Season 5
Dec. 26, 2023
Coda: The Life of Augustine Phillips
Episode 113: As a coda to season 5 this episode is a potted history of the life of Augustine Phillips, player in the Lord Chamberlin's Men, with the details taken from documented records. Support the podcast at: www.thehisto…
Dec. 11, 2023
English Renaissance Conclusions (sort of)
Episode 112: To close season five of the podcast I pick up three items I dropped in the previous narrative and then offer some concluding thoughts: Thomas Watson – the life and works of the possible co-author of ‘Arden of Fa…
Nov. 27, 2023
Arden of Faversham and the Domestic Tragedy
Episode 111: The true story behind 'Arden of Faversham' The plot outline of the play Is the domestic tragedy really tragedy? The main themes of the play The domestic eating of the play The low characters The role of destiny …
Nov. 13, 2023
The Play’s the Thing: Elizabethan Acting Style and Stage Conventions
Episode 110: The problems of the lack of evidence about conventions and acting style. How a player learned his craft. The rhetorical or performance style of acting. Theatre as a poetic form. The rhetorical style is overtaken…
Oct. 30, 2023
The Star Players: Kemp. Alleyn and Burbage
Episode 109: We don't know a lot about individual players of the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage, but there are three stars of the day that we have some information about. Richard Tarlton, the Queen’s favourite comic player. …
Oct. 16, 2023
Thomas Dekker: London's Playwright
Episode 108: The second part of the story of Thomas Dekker and his works 'Old Fortunas' - Dekker's first known play ‘The Honest Whore’, a good example of what was good and bad in Dekker’s work. ‘The Civil Wars in France’ - t…
Oct. 2, 2023
Thomas Dekker: Gulls, Gallants and the London Playhouse
Episode 107: In the first of two episodes on Thomas Dekker I discuss his earliest life and his prose works. Dekker's early life and first forays into the playhouse. His prose work 'The Wonderful Year' The Gull's Handbook - w…
Sept. 18, 2023
Henslowe’s Diary
Episode 106: We have the detail about the way a London playhouse functioned thanks, in a large part, to one document. Theatre owner Philip Henslowe kept a record of many aspects of his enterprise at the Rose theatre from 15…
Sept. 4, 2023
Thomas Kid and the Spanish Tragedy
Episode 105: The life of Thomas Kyd, including a word on Elizabethan schooling. Thomas Nashe on Kyd. Kyd and the London playwright set. Kyd and Lord Strange. Questions over the first performances of ‘The Spanish Tragedy’. Is…
Aug. 21, 2023
Two Globes, a Fortune, a White Friar and Hope: The London Playhouses 1587 – 1642 part 2
Episode 104: Continuing the story of the Elizabethan theatre buildings. The construction of The Globe Master carpenter Peter Street The death of The Globe The Fortune - Henslowe's replacement for The Rose The Whitefriars The…
Aug. 7, 2023
Two Blackfriars, a Curtain, a Rose and a Swan: The London Playhouses 1587 – 1642 part 1
Episode 103: The story of the next phase of theatre building in Elizabethan London featuring the indoor and outdoor playhouses. The First Blackfriars Theatre The Curtain Philip Henslowe The Rose Francis Langley The Swan The …
July 24, 2023
The Elizabethan Playing Troupes
Episode 102: The sources of information on the playing troupes. The Earl of Leicester’s Men – the earliest recorded acting troupe. How troupes operated under the patronage of their master. The royal patent and how it changed…
July 10, 2023
Edward 2nd & The Jew of Malta: The Rest of Marlow
Episode 101: How Marlowe’s other plays differ from Tamburlaine and Dr Faustus. The plot of ‘The Jew of Malta’. The depiction of Barabbas the Jew and how it might have been received by the audience. ‘Edward 2nd’ as a history …
June 26, 2023
Dr Faustus: Wisdom, Power, and the Immortal Soul
Episode 100: Dr Faustus is one of the most influential plays of the Elizabethan period. Most commentators see this play as Marlowe’s masterpiece, and it is certainly the most performed of his plays through the centuries. Th…
June 12, 2023
The Two parts of Tamburlaine the Great
Episode 99: Marlowe’s ‘Tamburlaine the Great’ is a play in two parts, an early example of a writer responding to popular acclaim by giving his audience more of the same, but for all of that mercenary motivation, and the fact…
May 29, 2023
Marlowe’s Mighty Line
Episode 98: Marlowe as a playwright at the beginning of the greatest period of Elizabethan creativity. A short recap on Marlowe’s university life. Marlowe moves to London. The anonymity and earning power of Elizabethan playw…
May 15, 2023
The Short Life and Strange Death of Christopher Marlowe
Episode 97: Christopher Marlowe was one of the giants of Elizabethan theatre, but he died young in mysterious circumstances. In this episode I try to unpick the mystery of why he died. Was it just an argument about the cost …
May 1, 2023
Thomas Nashe: Satirist, Pamphleteer & Playwright
Episode 96: The life and works of Thomas Nashe Early Life Cambridge University and ‘Terminus et non Terminus’ Nash moves to London and joins the ‘University Wits’ Pamphlets and work for the Archbishop of Canterbury Nashe’s s…
April 17, 2023
A Sextet of Tudor Playwrights
Episode 95: The life and plays of some of the lesser known playwrights of the Tudor period. George Gascoigne - his shady life story and his Italian translations into English prose. Robert Greene - how he carved out a profess…
April 3, 2023
Gorboduc: The Tragedy of Ferrex and Porrex
Episode 94: Gorboduc the first tragedy in blank verse The lives of the co-authors Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville The plot of the play including the description of the opening dumb show The origins of the Gorboduc story T…
March 20, 2023
Comedy, History & Morality: Three Early Tudor Plays
Episode 93: The earliest extant plays from the Tudor period include comedies and a historical morality, which give an insight into how theatre developed. A summary of the elements that came together to make Tudor theatre a v…
March 6, 2023
The State Vs the Theatre part 2: Elizabeth
Episode 92: Elizabeth’s reign is seen as the golden age of theatre where many great playwrights, and one genius in particular, flourished. But did that happen because of the freedoms they were granted, or because of the con…
Feb. 20, 2023
The State Vs the Theatre part 1: Henry, Edward, & Mary
Episode 91: By the 1530s the State was concerned with the regulation & censorship of plays. Here are the key moments of legislation under Henry, Edward & Mary. The background of what made legislation necessary. The end of th…
Feb. 6, 2023
Creating a Profession: The Development of the Stage-Player
Episode 90: The development of the profession of acting, of ‘stage-playing’ through the Tudor period. How the professional stage player developed out of the medieval entertainer. How travelling players became household playe…