Beyond Shakespeare

What's Past is Prologue: The Dutch Courtesan by John Marston
The Dutch Courtesan is a fascinating play, and one we'd like to do one day. Here's just the prologue to tantalise and moderately annoy you.
The prologue is performed by the fabulous Sarah Golding, voice actor and audio producer extraordinary - you can hear Sarah Golding all over the podcasting world as a voice actor, and as the creator of MADIVA Podcast (or MODERN AUDIO DRAMA INDIE VOICE ACTING PODCAST) @QuirkyVoices

DO YOU WANT TO HEAR MORE? If you'd like to make us to do a full audio production of this play, join us on patreon and choose this play at the next vote. www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare or you can follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes - or go to our website beyondshakespeare.org
The episode is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.
Additional sound effects from the wonderful people at http://www.freesfx.co.uk

Exploring: The N-Town Play, a slow burn look at a medieval Mystery (sort of) cycle. The N-Town Play comes to us as a single manuscript, but it's a compilation of various different sources - including elements from what looks like a cycle and various other large scale productions focusing on episodes from the Bible.
The journey continues with Cain and Abel - and our first murder. Don't worry Cain fans, he'll be back!
There are other plays featuring Cain and Abel - we've done both an exploring session and a full cast audio adaptation on the podcast, so you can compare and contrast.
Chester Full Cast: https://audioboom.com/posts/7019408-cain-and-abel-chester-mystery-cycle
And Exploring Chester in two parts: Part 1 https://audioboom.com/posts/2456490-chester-plays-2-3-cain-and-abel and Part 2 - https://audioboom.com/posts/2456533-chester-plays-2-4-cain-and-abel
The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon, and Alan Scott – with host, Robert Crighton.
There are various online and purchasable versions available - here's a good one, but is in the original middle English and might put you off - others should be hunted for to taste.
A play text: https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/sugano-n-town-plays-play-3-cain-and-abel

The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare Or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org

From the Winchester Dialogues this is a read through and discussion of Lucidus and Dubius, written sometime in the midst of the 15th century. There's some question as to whether this is actually a performed play, but we take it on principle that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - it's a firking duck. Though there is no plot exactly, there is a relationship between the characters that develops and we had a lot more fun with this than expected. The read through is with Beyond Shakespeare Irregular Alan Scott and host Robert Crighton.
The only copy we can find online can be viewed here - https://medievalit.com/home/edrama/morality-plays/lucidus-and-dubius/
Otherwise you'll need to hunt out a rare as hens teeth edition of The Winchester Dialogues. Good luck with that.
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare Or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org

Spoilers: The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary (Act 2)
Welcome to this spoiler episode for The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry by Elizabeth Cary - and it's very spoilery! After the enclosed first act, act 2 starts to open up the court.  There's still a lot going on, and this episode doesn't come close to covering it. We just ran out of time - again. With a plain text recording of the Act and chorus overview at the end.
In the plain text: with Nemonee Stone as Graphina, Heydn McCabe as Constabarus, Hugh Weller-Poley as Babas First Son, Mark Scanlon as Babas Second Son, Pollie Hall as Doris, Fiona Thraille as Antipater, Simon Nader as Silleus. Hosted by Robert Crighton, with Beyond Shakespeare Irregular Alan Scott looking at the Chorus.
BE WARNED - If you just want to listen to the play as a play, don't listen to the spoilers episodes. Come back later, or don't listen. However, if you find early drama hard to follow, then you will get a good grounding in the action here - especially as we may make changes or cuts for our final version! The plain text version is rough in hew, it will change and we produce it in part to hunt out errors. You can buy soooooo many editions of this play you can buy - just google them, seriously - there are also etexts and on YouTube various other looks at the play. There will be more details coming soon for all the various links on the website, but till then...
For text, there's loads online - for example the Norton https://wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/noa/pdf/27636_17th_U03_Cary-1-51.pdf
And for your facsimile type thing something like this is out there https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.176700/page/n21/mode/2up

If you can't wait for our production there's the video of the Royal Holloway 1995 production, directed by Elizabeth Schafer
https://youtu.be/TOYsjNcG93w
Other online versions can and should be searched for. Support the podcast by going to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare and pledge something – or by leaving a review on itunes or whichever podcasting service you use. Or follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or check out our website at www.beyondshakespeare.org - you can even email us if you feel so inclined - [email protected]

Exploring: The Disobedient Child by Thomas Ingleand
This exploring episode was recorded virtually online, as the lockdown bites around the world - other virtual episodes are available as videos on YouTube, except this one, because of a few problems with the feed which are easier fixed in audio than video. More of these will come into the podcast as we go.
The Disobedient Child was printed in the 1560's, but there's a putative date of writing around 1550. It's... all a bit sad by the end, but it's a play with a lot of fascinating business. See Nice Wanton for a different take on this sort of thing, and The Prodigal Son for literally the same story told in a different way.
The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Sam Plumb as the variously named Son, Rebecca Starling as the variously named wife and maid-cook, Alex Scott Fairley as the variously named father and man-cook,  with host Robert Crighton as a servant. All other parts read by the group.
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare Or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org

