Welcome to The History of European Theatre Podcast Website and thanks for joining me through millennia of theatrical history.

Episodes

Feb. 1, 2021

Terence: The Bloom of Youth

Episode 37 Terence had a short life and left only six complete comic plays, but he moved the genre on from Plautus and other earlier dramatists. The story of his beginnings as a slave and how he came to Rome The circles he m…
Jan. 25, 2021

Plautus and Shakespeare: Two Brothers?

Episode 36 The influence of Plautus and other Roman playwrights has long been understood, but what are those influences and how did the Roman plays come to the attention of Rennaisance playwrights? How manuscripts survived a…
Jan. 18, 2021

The Menaechmus Brothers: Hand in hand, not one before the other

Episode 35 The Menaechmus Brothers is taken from a Greek new comedy original and via this version by Plautus was used by later dramatists, most notably Shakespeare. In the first half of this episode I summaries the plot that…
Jan. 11, 2021

Casina: The Unseen Bride

Episode 34 In this eisode we take a detailed look at Casina by Plautus. It's a tale of two men who try to use their slaves in a plot marry the young Casina by proxy. It has a prologue of particular interest. The usual stock …
Jan. 4, 2021

Plautus: Comedy Tonight

Episode 33 The life and time of Plautus, the first Roman Playwright from whom we have surviving works. After a hard start he became the most popular of the Roman playwrights churning out comedy after comedy. This episode loo…
Dec. 28, 2020

A Christmas Time

A little extra episode for Christmas week with best wishes to you all for the holiday season. If you would like to support the podcast please find us at: www.Patreon.com or www.ko-fi.com This podcast uses the following third…
Dec. 21, 2020

Trackers of Oxyrhynchus with Jimmy Walters

Episode 32 An interview with theatre director Jimmy Walters about his 20217 production of Trackers of Oxyrhynchus by Tony Harrison. This version of the Satyr play 'Trackers' by Sophocles was originally performed by the Natio…
Guest: Jimmy Walters
Dec. 14, 2020

The Stage and the City with Dr Elodie Paillard

Episode 31 An interview with Dr Elodie Paillard discussing her work on the non-elite characters in the plays of Sophocles and what they tell us about changes in athenian society in the 5th Century BCE. Dr Paillard is Honorar…
Dec. 7, 2020

The Development of Roman Theatre with Dr Elodie Paillard

Episode 30 An interview with Dr Elodie Paillard discussing the development of Roman theatre and the extent to which it developed out of Greek theatre. Dr Paillard is Honorary Associate in the Department of Classics and Ancie…
Nov. 30, 2020

Stages, Scenery, Props and Politics

Episode 29 A look at the detail of the staging of Roman plays, including the use of the stage, scenery, masks, props and costume. How wall paintings and sculpture may give us some useful insights into Roman theatre. The posi…
Nov. 23, 2020

Later Rome: Theatre Finds a Home

Episode 28 Theatre gets its first permanent home in Rome as Pompey builds a theatre to his own glory. The story of how he was able to do that is one of wealth, pride deception and not a little ego. Support the podcast at: ww…
Nov. 16, 2020

Early Rome: Theatre Gets Mobile

Episode 27 Theatre buildings in Rome developed over the long period of time from the Etruscan Period and through the republican period, but throughout they were temporary structures albeit on an ever grander scale. In this e…
Nov. 9, 2020

From Greek to Roman – Part 2

Episode 26 In the second part of the introduction to the theatre of Rome the Greek influence becomes more obvious and we start to get some details about the playwrights of the time. Taking this overview through to the beginn…
Nov. 2, 2020

From Greek to Roman – Part 1

Episode 25 Season 2 of the podcast begins with an overview of the transition from Greek Theatre to Roman Theatre with the history of the early Roman Republic and the early forms of theatre, starting at 364 BCE and taking us …
Oct. 5, 2020

Greek Conclusions Part 2

Episode 24 In the final episode on the story of Greek Theatre a further fleshing out of three big subjects in Ancient Greek theatre - The Mask, The Theatre Buildings and The audience. The podcast will then take a short break…
Sept. 28, 2020

Greek Conclusions Part 1

Episode 23 In the penultimate episode on the story of Greek Theatre a look at the final years of Greek tragedy and comedy and the Athenian festivals. Then some thoughts on the development of Mime as a dramatic form and notes…
Sept. 24, 2020

The Satyr Play: Just for Laughs?

Episode 22 The Satyr play is one of the most enigmatic elements of Ancient Greek drama and we have few surviving examples of it. A look at the stories it told, its development and it's place in the story of Ancient Greek the…
Sept. 21, 2020

Fragments of Menander

Episode 21 A look at three substantial fragments of Menander's plays as they have come to us through the centuries. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Sept. 14, 2020

The Misanthrope: Sole Survivor

Episode 20 A look at the only surviving complete play by Menander and our only full representative of the genre of new comedy. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.…
Sept. 7, 2020

From Old to New and Menander

Episode 19 The Hellenistic world moves on into a period of domination first by Sparta and then by Macedon, but theatre survives and thrives as New Comedy. Our view of how that development progressed is entwined with the life…
Aug. 31, 2020

Lysistrata: Women On Top

Episode 18 Perhaps the best known of the comedies by Aristophanes Lysistrata imagines a world where women take control in an attempt to force and end the Peloponnesian war. It is sex comedy with a message as the Athenian gol…
Aug. 24, 2020

The Wasps: Legal Laughter

Episode 17 Aristophanes takes a dig at the Athenian legal system and the city leaders who use it to their own ends. The system was part of the democratic process that Athens was still hanging on to despite the rigours of the…
Aug. 17, 2020

The Clouds: Serious Comedy

Episode 16 Aristophanes took a wry look at the art of philosophy that had become very trendy in Athens. In particular he pokes fun at Socrates and his philosophical method as a father and son try to escape their mounting deb…
Aug. 10, 2020

Aristophanes: Comedy, Satire, War

Episode 15 The story of the life, times and plays of Aristophanes, the creator of the only complete plays that we have from the genre of 'old comedy'. He lived in Athens during the turbulent times of the Peloponnesian war an…