Episodes
March 7, 2022
French Renaissance Theatre part 2: Aristotle Rules, OK?
Episode 71 The continuation of the story of Renaissance theatre in France. The rise of the two theatres in Paris as travelling players were at last allowed to perform in the city. Antoine de Montchrestien and his version of G...
Feb. 21, 2022
French Renaissance Theatre part 1:The Italian Influence
Episode 70 Catherine De Medici, her arrival in Paris for marriage to Henry, second son of Francis 1 st . Her cultural influence and role as wife of the King, and mother to three successive French rulers. The Hotel De Bourgog...
Feb. 7, 2022
Germanic Renaissance Theatre
Episode 69 The Renaissance met the Reformation in the Germanic States of Northern Europe so we start with a word on Martin Luther and his love of music and qualified approval of theatre. Latin drama of Jacob Wimpheling and Th...
Jan. 24, 2022
La Pellegrina: Comedy for a Royal Renaissance Wedding
Episode 68 A detailed look at 'La Pellegrina', a play written for the wedding celebrations of Grand Duke Fernando of Sienna in 1589. The background to the writing of the play commissioned by Cardinal Fernando Di Midici A desc...
Jan. 10, 2022
The Italian Rebirth part 3
Episode 67 In this third part of the story of theatre in the Italian Renaissance the counter reformation overshadows the work of playwrights. We conclude the story of Giovan Maria Cecchi with a look at his later sacred drama ...
Dec. 27, 2021
The Italian Rebirth part 2
Episode 66 Continuing from the last episode with more comedic dramatists from the Italian renaissance we meet Angelo Beolco who, under the tutorage of Ariosto, created, and became synonymous with, the character of Ruzzante. T...
Dec. 24, 2021
Dancing Dan’s Christmas
For Christmas 2021 a reading of 'Dancing Dan's Christmas', a short story by Damon Runyon. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Dec. 13, 2021
The Italian Rebirth part 1
Episode 65 The development of tragedy and comedy in early Italian renaissance theatre happened on parallel paths as each struggeled to look forward rather than back. The development of Tragedy following the rediscovery of the...
Nov. 29, 2021
From Medieval to the Renaissance
Episode 64 In the first part of season four we bridge the gap between the Medieval and Renaissance periods with a mention of the key artistic movements and historical events that can be used to mark the beginning of the perio...
Nov. 22, 2021
Season Four Trailer: European Renaissance Theatre
Season 4 Trailer: European Renaissance Theatre www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com Twitter: @thoetp Patreon: www.patreon.com/thoetp This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://charta...
Nov. 15, 2021
Medieval Places Of Seeing
Episode 63 In a coda to season 3 somewhere in England an acting troupe travels through a cold December at the tale end of the Medieval period, in search of an audience. A fictional account using the facts and assumptions disc...
Nov. 1, 2021
An Introduction to the Diary of Philip Henslowe
In this bonus episode we get an introduction the the diary of Philip Henslowe, theatre owner and businessman during the end of the Tudor period and beginning of the Stuart period. Elements from the diary will feature on upcom...
Oct. 18, 2021
Salome, Oscar Wilde and Lazarus Theatre
A bonus episode featuring Salome by Oscar Wilde. In summer 2021 I was fortunate to see the Lazarus Theatre production at the Southwark Playhouse in London. In this episode I give a brief version of the Oscar Wilde story, look...
Sept. 20, 2021
Medieval Conclusions
Episode 62 With the Reformation came the final end of the great Religious plays of the medieval period. The episode sumarises the great trends of medieval theatre and charts the final end as Europe descended into religious di...
Sept. 13, 2021
For the Money: The Medieval Commercial Theatre
Episode 61 Once the medieval theatre had moved out of the confines of the church and away from religious obligation a form of commercial theatre began, but how was money spent and income generated and was it profitable? The r...
Sept. 6, 2021
Just For Fun: Medieval Secular Theatre
Episode 60 Religious theatre dominated the Medieval period, but there are some examples of works written just for fun and entertainment. How celebrations like The Feast of Fools, The Boy Bishop and The Feast of Asses develope...
Aug. 30, 2021
Everyman: Dutch Morality
Episode 59 Everyman is the most well known of all the Morality plays and probably an English adaptation of a Dutch original. Different types of Morality Plays The Morality play in Europe and how they differed from the English...
Aug. 23, 2021
The Castle of Perseverance
Episode 58 The Castle of Perseverance is a great example of how difficult it can be to discuss the form of a play separately from the content and in this case we have an illustration that shows how the play might have been pr...
Aug. 16, 2021
Virtues Vs Vices: The Morality Play
Episode 57 The Morality play is a type of play that for all its similarities and shared heritage with the Corpus Christi cycle plays brought something new to the world of drama and had a profound effect on the future developm...
Aug. 9, 2021
Hell Harrowed, the World Flooded
Episode 56 The history of the Harrowing of Hell and the way it was portrayed in the cycle plays, including some thoughts on how it would have been staged and how the play comes alive when the demons and devils take to the sta...
Aug. 2, 2021
While Shepherds Watched
Episode 55 The Second Shepherds play is considered the best of the medieval cycle plays. In this episode I take a look at not only the second shepherds play, but the first play as well, which is often overlooked. Why are ther...
July 19, 2021
The Home of the Cycle Plays: York, Chester, Coventry and Wakefield
Episode 54 In this episode we look at the way the cycle plays developed in the four major centres from where we have complete versions of the cycle: York, Chester, Coventry and Wakefield. The development of the York Plays Fur...
July 12, 2021
Medieval Stage Effects
Episode 53 Stage sets, costuming and special effects became quite sophisticated in the cycle plays during the sixteenth century. This episode looks at the examples of stage sets that we have from Valenciennes. You can see the...
July 5, 2021
Medieval Performance and Rehearsal
Episode 52 This episode looks at how the Corpus Christi plays were organised and staffed with actors, tradesmen and other organisers and supporters. How rehearsals were organised and what was expected of actors, including det...