Beyond Shakespeare

A Full Cast Audio Adaptation of Gammer Gurton's Needle by Mr S. 
A Comedy in which Gammer Gurton loses her needle, which opens up the household to mischief by one Diccon, the Bedlam. 
Diccon was played by Heydn McCabe, Hodge by Geir Madland, Tib by Gillian Horgan, Gammer Gurton by Sarah Golding, Cock by Simon Nader, Dame Chat by Pamela Flanagan, Doctor Rat by Rob Myson and Master Baily by Andy Barrett. Technical presentation and opening narration by Robert Crighton. 
!Spoilers! episodes that go through the play and present the complete unabridged plain text version of the script can be found on the podcast feed. This audio presentation of Gammer Gurton's Needle was chosen and supported by our patrons. They voted for it, we made it.
You can follow the text online - though some texts are better than others. Good editions of the play can also be found - not always in print, but still in circulation - and are worth the hunt.Online versions are various and with many variations in text (dialect does that to a play) - but here's one that can be found at project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37503/37503-h/37503-h.htm

Other online versions can and should be searched for. Editions: There are lots out there, these are the three volumes that pop up a lot. Five Pre-Shakespearean Comedies - Oxford (1934), Four Tudor Comedies - Penguin (1984), Gammer Gurton's Needle - New Mermaids (2nd Edition 2007)

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

Exploring the Chester Mystery Cycle - Play 24 (Judgement)
From our Exploring workshop, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show. It's the end - except it isn't really, because we're just going to start on another mystery cycle anyway. And we'll go back over all of this again at some point. The great journey of life continues.
Anyway, This is the Webstars play of the Judgement - where some judging goes on. More low key then the extravaganza last time, but still pretty epic.

The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon, and Alan Scott – with host, Robert Crighton.
There are more versions of the Chester plays than you can shake a stick at - (actually there are eight) - so any text you use to follow will probably be a bit different to ours (for the sticklers, our base text was H, except for play five, where it was just easier to go for a group text (D-or Hm, A, R, B) composite - though some readings may have been borrowed from all). However, you don't necessarily need to worry about such things, so here's a nice friendly modern spelling version we found online. http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/plspls/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/index.html

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

Spoilers: The Life and Death of Jack Straw (Act 4)
Jack Straw is not a long play, but that won't stop us going into ridiculous amounts of detail about it. This is the end, as there is no Act 4 - except it isn't as we're doing a lot more with this play - skip to about 16 minutes in for news on this. 
Jack is dead, the rebels captured, it's time for justice/retribution. And a lot of politics on how to make that look good. The scenes are illustrated via a rough cut of our soon to be released full cast audio adaptation - which languishes in the edit as we post this.
The rough cut of Act 4 to The Life and Death of Jack Straw is performed by Nemonee Stone as Richard II, Leigh McDonald as Wat Tyler, Rob Myson as Parson Ball, Heydn McCabe as Sir John Newton, Geir Madland as Sir John Morton, and Simon Nader as the Lord Mayor. With your host Robert Crighton.

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 follow the text online - though some texts are better than others. There are, to our current knowledge, only two modern editions - the print on demand acting edition published by Groundling Press which can be found at their website http://www.groundlingpress.com/, and the almost impossible to get edition edited by Stephen Longstaffe (Mellen Critical Editions, 2002). Online versions exist - there is a copy of a fascimile at archive.org, which serves as a foundation https://archive.org/details/cu31924013324540/page/n9
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 Chester Mystery Cycle - Play 23 (Antichrist)
From our Exploring workshop, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show. We're almost done with the past, for soon we'll be into the future!  This is the Diars play of the Antichrist - or Antechrist - where someone decides to blow the season budget on the penultimate show. It's got magic, it's got battles, it's got music, it's got the coming of the end of the world. (The end will end next time.)
The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon, and Alan Scott – with host, Robert Crighton.
There are more versions of the Chester plays than you can shake a stick at - (actually there are eight) - so any text you use to follow will probably be a bit different to ours (for the sticklers, our base text was H, except for play five, where it was just easier to go for a group text (D-or Hm, A, R, B) composite - though some readings may have been borrowed from all). However, you don't necessarily need to worry about such things, so here's a nice friendly modern spelling version we found online. http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/plspls/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/index.html

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

Spoilers: The Life and Death of Jack Straw (Act 3, Scene 3)
Note: The precise scene division of Act Three is debatable, this episode goes from the general re-entrance of the king and the rebels after the mini scene with the Queen Mother.
Jack Straw is not a long play, but that won't stop us going into ridiculous amounts of detail about it. This is the beginning of the end. Farewell Jack... this parley does not go well. And there's some business with a sword... which we need to sit down and think about for a bit. And the Lord Mayor goes... off message. The scenes are illustrated via a rough cut of our soon to be released full cast audio adaptation - which languishes in the edit as we post this.
The rough cut of Act 3 scene 3 to The Life and Death of Jack Straw is performed by Pollie Hall as Jack Straw, Leigh McDonald as Wat Tyler, Rob Myson as Parson Ball, Hugh Weller Poley as Tom Miller, Heydn McCabe as Sir John Newton, Simon Nader as the Lord Mayor, and Nemonee Stone as Richard II. With your host Robert Crighton.

