Beyond Shakespeare

It's that time again - tell us what plays you want to hear us produce!  Also on this episode - up and coming episodes of the podcast! Anyone can vote, though not all votes are equal. Priority does go to our wonderful patrons and one off supporters, so, if you can, do vote and pledge something to keep the lights on and make new shows happen. VOTE HERE: https://forms.gle/PeUzadzTBEsYnrsB9 Join our p...

A read through and discussion of Wily Beguiled by the Unknown (there are theories, but they don't help) printed in 1606 and could have been produced from around 1601 onwards. It's really difficult to tell who produced the play originally, the text pushes us in contradictory directions. This is a session that normally would live on the YouTube channel, but the first session was such a disaster it c...

A read through and discussion of Wily Beguiled by the Unknown (there are theories, but they don't help) printed in 1606 and could have been produced from around 1601 onwards. It's really difficult to tell who produced the play originally, the text pushes us in contradictory directions. This is a session that normally would live on the YouTube channel, but there were a massive number of cock-ups wh...

A series of podcasts looking at plays we'd like to see, where we and guests pitch a Fantasy Production. With much merriment and chat, we explore different media, different approaches and a different play each session. Each play has been covered on our YouTube channel, or on the podcast, so you can dig deeper into the text if you'd like. Regular segments include - Cocktail Minute (a play themed coc...

Chess Pieces: Exploring A Game at Chess by Thomas Middleton A planning session for our future productions of A Game at Chess by Middleton. We focus on the second half of the play with the scenes between the White Queen's Pawn and the Black Queen's Pawn. Here the play goes in a slightly odd direction, which opens questions of how far does adaptation go. With Gregory Musson as Black Bishop's Pawn; L...

The Brome Abraham and Isaac Play (Full Cast Audio Adaptation) Abraham receives an order from God to sacrifice his favourite son Isaac. Will he go through with it?  Content Warning: Attempted infanticide. It's HEAVY stuff.  If you'd like to get a more detailed look at the text of the play and possible meanings, then go to our !Spoilers! episode - https://audioboom.com/posts/8087109-spoilers-brome-a...

A read through and discussion of The Play of Wit and Science, as seen on our YouTube exploring sessions in another of our occasional cross over episodes. Performed around 1544ish. Opinions vary. Late in the reign of Henry the Eighth will do. The play is missing the first few pages, but what can you do. This is the first of three plays that riff on the same material. They have annoyingly similar bu...

It's the first of two episodes on the Brome Abraham and Isaac play, witnessed from somewhere in the late 15th century. This is a !Spoilers! session, working through the rough cut of the play - with the plain text recording at the end. Full cast audio edit to follow shortly! Content Warning: If you don't know the story, it's about attempted infanticide. It's HEAVY stuff.  BE WARNED - If you just wa...

A read through and discussion of Godly Queen Hester, as seen on our YouTube exploring sessions in another of our occasional cross over episodes. Performed in the 1520's - possibly 1529. With Eric Karoulla as Third Gentleman, Hardydardy; Alan Scott as Mardocheus; Elizabeth Amisu as Pursuivant/s, Adulation, Arbona; Daniel Yabut as Aman; Lynn Freitas as First Gentleman, Ambition, First Jew; Helen Goo...

A Full Cast Audio Adaptation of Dame Sirith, written somewhere in the 13th century. There is a !Spoilers! episode that works through the play text in detail, and you might want to go back there before starting this on, it is a tricky text. !SPOILERS! can be found here - https://audioboom.com/posts/8075104-spoilers-dame-sirith In Dame Sirith: Mark Scanlon was the Narrator, Gillian Horgan - Margery,...

It's the first of two episodes on Dame Sirith from somewhere in the 13th century. This is a !Spoilers! session, working through the rough cut of the play - also with an Exploring session at the end. It's a massive episode, the follow up full cast audio adaptation will be a lot shorter. The cast for the plain text of Dame Sirith are - Mark Scanlon as the Narrator, Gillian Horgan as Margery, Seb Ran...

A special surprise discussing episode, hot off the press - here is a discussion with Jasmine Silk of the upcoming production of Mariam from Cutpurse Theatre Company - which is super exciting. If you can support the show, go along or pop something in their kickstarter appeal. Twitter @cutpursetheatre Buy Tickets 27th to 28th April (Evenings) and 30th April to 1st May (matinees and evenings) 2022 -...

