’s Men Jonson’s duel with Gabriel Spencer Jonson in p...
Episode 144: On several occasions through the story of the renaissance theatre I have touched on how the players made use of cue sheets rather than full scripts as they rehearsed and performed plays, so I was fascinated to see that there is a company of actors working today who produce plays by Shakespeare and other renaissance playwrights using cue sheets. Although we don’t have documentary evidence about exactly how they were used at the time and therefore how the rehearsal process worked, wha...
Episode 143: The second part of the life of Ben Jonson takes him from his birth, through his years at school and onto working as a bricklayer. He then briefly joined the army before returning to become a player, a poet and a playwright. Jonson’s Scottish ancestry. His father’s loss of position under queen Mary. His Stepfather Robert Brett, bricklayer. Life for the Brett/Jonson family on Christopher Lane Jonson’s education at Westminster school. Theatre at the Westminster School. The influence of...
