Beyond Shakespeare

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts Part two of our an epic (yet dinky) series looking at some fragments found in The English Treasury of Wit and Language by John Cotgrave. This is a fairly chunky opening gambit, with the preface to the book, before our usual drive by at a short bit of text. You can find a version of the text at archive.org . It's fou...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts This week you're getting another university comedy! It's A Merry Dialogue between Band, Cuff and Ruff by the Unknown. It was printed in 1615 and probably performed a year or so earlier by students at Cambridge. More of this kind of thing is on the way! Band, Cuff and Ruff is about different detailing in clothing, an...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts This month we've discussing a new book by Eleanor Rycroft and Greg Walker - Predramatic Theatre: The Radicalism of Early British Performance . It's a book that connects strongly with our practical work on early theatre, as well as engagements with ideas of the postdramatic in some of our performances. If that sounds...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts Welcome to our live stage recording of The Pardoner and the Friar by John Heywood. It's not designed as an audio adaptation, this is simply recorded from a distance on stage. However, it is hopefully of some use.  It was recorded as part of our Entertaining Henry season on Sunday 22nd June 2025 at the Quay Theatre,...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts   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. Chapter Twenty-Seven: How Doctor Faustus was asked a question concerning the Stars that fall from...

For some reason lost to history, we totally forgot to release this episode! This episode covers the epilogue to Eastward Ho! by Ben Jonson, George Chapman and John Marston - though not necessarily in that order. First Look exploring sessions to this and the other Ho! plays are available . This epilogue is performed by Fiona Thraille, the host is Robert Crighton You can also hear the prologue , or...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts Welcome to our live stage recording of Thersites attributed to Nicholas Udall, from a dialogue by Joannes Ravisius Textor. It's not designed as an audio adaptation, this is simply recorded from a distance on stage. However, it is hopefully of some use. It was recorded as part of our Entertaining Henry season on Sund...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts Today we're having a chat with Dr Carla Suthren about the play Jocasta translated by George Gascoigne, Francis Kinwelmersh and Christopher Yelverton from Ludovico Dolce's Giocasta , which was homeopathically connected to Euripides Phoenician Women . Performed around 1566, it was created by students of Gray's Inn. Dr...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts Welcome to our live stage recording of Gentleness and Nobility by John Heywood with John Rastell (though we've probably cut most Rastell from this edit). It's not designed as an audio adaptation, this is simply recorded from a distance on stage. However, it is a fairly complete recording and hopefully of some use. I...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts   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. Chapter Twenty-Six: How Faustus was asked a question concerning the Spirits that vex men. Our pat...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts And this month it's a chat about our sponsors, The Malone Society, and their work. If you're a free subscriber to our Patreon then you can be entered into our monthly giveaway of a free Malone Society edition each month! The Malone Society publishes editions of early printed and manuscript texts of plays, plus colle...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts Welcome to our live stage recording of The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness by John Bale. It's not designed as an audio adaptation, this is simply recorded from a distance on stage. However, it is a fairly complete recording and hopefully of some use. It was recorded as part of our Entertaining Henry season on...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts And this week it's a chat about one of our favourite plays with Isobel Strevens - Tancred and Gismunda by... well, a lot of people. We're oddly fascinated by this very bloody play - BUT do read the content warning below. And there are a lot of spoilers, if you've not encountered the play before. Exploring playlist f...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts Welcome to our live stage recording of The World and the Child, or Mundus et Infans by the Unknown. It's not designed as an audio adaptation, this is simply recorded from a distance on stage. However, it is a fairly complete recording and hopefully of some use. It was recorded as part of our Entertaining Henry seaso...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts   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. Chapter Twenty-Five:   A question put forth to Doctor Faustus concerning the stars.   Our patrons...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts It's the first of an epic (yet dinky) 18 part series looking at some fragments found in The English Treasury of Wit and Language by John Cotgrave. This is a fairly chunky opening gambit, with the preface to the book, before our usual drive by at a short bit of text. You can find a version of the text at archive.org...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts This is a simpler live mix of the show, with a few edits and some additional sound effects, but without the addition of too much soundscaping. This was partly a response to the recording I had in play, but also it meant I could clear it a bit sooner. Content warnings below. Recorded live at the White Bear Theatre on...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts Welcome to this chat with Dr Andrea Smith, author of Sh********e on the Radio: A Century of BBC Plays, where we discuss elements of her book and dance more generally about the challenges in producing audio drama, radio drama, and adapting the early modern stage for sound. We had a lot of fun chatting, and I hope you...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts This is hot off the press this week, as it's a quick chat about an upcoming production of Edward II by Christopher Marlowe, performing at the Brockley Jack and produced by Alex Pearson Productions in association with Glass Splinters. This chat is with Natalie Harper and Alex Pearson. Tickets can be bought here! http...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts 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. Chapter Twenty-Four: Of a certain comet that appeared in Germany, and how Doctor Faustus was desire...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts And Scene! This is random scene from James the Fourth by Robert Greene, recorded live at our Revels season on Thursday 14th December 2023. Enter a Lawyer, a Merchant, and a Divine, to ask questions of current affairs – current affairs of the world of the play, and presumably of around 1590, when Greene wrote the pla...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts Welcome to our live stage recording of The Interlude of Youth by the Unknown. It's not designed as an audio adaptation, this is simply recorded from a distance on stage. However, it is a fairly complete recording and hopefully of some use. It was recorded as part of our Entertaining Henry season on Friday 20th June...

  Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts This is a chat with Dr Jeff S. Dailey who produced the play The Interlude of Youth (1513) in New York in August 2025. As we also produced the play in the summer of 2025, we had a good natter about the challenges of making this play work. We're in the middle of archiving our work on the play and the rest of the Ent...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts Play of the Saxons by the Unknown - a fragment of probably not dialogue from a probably lost play. It is perhaps more accurately described as an heckling incident. This fragment can be found in the REED Bristol volume, and on the Lost Plays Database . If you’d like more on the Wine Street Theatre there is Callan Dav...

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts 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. This was a tricky episode to record, as I had made a decision to use a specific version of the text...