Episodes

Episode 131: Richard 3rd: ‘And Thus I Clothe My Naked Villainy.’ Shakespeare dramatises the life of the last Plantagenet king and create one of theatre's most spectacular villains. The dating of the play The quarto editions of the play When is a history play a tragedy, or not? The sources of the play The influence of Seneca Other contemporary versions of the Richard 3rd story. The centrality of the character of Richard A brief plot summary The boldness of Richar...

Episode 130: Mathew Morris talk to me about the archaeological dig that resulted in the discovery of the final remains of Richard 3rd, which serves as a prelude to the next episode which will be all about Shakespeare’s take on the final Yorkist king. Towards the end of our conversation, we spoke about the differences between the Richard of the play and what the skeletal remains that were uncovered tell us about the real-life king, but most of the conversation is about how the remains were ...

Episode 129: A brief recap on the dating and sources of the play A brief synopsis of the play The problem of multiple battlefield scenes and the depiction of violence How language in the play is used to underline the changing fortunes of the two sides. The depth of strong characterisation in the play Warwick, the would-be kingmaker Henry as an early humanist Fathers and sons at war with each other The revenge motive running through the play A brief recap on the r...

Episode 128: Author John Taplin discusses researching the Stratford families of Shakespeare's time and particularly the ancestry of John Hall, Shakespeare's son-in-law. John Taplin spent the majority of his career in management in the telecommunications industry until 2001 when he joined the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust at Hall’s Croft and Nash’s House/New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon, until retiring in 2010. A historian, genealogist and biographer, he has published articles on Shakespeare...

Episode 127: A recap of Henry VI part one and the potential involvement of Christopher Marlowe A word on methods of authorship attribution in the context of Shakespeare and Marlowe The dating and sources of the play A synopsis of Henry VI part two The characterisation of the War of the Roses The decline of England mapped out in the play The main characters in the play The weakness of the king as portrayed in the play The powerplay between Gloucester, York and Margaret ...

Episode 126: A conversation with Dr. Darren Freebury-Jones, author of 'Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers' about the influence of early modern playwrights on Shakespeare where we talk about Marlowe, Kyd, Greene and others and the role of data analytics in modern author attribution studies. Dr Darren Freebury-Jones is author of several works on early modern theatre including: Reading Robert Greene: Recovering Shakespeare’s Rival Shakespeare’s Tutor: The Influence of Thomas Kyd and his la...

Episode 125: A detailed look at the first Shakespearean history play 'Henry 6th part 1' The problems with dating 1 Henry VI How much of the play did Shakespeare write? The relationship of the play to parts 2 and 3 The sources of the play A brief summary of the play The play in relation to other history plays of the time Criticism of the battle scenes The theme of the loss of the English Empire and the end of chivalry The portrayal of Joan and the French The portr...

Episode 124: A conversation with Margaret Oakes about the book 'To Gender or Not to Gender: Casting and Characters for 21st Century Shakespeare’ which explores ways in which gender is being reinterpreted by British and North American productions since the turn of the millennium. After an initial chapter outlining recent gender theory, which is very useful to a newcomer to this as an academic study, like myself, the rest of the book uses examples of recent productions to illustrate different p...

Episode 123: The Origins of New Place The Clopton’s of Stratford-Upon-Avon The first house at New Place Hugh Clopton and his support for Stratford William Clopton William Bott and murder at New Place (maybe) William Underhill sells New Place to Shakespeare William Underhill and his son Faulk (another murder) The New Place of Shakespeare’s time The question of how much time Shakespeare spent in New Place The gardens of New Place The house passes through Shakesp...

Episode 122: The fourth and final part of the biography of Shakespeare. The rise of Shakespeare as actor and playwright for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. ‘The Comedy of Errors’ performed at Grey’s Inn, ‘the night of errors.’ The influence of the inns of court. Plays for special occasions. Francis Meres’ comments on Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s involvement in a legal summons. The move from The Theatre to The Globe. The opening of The Globe. The sharers at The Globe. S...

Episode 121: For this episode I’m very pleased to welcome Katherine Sheil, Professor of English at the University of Minnesota for the second part of our conversation about Anne Hathaway, based around her book ‘Imagining Shakespeare’s Wife: The Afterlife of Anne Hathaway’. In this part we went on to talk about the different views of Anne in fiction and non-fiction through the centuries. The breadth of views are quite astounding and we try to unpick how some of these at lease could have com...

The lost years of Shakespeare’s early life have given space for some myths and legends to grow over the centuries, before we can trace a few facts of his early life in London. The myth of Shakespeare and the Crab-tree. The myth of Shakespeare the deer slayer. Nicholas Rowe – the first editor of Shakespeare. The Queen’s men in Stratford. The myth of Shakespeare’s early days in London. Was Shakespeare’s first London home in Shoreditch? Tracing Shakespeare’s moves through Londo...

Episode 119: For this episode I’m very pleased to welcome Katherine Sheil, Professor of English at the University of Minnesota. Katherine is Author of several books about Shakespeare, but today we particularly talk about her book about Shakespeare’s wife called ‘Imagining Shakespeare’s Wife: The Afterlife of Anne Hathaway’. It is a fascinating examination of the known facts of Anne’s life and of how her persona has been used and abused through the centuries, as a means of examining and justif...

Episode 118: Shakespeare's youth, his school days, religious life and marriage. A couple of corrections to the last episode on John Shakespeare The Shakespeare family's domestic set up. Religion and the life of a child in the late 1500's Examples of how William's education in Stratford may have looked. Anne Hathaway and her family history. William and Anne's marriage and the many speculations about anomalies in the records. Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeu...

Episode 117: ‘To you your father should be as a God’. - A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Act 1 Scene 1 The first of a series of episodes covering the biography of William of Stratford. Richard Shakespeare – William’s grandfather Richard Shakespeare – William’s uncle John Shakespeare – William’s father His move to Stratford Upon Avon His trade as a glover The question of the midden heap Marriage to Mary Arden The elder children of John and Mary Shakespeare The qu...

Episode 116: As an introduction to the season on Shakespeare this episode gives a timeline of events in Shakespeare's life. The focus is on the best estimates for the dates of all his plays and the reasons for those estimates, but also includes the milestones of his life and other significant events of the time that occurred in England. Support to podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.patreon.com/thoetp www.ko-fi.com/thoetp This podcast uses the following thir...

Episode 115: A dive back into Ancient Greek theatre with a look at 'The Frogs' by Aristophanes. A recap on the life and plays of Aristophanes. A summary of the plot of the play. Analysis of the main points raised by the play. A short word on a recent production of the play by 'Spymonkey' played at the Kiln Theatre, London in February and March 2024. Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.ko-fi.com/thoetp www.patreon.com/thoetp This po...

Episode 114: As an introduction to season six of the podcast in the first part of this episode I lay out the aims for the next season and the approach I will be taking to the monoliths of early English theatre tha tare Shakespeare and Jonson. In the second part of the Episode I give a quick recap of Season Five to get you and I back in the zone for all the detail that will follow on Shakespeare and Jonson. Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.ko-fi.com/t...