Beyond Shakespeare

The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus , is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Twelve: The second question put forth by Doctor Faustus to his spirit, what kingdoms there are in hell, how many, and what were the rulers names?...

It's our Spoilers breakdown of The Old Wives' Tale by George Peele - the full edit of our full cast audio adaptation is on the patreon feed now, and joining the pod in time for Christmas! This !Spoilers! episode is written and hosted by Robert Crighton. The audio used to demonstrate text in this episode is from a rough mix of the live show - technical quality is considerably lower than in the fina...

There isn't a particularly helpful title for this dialogue, it's very long - so this is a compromise of "A dialogue or communication to be had at a table between two children, gathered out of the holy scriptures, by John Bale, for his two young sons, John and Paul." It's not a particularly dramatic dialogue, but it fits in with the other evangelical texts we've been exploring. With Liza Graham and...

Our latest Discussing episode is about the online documentary, Looking for Mariam,  with Sarah Neville, Elizabeth Kolkovich, and Tamara Mahadin  You can watch the documentary online now . The full-length documentary film, the eleventh production of Lord Denney’s Players, explores The Tragedy of Mariam's history and possible futures, featuring performed scenes and interviews from experts around the...

Hello! The first round is over, and we have 85 (I think) plays in the long list. Round 2 is now open to help get us down to a short list of 12 - this is open to our patrons only - but you're in luck! You can vote for the next round as a free subscriber. Free subscribers get a monthly round up, and some early releases for our exploring sessions - and a vote for the next round! So, sign up for free,...

Welcome to this playful reconstruction of the 1623 Lord Mayor’s show by Anthony Munday and Thomas Middleton. Originally performed on the 29th October 1623, this was a massive civic event created by the city for it’s new Lord Mayor. This reconstruction was recorded live on the 400th anniversary of the show, and features Robert Crighton, as radio Host John doing the live commentary. With Liza Graham...

The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus , is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Eleven: How Doctor Faustus dreamed that he had seen hell in his sleep, and how he questioned with his spirit of matters concerning hell, with the...

Here's the second of two special crossover episodes with Emily C A Synder of the Hamlet to Hamilton podcast. It's actually second of five, but these two come as a mini set. We have been dancing through texts from the medieval up to the reign of Elizabeth on their podcast, and now we're doing the same over on ours - with the 1560's. It's a case of thinking aloud, and seeing what comes up. We're mid...

Hello! It's that time again when we ask, WHAT DO YOU WANT? This first vote is open to everyone and will create our long list for the next round... your voice matters. Round 1 Voting Form - VOTE NOW ! Looking for plays to vote for? Look at our Timelines menu on the website - https://beyondshakespeare.org/ The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to ch...

It's another exciting episode of Epic Epilogues, this time we're looking at Cambyses by Thomas Preston. We've done a fair amount on this one, with first and second look runs on the YouTube , and, of course this. The epilogue is performed (a few times) by Fiona Thraille - a British voice actor, narrator and audio producer who has worked in voiceover, podcasts, and who has narrated and produced over...

It's the full cast audio adaptation of The Conceited Pedlar by Thomas Randolph - there is a !Spoilers! episode with the full text, and this is largely the same, just with a bit more work on the audio and some trims. I have framed this version as an audition, so the jokes are allowed to die everywhere. One day we will have a go with an audience. In The Conceited Pedlar by Thomas Randolph The Pedlar...

The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus , is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Ten: Questions put forth by Doctor Faustus unto his spirit Mephostophiles.   Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the t...

This week it's another chat with Dr Darren Freebury-Jones about... a lot of playwrights. This chat most stays within the Elizabethan world of dramatists, inspired by Dr Jones book Sxxxxxxxxx's Borrowed Feathers, which will be available in October 2024. So there's a lot about Marlowe, Lyly, Kyd, Greene and Peele, and then we ran out of time. Our previous chat on Robert Greene is available here - ht...

This is the quick look at the epilogue to The Coxcomb by John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont - originally written around 1608-12, but revised later. Whether this epilogue is from the team is unknown, this might be a later addition, as epilogues often are. The epilogue is performed (a few times) by Fiona Thraille - a British voice actor, narrator and audio producer who has worked in voiceover, podca...

A full(ish) breakdown and plain text audio of The Conceited Pedlar by Thomas Randolph, performed by Alex Scott Fairley. It's a rough commentary by Robert Crighton, and the first cut of the audio - though Robert puts his hand up to say that this episode needs work and there's a lot more to say about some of the more confusing elements of this pedlars conceits. Our patrons received this episode in M...

A Dialogue between two Shepherds, Thenot and Piers, in Praise of Astraea by Mary Sidney - this is probably a sung dialogue, but we present the dialogue as it comes. Written in the 1590's Emma Kemp - Thenot Alex Scott Fairley - Piers.  This episode was produced by Robert Crighton Our patrons received this episode in January 2024 - approx. 8 months early . The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported...

The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus , is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Nine: How Doctor Faustus would have married, and how the devil had almost killed him for it.   Our patrons also get an exploring session looking...

Here's the first of two special crossover episodes with Emily C A Synder of the Hamlet to Hamilton podcast. I say two, it's actually five, but these two come as a mini set. We have been dancing through texts from the medieval up to the reign of Elizabeth on their podcast, and now we're doing the same over on ours - with the 1560's. It's a case of thinking aloud, and seeing what comes up. Hamlet to...

March 2020, we were as a company reeling from having to cancel our first full scale live show, and had pivoted briefly to audio only live streams on YouTube. We had tried another audio platform briefly, but it had been disappointing in terms of quality. After a series of readings of The Wonderful Year, Robert did a live exploring session on Kemp's Nine Days Wonder. There were more to follow the we...

Welcome to a little teaser for an approaching crossover event. Your host Robert Crighton has been moonlighting over at the Hamlet to Hamilton Podcast, and now they're coming to visit us. To prepare for our look into verse in the 1560's, we have a little teaser of this episode covering drama during the reign of Henry the Eighth. You can listen to the full episode, and all NINE earlier episodes of t...

Welcome to this episode of Fragments, looking at Astorildo and Carrabunculo. We recorded the audio for this as part of a test live stream session, shared only with our patrons. It went reasonably well, and so I edited the runs together into this episode here. The usual fragments run at the text is followed by the original exploring style discussion.  Astorildo and Carrabunculo by the Unknown (Frag...

It's the third of three Dialogues by John Fisher - recorded in a secret London location with Liza Graham and Robert Crighton. As ever with these printed dialogues, there is the usual tension between the question as to whether they are dramatically interesting, or are tipped towards functioned as Socratic dialogue for reading alone. These were printed in 1558, at the end of the reign of one Queen (...

The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus , is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Eight: The manner how Faustus proceeded in his damnable life and of the diligent service that Mephostophiles used towards him.   Our patrons also...

It's the second of three Dialogues by John Fisher - recorded in a secret London location with Liza Graham and Robert Crighton. As ever with these printed dialogues, there is the usual tension between the question as to whether they are dramatically interesting, or are tipped towards functioned as Socratic dialogue for reading alone. These were printed in 1558, at the end of the reign of one Queen...

It's the first of three Dialogues by John Fisher - recorded in a secret London location with Liza Graham and Robert Crighton. As ever with these printed dialogues, there is the usual tension between the question as to whether they are dramatically interesting, or are tipped towards functioned as Socratic dialogue for reading alone. These were printed in 1558, at the end of the reign of one Queen (...