Exploring: The Norwich Grocers' Play - A and B text.
We're taking a break from N-Town to look at another East Anglian play text - or texts - two differing versions of a pageant from Norwich. Sadly we can't currently find an online version of the text to follow along with - so have a hunt if you can.
For contrast of other Adam and Eve plays, go to the last couple of N-Town exploring sessions or here's Chester - https://audioboom.com/posts/2449437-chester-plays-2-1-adam-and-eve (there's a part two, too) or our rough full cast audio adaptation here https://audioboom.com/posts/6379457-adam-and-eve-chester-mystery-cycle. And there are other variations coming in the next few months - so hang on in there.
The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Mark Scanlon, Richard Fawcett and Alan Scott with host, Robert Crighton.
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare Or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org

Exploring: The Tragedy of Antony (Act 5)
From our pre-production Exploring sessions, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show.
The Tragedy of Antony is a translation of Robert Garnier's play, done into English by Mary Sidney, or Mary Herbert (Countess of Pembroke), in 1592. These are recordings of various readers and actors working through Act 5, as we tried to find a route into the play. It's the first step in a journey to understand and produce the play, with a plain text and full cast audio adaptation coming soon.
Act Five is short and sad, as Cleopatra mourns the dead Antony - and prepares herself mentally for her own end.
With Mark Scanlon, Liz Cole, Leigh McDonald, and the inevitable host, Robert Crighton.
There are a few editions of the play available both in print and online (one online version can be found here http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/antonie.html) - we're very fond of the Three Tragedies by Renaissance Women, Penguin Renaissance Dramatists edition edited by Diane Purkiss; as well as the Renaissance Drama by Women, Routledge, edited by S.P. Cerasano and Marion Wynne-Davies. At least one other edition exists, but we haven't looked at it yet.
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare or follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or even go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org

Sophonisba by John Marston (Epilogue) - Epic Epilogues
Performances of the epilogue to Sophonisba by John Marston - the prologue is also available as part of a sort of Marston sandwich.
The epilogue is performed (a few times) by Fiona Thraille - a British voice actor, narrator and audio producer who has worked in voiceover, podcasts, and who has narrated and produced over a dozen audiobooks through Audible. She is the founder and producer of Dashing Onions Audio - an audio drama podcast, was co-host and producer of the Audio Drama Production Podcast for a year, and has given lectures and presentations on aspects of audio drama podcast creation.If you'd like to make us to do a full audio production of this play, join us on patreon and choose this play at the next vote. www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare or you can follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes - or go to our website beyondshakespeare.org
The episode is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.
Additional sound effects from the wonderful people at http://www.freesfx.co.uk

Spoilers: The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary (Act 1)
Welcome to this spoiler episode for The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry by Elizabeth Cary - and it's very spoilery! It's our favourite Act, it's got so much going on, and this episode doesn't come close to covering it. We just ran out of time. With a plain text recording of the Act and chorus overview at the end.
In the plain text: Gillian Horgan as Mariam, Leigh McDonald as Alexandra, Pamela Flanagan as Salome, Simon Nader as Silleus, and Heydn McCabe as Constabarus. Hosted by Robert Crighton, with Beyond Shakespeare Irregular Alan Scott looking at the Chorus.
BE WARNED - If you just want to listen to the play as a play, don't listen to the spoilers episodes. Come back later, or don't listen. However, if you find early drama hard to follow, then you will get a good grounding in the action here - especially as we may make changes or cuts for our final version! The plain text version is rough in hew, it will change and we produce it in part to hunt out errors. 
You can buy soooooo many editions of this play you can buy - just google them, seriously - there are also etexts and on YouTube various other looks at the play. There will be more details coming soon for all the various links on the website, but till then...
For text, there are versions online - like this facsimile type thing something like this is out there https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.176700/page/n21/mode/2up
If you can't wait for our production there's the video of the Royal Holloway 1995 production, directed by Elizabeth Schafer
https://youtu.be/TOYsjNcG93w
Other online versions can and should be searched for. 
Support the podcast by going to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare and pledge something – or by leaving a review on itunes or whichever podcasting service you use. Or follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or check out our website at www.beyondshakespeare.org - you can even email us if you feel so inclined - [email protected]

Due to the arrival of plague, we're having to adjust our plans for the next couple of years. Robert Crighton outlines our plans for keeping going during this difficult year to come.
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare or for one off support go to https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare. You can follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or even go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org