A read through and discussion of Christ's Resurrection, as seen on our YouTube exploring sessions in another of our occasional cross over episodes. The play comes from the Digby manuscript - a collection of late medieval/early Tudor drama, this text dating to the first quarter of the 16th century, around 1520ish. This play is supposed to be played on Easter Day, following Christ's Burial which was...

A read through and discussion of Christ's Burial, as seen on our YouTube exploring sessions in another of our occasional cross over episodes. The play comes from the Digby manuscript - a collection of late medieval/early Tudor drama, this text dating to the first quarter of the 16th century, around 1520ish. This play is supposed to be played in the afternoon of Good Friday, hence our dropping it h...

Chess Pieces: Exploring A Game at Chess by Thomas Middleton A planning session for our future productions of A Game at Chess by Middleton. We open with sections of Act Two, Scene Two and Act Three, Scene One - wrestling with the introduction of the Fat Bishop. There are fewer structural adaptive questions to solve in this scene, but it contains material that might help with issues we had adapting...

A series of podcasts looking at plays we'd like to see, where we and guests pitch a Fantasy Production. With much merriment and chat, we explore different media, different approaches and a different play each session. Each play has been covered on our YouTube channel, or on the podcast, so you can dig deeper into the text if you'd like. Regular segments include - Cocktail Minute (a play themed coc...

A read through and discussion of The Conversion of St Paul, as seen on our YouTube exploring sessions in another of our occasional cross over episodes. The play comes from the Digby manuscript - a collection of late medieval/early Tudor drama, this text dating to the first quarter of the 16th century. There's a bit of a rotation of readers as we played through the text, but it features Gregory Mus...

Fragments: Temperance and Humility by the Unknown - from the press of Wynkyn de Worde around the 1520's/30's. It might be linked to another fragmentary play The Four Cardinal Virtues - more on that later in the year. In the fragment known as Temperance and Humility by the Unknown - Pamela Flanagan was Temperance, Gillian Horgan - Disobedience, and Leigh McDonald - Humility.  The host was Robert Cr...

A read through and discussion of Bosworth Field, a narrative poem by Sir John Beaumont published posthumously in 1629, telling the events of the battle of Bosworth in 1485. The poem isn't split into parts, and some of the splits are inexact, but roughly the readers were Eric Karoulla as Henry VI, Brakenbury, Ferrers, Talbot, Bourchier, Clifton; Liza Graham  as Norfolk, Stanley, Richmond, Percy, Su...

A read through and discussion of Calisto and Melebea, from the press of John Rastell Another in our occasional series of cross overs with our YouTube channel, this is a Second Look read through and discussion of Calisto and Melebea, coming from the printing press of John Rastell around 1525. It's an adaptation of a Spanish book/play Celestina, later published in English as The Spanish Bawd. This i...

Chess Pieces: Exploring A Game at Chess by Thomas Middleton A planning session for our future productions of A Game at Chess by Middleton. We open Act Two, Scene One - CW: It features an attempted sexual assault. There are fewer structural adaptive questions to solve in this scene, but it contains material that might help with issues we had adapting Act 1. With Eric Karoulla, Liza Graham, Lynsey B...

Another in our occasional series of cross overs with our YouTube channel, this is a Second Look read through and discussion of The Four Elements by John Rastell, a fragmentary play from around 1519. This is our first take, recorded in 2021, returning to the play after a year or so, as prep for a more detailed run - the video of which can be watched here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlkGUCoxIwQ...

A series of podcasts looking at plays we'd like to see, where we and guests pitch a Fantasy Production. With much merriment and chat, we explore different media, different approaches and a different play each session. Each play has been covered on our YouTube channel, or on the podcast, so you can dig deeper into the text if you'd like. Regular segments include - Cocktail Minute (a play themed coc...

A simultaneous release with our YouTube channel, this is a Second Look read through and discussion of The Tragedy of Iphigeneia by Jane, Lady Lumley, written about 1553. With Eric Karoulla as Achilles; Alan Scott as Menelaus; Elizabeth Amisu as Cytemnestra; Rachael Nicole as Iphigeneia; Sarah Blake as Agamemnon; Helen Good as Nuncius; Lynn Freitas as Senex. The host was Robert Crighton who also re...

Fragments: The Prodigal Son by the Unknown - from the press of William Rastell, possibly around 1530. It's a return to full cast audio production this year, with this short fragment of The Prodigal Son plus introductory exposition.  CW: The text plays with misogynistic ideas of the shrewish wife, and there is an unfortunate use of a word which has an alternative modern meaning to firewood. In the...