Episodes

Episode 113: As a coda to season 5 this episode is a potted history of the life of Augustine Phillips, player in the Lord Chamberlin's Men, with the details taken from documented records. Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.ko-fi.com/thoetp www.patreon.com/thoetp This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

Episode 112: To close season five of the podcast I pick up three items I dropped in the previous narrative and then offer some concluding thoughts: Thomas Watson – the life and works of the possible co-author of ‘Arden of Faversham. Henry Chettle – the life and works of the prolific collaborator. Thomas Heywood – the life and works of a playwright now better remembered for his commentary on others rather than for his own work. Drawing some conclusions on: The public playhouses The players...

Episode 111: The true story behind 'Arden of Faversham' The plot outline of the play Is the domestic tragedy really tragedy? The main themes of the play The domestic eating of the play The low characters The role of destiny in the play Questions of authorship Other surviving domestic tragedies - 'A Warning for Faire Women' 'Two Tragedies' 'A Yorkshire Tragedy' Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.ko-fi.com/thoetp www.patr...

Episode 110: The problems of the lack of evidence about conventions and acting style. How a player learned his craft. The rhetorical or performance style of acting. Theatre as a poetic form. The rhetorical style is overtaken by a more naturalistic style. Stage sets and costume. Thomas Hayward’s thoughts on a player’s skills. Hayward on players as scholars. The impact of Iambic Pentameter. Hayward on Alleyn and Perkins playing Barabas in ‘The Jew of Malta’. The co...

Episode 109: We don't know a lot about individual players of the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage, but there are three stars of the day that we have some information about. Richard Tarlton, the Queen’s favourite comic player. Will Kempe’s origins and early career. ‘A Knack to Know a Knave’ and ‘Fools of Gotham’. Did Kempe fall out with Shakespeare? ‘Kempe’s Jig’ and last days. Edward Alleyn’s family and early life. Touring with the Earl of Worcester’s Men. Return to L...

Episode 108: The second part of the story of Thomas Dekker and his works 'Old Fortunas' - Dekker's first known play ‘The Honest Whore’, a good example of what was good and bad in Dekker’s work. ‘The Civil Wars in France’ - three parts, an introduction and a bit of a mystery. Dekker's debt to the Lord Chamberlin's Men and rescue by Henslowe. How Henslowe's Diary shows Dekker's incredible work rate. The Play of Sir Thomas Moore - including a word on Shakespeare's contribution....

Episode 107: In the first of two episodes on Thomas Dekker I discuss his earliest life and his prose works. Dekker's early life and first forays into the playhouse. His prose work 'The Wonderful Year' The Gull's Handbook - with some extensive quotes from and explanation of his piece on behaviour in the playhouse Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.ko-fi.com/thoetp www.patreon.com/thoetp This podcast uses the following third-party services f...

Episode 106: We have the detail about the way a London playhouse functioned thanks, in a large part, to one document. Theatre owner Philip Henslowe kept a record of many aspects of his enterprise at the Rose theatre from 1591 to 1609. A large part of the diary comprises of daily records of the takings at the box office, which plays were performed, if they were new or revivals, and various other details about expenses, costumes and matters related to the running of The Rose. This episode lo...

Episode 105: The life of Thomas Kyd, including a word on Elizabethan schooling. Thomas Nashe on Kyd. Kyd and the London playwright set. Kyd and Lord Strange. Questions over the first performances of ‘The Spanish Tragedy’. Is ‘The Spanish Tragedy’ a sequel? Cornelia, Kyd’s other surviving play. The Ur-Hamlet and other plays and collaborations. Kyd and Marlowe. The publication of the ‘The Spanish Tragedy’ A synopsis of ‘The Spanish Tragedy’ The power of the plot...

Episode 104: Continuing the story of the Elizabethan theatre buildings. The construction of The Globe Master carpenter Peter Street The death of The Globe The Fortune - Henslowe's replacement for The Rose The Whitefriars Theatre The Hope - Henslowe's replacement for his bear garden, almost. The second Globe Playhouse The Globe reimagined. Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.ko-fi.com/thoetp www.patreon.com/thoetp This p...

Episode 103: The story of the next phase of theatre building in Elizabethan London featuring the indoor and outdoor playhouses. The First Blackfriars Theatre The Curtain Philip Henslowe The Rose Francis Langley The Swan The Second Blackfriars Theatre Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.ko-fi.com/thoetp www.patreon.com/thoetp This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartabl...

Episode 102: The sources of information on the playing troupes. The Earl of Leicester’s Men – the earliest recorded acting troupe. How troupes operated under the patronage of their master. The royal patent and how it changed the way troupes operated. The sumptuary laws and protections that actors were given. The decline of the Earl of Leicester’s Men. Lord Strange’s Men. The merging of Lord Strange’s Men and The Admiral’s Men Lord Strange’s Men become touring players. ...

