Season 4
Oct. 17, 2022
Renaissance Places of Seeing: Life at the Corral Del Principe
Episode 87: A fictionalised account of a day in the life of one of Madrid's Renaissance period theatres, the Corral Del Principe, using some of the facts and assumptions discussed in the season about the European Renaissance…
Oct. 3, 2022
European Renaissance Conclusions
Episode 86: A summary to conclude the season on European Renaissance Theatre focussing on four aspects of the theatre that I have covered in the last twenty-two episodes: The Italian Rebirth The Parisian Theatre Theatre in S…
Sept. 19, 2022
Bernini and Others: Sculpture, Architecture and Plays
Episode 85: We return to Italy, to the birthplace of the Renaissance, for one last visit in this theatrical age. The Bernini family and their history as sculptors and architects. The early life and career of the second-gener…
Sept. 5, 2022
Behind the Dikes: Renaissance Theatre in The Netherlands
Episode 84: Given the destruction of the thirty years war moving backwards and forwards across the Germanic and Flemish states of Europe between 1618 and 1648 it is a wonder that any art could flourish at all but in the Neth…
Aug. 22, 2022
Commedia Dell’arte: Players and Troupes
Episode 83: The Commedia Dell’arte tropes that operated in Italy and France were like many actors before them - travelling players operating if not exactly outside of society, then in their own niche within it. The framework…
Aug. 8, 2022
Commedia Dell’arte: A Selection of Scenarios
Episode 82: The characters of Commedia Dell’arte may have been used in every play over and over again until they became completely familiar, but the plays themselves were more varied that you might imagine. The first preserv…
July 25, 2022
Commedia Dell’arte: Characters and Masks
Episode 81: The development of common character types through the travelling troupes. The hierarchy of character, the troupe, and how that reflected society in general. The five main characters: Pantalone Il Dottore Il Capit…
July 11, 2022
Mountebanks, Charlatans, and the Origins of Commedia Dell’arte
Episode 80: The influence of Italian literary theatre can be seen in later works, but if there is one form that infiltrated the general consciousness of theatrical comedy on the continent it is the Commedia Dell’arte. A defi…
June 27, 2022
Keeping It Real: Italian Theatre In Perspective
Episode 79: As things moved on in the early renaissance art - painting and sculpture - led the way and theatre soon followed. Artists tried to inject more realism into their work, showing their subjects as they really were,…
June 13, 2022
Entertaining Madrid: The Corral del Principe
Episode 78: Records about the second corral in Madrid tell us a lot about the theatre. In this episode we go through the details of what the different parts of the theatre on the Calle del Principe were like. A short remind…
May 30, 2022
Life Is a Dream: Pedro Calderon de la Barca
Episode 77: The life of Pedro Calderon de la Barca who took Lope de Vega’s crown as the greatest living Spanish playwright after Lope’s death in 1635 His childhood, youthful brushes with the law, military service and early p…
May 16, 2022
A Master At Work: The Plays of Lope de Vega
Episode 76: A discussion of a sample of the plays by Lope de Vega The Gardener's Dog: A Comedy The meaning of the title, a plot summary, the major themes. Punishment Without Vengeance: A Tragedy. A plot summary, it's debt to…
May 2, 2022
Lope de Vega: The World’s Most Prolific Playwright
Episode 75: The Life of Lope de Vega, greatest dramatist of the Spanish Renaissance Theatre. He had a very full life which was not just confined to writing plays, but his output was prolific on a scale that has not been matc…
April 18, 2022
The Spanish Playhouse, its manager, his actors, and their audience
Episode 74: The development of Spanish theatre buildings, including the original, the Corral de la Olivera in Valencia. Alberto Ganassa and the influence of his Comedia Dell Arte troupe. The first theatre in Madrid the Corra…
April 4, 2022
Spanish Renaissance Theatre part 2: Before the Comedia
Episode 73 Continuing the story of the development of theatre through the early Spanish renaissance via the life and works of the playwrights. With apologies for the slightly raspy 'post-covid' throat at the time of recordin…
March 21, 2022
Spanish Renaissance Theatre part 1: The Beginning of a National Drama
Episode 72 The Situation in Spain prior to the Renaissance period with a summary of developments in the Roman and Medieval periods in Spain. The merging of religious and secular theatre at the end of the medieval period. The…
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 …
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 Bourgo…
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 T…
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 des…
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. …
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 th…
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 peri…