Beyond Shakespeare

NB: This episode has been produced with some speed, so it's not as tidy a recording as per usual. Welcome to this pop up episode, chatting with Katie Blackwell and Anna Tolputt of Creation Theatre - who're producing Jonson's Alchemist this October - Tickets on sale now! We chat with Katie about Creation itself, and with show director Anna about the production. In Oxford now (at time of posting) ti...

Live show this Sunday! A quick reminder that we have a live streamed audio adaptation of Occupation and Idleness on Sunday 22nd October at 2.30pm We’re recording a bunch of new stuff across the day, and then in the afternoon we’re live streaming a full run of Occupation and Idleness by the Unknown, plus a bonus mini sketch, Preist the Barber. Occupation and Idleness is the first surviving true int...

Welcome to another fragment - known as Detraction, or An Interlude of Detraction, or Light Judgement, Verity and Justice – by the more literal of title givers. We have no idea what the title actually is. It was printed around 1550, and could date between 1533 and the break with Rome and 1553, when Edward VI popped his clogs. So 1550ish. Detraction was played by Simon Nader, Light Judgement by Rob...

More !Spoilers! from The Tragedy of Antony as translated by Mary Sidney from the play by Robert Garnier. This fifth and final !Spoilers! episode works through Act 5, followed by a plain text recording of the Act. The full cast audio adaptation will drop IN TWO WEEKS! . With Pamela Flanagan as Cleopatra, Sarah Golding as Eras, Leigh McDonald as Charmion, Richard Fawcett as Euphron and Gillian Horga...

This is a discussion on boys companies, who popped in and out of the public consciousness in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Dr Harry R. McCarthy has written about boys companies in the period, as well as their recreation today, so was an excellent guest to chat about the trends of the boys company world. Dr Harry R. McCarthy is Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at Exeter, and has publis...

The Jests of George Peele - Episode 11: A Jest of George, riding to Oxford. 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...

More !Spoilers! from The Tragedy of Antony as translated by Mary Sidney from the play by Robert Garnier. This fourth !Spoilers! episode, works through Act 4, followed by a plain text recording of the Act. The full cast audio adaptation will drop later in the year. With Simon Nader as Caesar, and Hugh Weller-Poley as Agrippa, Rob Myson as Dircetus/Lucilius and Geir Madland as the chorus. If you're...

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.ticket...

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...

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 migh...

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...

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: Cl...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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 - jo...

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 b...

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 Lo...

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 contemp...

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 th...

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 F...

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. Th...

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 Wat...

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, Wil...