Episode 101: How Marlowe’s other plays differ from Tamburlaine and Dr Faustus. The plot of ‘The Jew of Malta’. The depiction of Barabbas the Jew and how it might have been received by the audience. ‘Edward 2nd’ as a history play rather than a tragedy. The theme of homosexuality in Marlowe’s work. The plot of ‘Edward 2nd’. The slow burn of the play adding to it’s subdued nature. The motif of the wheel of fortune. Edward’s character and the difficulty of empathy. The ...

Episode 100: Dr Faustus is one of the most influential plays of the Elizabethan period. Most commentators see this play as Marlowe’s masterpiece, and it is certainly the most performed of his plays through the centuries. The two printed version of the play and how they may have come to be updated. The Plot of ‘The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus’. The source material for the play. The effect of earning and wisdom. Comparisons with Tamburlaine The questioning of Christian ...

Episode 99: Marlowe’s ‘Tamburlaine the Great’ is a play in two parts, an early example of a writer responding to popular acclaim by giving his audience more of the same, but for all of that mercenary motivation, and the fact that the first part was conceived as a stand-alone piece, they do work well as a conjoined piece. The history of the printed plays and the introduction by the printer Richard Jones. A summary of the plot of part one of the play. The relationship of the play to th...

Episode 98: Marlowe as a playwright at the beginning of the greatest period of Elizabethan creativity. A short recap on Marlowe’s university life. Marlowe moves to London. The anonymity and earning power of Elizabethan playwrights. ‘Dido, Queen of Carthage’. Thomas Nashe as co-author of ‘Dido, Queen of Carthage’. Marlowe’s sexual preferences. The Elizabethan attitude to sexuality. Marlowe and religion. The School of Atheism. Marlowe’s use of rhetoric. Marlowe, blank verse, and iambic...

Episode 97: Christopher Marlowe was one of the giants of Elizabethan theatre, but he died young in mysterious circumstances. In this episode I try to unpick the mystery of why he died. Was it just an argument about the cost of a meal, or the result of some far more sinister goings-on in the world of Elizabethan espionage and court rivalry? Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.ko-fi.com/thoetp www.patreon.com/thoetp This podcast uses the following ...

Episode 96: The life and works of Thomas Nashe Early Life Cambridge University and ‘Terminus et non Terminus’ Nash moves to London and joins the ‘University Wits’ Pamphlets and work for the Archbishop of Canterbury Nashe’s style and pseudonyms Disagreements with the Gabriel brothers Nash’s Dildo Pearse Penniless Summers Last Will and Testament, his only surviving solo-authored play The Unfortunate Traveller Christ’s Tears Over Jerusalem and Imprisonment Terrors Of the Night The Isl...

Episode 95: The life and plays of some of the lesser known playwrights of the Tudor period. George Gascoigne - his shady life story and his Italian translations into English prose. Robert Greene - how he carved out a professional writers life from an unpromising start, his plays, and that notorious comment about Shakespeare. Thomas Lodge - a prodigious talent who sought out an adventurous life and wrote two verse plays. Thomas Preston - A Fellow of Cambridge University who wrote plays in ma...

Episode 94: Gorboduc the first tragedy in blank verse The lives of the co-authors Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville The plot of the play including the description of the opening dumb show The origins of the Gorboduc story The political message of the play How the play incorporates ideas and style from Seneca, Aristotle, and the medieval traditions The use of allegorical characters The problems whit the play as good drama The play as an academic debate The second printing of the play ...

Episode 93: The earliest extant plays from the Tudor period include comedies and a historical morality, which give an insight into how theatre developed. A summary of the elements that came together to make Tudor theatre a very special development. Students and Masters become playwrights looking to Seneca Nicolas Udal, schoolmaster and writer of the earliest surviving comedy A summary of Ralph Roister Doister The problem of the authorship of Gammer Gurton's Needle A summary of Gammer Gurt...

Episode 92: Elizabeth’s reign is seen as the golden age of theatre where many great playwrights, and one genius in particular, flourished. But did that happen because of the freedoms they were granted, or because of the constraints they worked under? The situation in theatre as Elizabeth ascended to the throne. The revision of the Act of Uniformity. The renewal of the ban on Interludes and censorship play printing. Rules introduced to combat the spread of plague. Attempts to ban plays on m...

Episode 91: By the 1530s the State was concerned with the regulation & censorship of plays. Here are the key moments of legislation under Henry, Edward & Mary. The background of what made legislation necessary. The end of the Corpus Christi Cycle Play. The beginnings of actions against players The Act For The Advancement of True Religion Pammachius performed at Cambridge and the aftermath. Early controls in London The death of Henry 8th and changes under Edward Repeated attempts to ban t...

Episode 90: The development of the profession of acting, of ‘stage-playing’ through the Tudor period. How the professional stage player developed out of the medieval entertainer. How travelling players became household players and then settled in the London playhouses. The beginnings of an acting profession. The Earl of Leicester’s Men. The English Sumptuary laws. The boy troupes. The objections to players and playhouses. The reputation of players. Some examples of contemporary views o...