Episodes
Aug. 24, 2025
The Dream Factory: A Conversation With Daniel Swift
Episode 183: Today’s episode is the first of a short run of guest episodes to see us through the end of the English summer and first up is Daniel Swift, author of ‘The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the making of...
Aug. 17, 2025
Henry V: ‘A Valiant Flea That Dare Eat His Breakfast on The Lip of a Lion’
Episode 182: Although it feels like a while since Shakespeare had produced a history play, we must remember that all the plays I have discussed so far were written and played in a very compressed timescale. If we take Henry ...
Aug. 10, 2025
Leicester's Men: A Conversation with Laurie Johnson
Episode 181: For today’s guest episode it’s a pleasure to welcome Laurie Johnson to the podcast. Laurie’s book ‘Leicester’s Men and their Plays’ is a fascination study of one of the most influential of the playing troupes of...
Aug. 3, 2025
Much Ado About Nothing: A College of Wit-Crackers Cannot Flout Me Out of My Humour
Episode 180: Much Ado About Nothing remains one of the more popular comedies where the characters of Benedick and Beatrice are usually thought of as the leading characters, but this play is much more of an ensemble piece than...
July 27, 2025
Jonson’s World View: A Conversation with Kay Daly
Episode 179: For today’s guest episode it is a welcome return for Kay Daly to the podcast. In our second conversation Kay discusses Jonson’s world view and how it differed from Shakespeare’s, which we discussed in our first ...
July 20, 2025
Every Man Out of his Humour: ‘Art Hath an Enemy Called Ignorance’
Episode 178: Ben Jonson's humours play 'Every Man in His Humour' was a big success and Jonson chose to name his next comedy in a very similar way, just substituting ‘in’ for ‘out’, no doubt to capitalise on the success of the...
July 13, 2025
Shakespeare’s World View: A Conversation with Kay Daly
Episode 177: For today’s guest episode it is a warm welcome for Kay Daly to the podcast. In our conversation Kay took the opportunity to give an overview of Shakespeare’s world view as seen through his earlier plays and part...
July 6, 2025
Every Man in his Humour: ‘Learn to be Wise and Practice How to Thrive’
Episode 176: In ‘Every Man In His Humour’ Jonson pays a debt to Roman comedy, but also shows us, in an almost fully formed way, his very own style. This is not the biting satire of many of his plays, but something a little g...
June 29, 2025
Shakespeare on the Radio: A Conversation with Andrea Smith
Episode 175: On today’s guest episode we welcome Andrea Smith to the podcast. Andrea’s book ‘Shakespeare on the Radio’ has just been published and she kindly agreed to come on and give us some highlights from her very detail...
June 22, 2025
The Case is Altered: ‘It Is the Pleasure of Our Fates That We Should Thus Be Wracked on Fortunes Wheel’
Episode 174: Ben Jonson's erliest play. Here we have the bricklayer’s son trying to make his way in the theatre and with the court. Until James came to the throne, he was pretty unsuccessful in the latter and as far as we ca...
June 15, 2025
Nothing Goes to Plan in Love’s Labour’s Lost: A conversation with Eleanor Conlon
Episode 173: For this guest episode it is a very welcome return for Eleanor Conlon, who you will remember discussed Titus Andronicus with me in Episode 22 of this season. Having picked over the brutal actions of that play wi...
June 8, 2025
Love’s Labour’s Lost: ‘Assist Me, Some Extemporal God of Rhyme’
Episode 172: Following on from 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' the refined courtly comedy that is ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ might seem quite unrelated, but both plays are, in their own way, concerned with the use and abuse of langu...
June 1, 2025
Shakespeare in the Restoration: A Conversation with Stephen Watkins
Episode 171: For today’s guest episode it is a warm welcome to Stephen Watkins who is going to take us a little way forward in the timeline to the world of Restoration England where after fourteen years of closures theatres w...
May 25, 2025
The Merry Wives of Windsor:‘Wives May be Merry and Yet Honest Too’
Episode 170: Falstaff returns in Shakespeare's city comedy set in the countryside. 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' has been popular since it's first performance but remains something of an outlier in the cannon. The dating of t...
May 18, 2025
Performing Medieval Theatre: A Conversation with Kyle Thomas
Episode 169 A welcome return for Kyle Thomas to the podcast where we discussed Kyle’s work on preparing three of the York Cycle plays for performance this summer in Toronto. As you will hear Kule is part of a team that are g...
May 11, 2025
Henry IV Part 2: ‘We Have Heard the Chimes at Midnight’
Episode 168: Although Shakespeare's completion of the events of Henry IV’s reign is very much a continuation of the story from part one it is a play with a very different vibe. The vigour of the battle scenes and the exubera...
May 4, 2025
The Origins of Medieval Theatre: A Conversation with Kyle Thomas
Episode 167 A conversation with Kyle Thomas where we discussed the long transition period between Roman theatre and medieval theatre. As you may remember from my episodes on the medieval theatre this is a very opaque period ...
April 27, 2025
Henry IV Part 1: ‘Nothing Can Seem Foul to Those Who Win’
Episode 166: As with 'Richard II' 'Henry IV part 1' handles some complex English history as it examines the relationships between the King, his son and the powerful Percy family. After the deposition of Richard II Henry rule...
April 20, 2025
Shakespeare’s Tutor: A Conversation with Darren Freebury-Jones
Episode 165 In today’s guest episode it is a very welcome return to the podcast for Darren Freebury-Jones. Darren appeared previously to discuss his book ‘Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers’ and I asked him back on this occasio...
April 13, 2025
The Merchant of Venice: ‘The Quality of Mercy is not Strained’
Episode 164 Fate, as in Romeo and Juliet, plays a large part in ‘The Merchant of Venice’, as do deep seated grudges, but these are more societal than familial. We are still in Italy, but no longer in close knit Verona, but m...
April 6, 2025
A Statue in Verona: The Afterlife of Romeo and Juliet
Episode 163 My background reading while preparing the episode on Romeo and Juliet took me to many stories about and thoughts on the afterlife of the play and its continuing influence on western culture, what follows is just a...
March 30, 2025
Romeo and Juliet:‘These violent delights have violent ends.’
Episode 162 In today’s episode I look at Shakespeare’s early tragedy and one of his enduringly popular plays ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The dating of the play The early printings of the play in quarto editions The origins of the sto...
March 23, 2025
Poor Naked Wretches: A Conversation with Stephen Unwin
Episode 161 In today’s guest episode I will be discussing Shakespeare’s characterisations of the lower classes and looking at the role they play with Stephen Unwin, who’s book ‘Poor Naked Wretches’ explores the variety of wor...
March 16, 2025
King John: ‘New Made Honour Doth Forget Men’s Names’
Episode 160 A synopsis of the play The sources and dating of the play The problems with a historical drama in verse The historical accuracy of the play King John as neither a hero nor anti-hero Philip the bastard as a central...