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 follow the text online - though some texts are better than others. There are, to our current knowledge, only two modern editions - the print on demand acting edition published by Groundling Press which can be found at their website http://www.groundlingpress.com/, and the almost impossible to get edition edited by Stephen Longstaffe (Mellen Critical Editions, 2002). Online versions exist - there is a copy of a fascimile at archive.org, which serves as a foundation https://archive.org/details/cu31924013324540/page/n9
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 Chester Mystery Cycle - Play 22 (Prophets of the Antichrist)
From our Exploring workshop, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show. We're almost done with the past, for soon we'll be into the future!  This is the Clotheworkers play of the Prophets of the Antichrist, where everyone gets high and reenact their dream journal. It's a strange introduction to an even stranger play. There are only two more plays to go, and the end of the world is nigh.
The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon, and Alan Scott – with host, Robert Crighton.
There are more versions of the Chester plays than you can shake a stick at - (actually there are eight) - so any text you use to follow will probably be a bit different to ours (for the sticklers, our base text was H, except for play five, where it was just easier to go for a group text (D-or Hm, A, R, B) composite - though some readings may have been borrowed from all). However, you don't necessarily need to worry about such things, so here's a nice friendly modern spelling version we found online. http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/plspls/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/index.html

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

Spoilers: The Life and Death of Jack Straw (Act 3, Scene 2)
Note: The precise scene division of Act Three is debatable, this episode goes from the general exit of the king and the rebels after the parley up to their re-entrance.
Jack Straw is not a long play, but that won't stop us going into ridiculous amounts of detail about it. This is a little interlude scene, where Tom Miller and Nobs pass the time of day, and Tom makes an appeal to the Queen. The scenes are illustrated via a rough cut of our soon to be released full cast audio adaptation - which languishes in the edit as we post this.
The rough cut of Act 3 scene 2 to The Life and Death of Jack Straw is performed by Sarah Golding as Nobs, Hugh Weller-Poley as Tom Miller, Gillian Horgan as the Queen Mother, and Pamela Flanagan as the Usher. With your host Robert Crighton.

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 follow the text online - though some texts are better than others. There are, to our current knowledge, only two modern editions - the print on demand acting edition published by Groundling Press which can be found at their website http://www.groundlingpress.com/, and the almost impossible to get edition edited by Stephen Longstaffe (Mellen Critical Editions, 2002). Online versions exist - there is a copy of a fascimile at archive.org, which serves as a foundation https://archive.org/details/cu31924013324540/page/n9
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]

Mundus et Infans or, The World and the Child by anonymous (dated somewhere before 1522).
Mundus et Infans is a morality play in miniature, like other surviving morality plays, but scaled down to - potentially - only two actors.  It follows the shape of the other medieval morality plays we have - Castle of Perseverance et al - in that a man grows up to sin in the world and is guided back to good in old age.  There is at least one moment where we slightly overreact to the change in meaning for a word, but it's important to demonstrate areas of the text where modern changes alter meaning and create pitfalls.
There are online versions of the text available variously and in print in the New Mermaids, Three Late Medieval Morality Plays - and we're sure elsewhere. You can find a version here - https://medievalit.com/home/edrama/morality-plays/mundus-et-infans/ other versions do exist, happy hunting.
The Irregulars were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon 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 follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes or even go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org

Spoilers: The Life and Death of Jack Straw (Act 3, Scene 1)
Note: The precise scene division of Act Three is debatable, this episode goes up to the general exit of the king and the rebels after the parley.
Jack Straw is not a long play, but that won't stop us going into ridiculous amounts of detail about it. The start of Act 3 sees our heroes meet for the first time - with the king giving in to their demands and the diminishing of the rebel forces. The scenes are illustrated via a rough cut of our soon to be released full cast audio adaptation - which languishes in the edit as we post this.
The rough cut of Act 3 scene 1 to The Life and Death of Jack Straw is performed by Pollie Hall as Jack Straw, Leigh McDonald as Wat Tyler, Andy Barrett as Hob Carter, Sarah Golding as Nobs, Heydn McCabe as Sir John Newton, Simon Nader as the Lord Mayor and Nemonee Stone as Richard II. With your host Robert Crighton.

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 follow the text online - though some texts are better than others. There are, to our current knowledge, only two modern editions - the print on demand acting edition published by Groundling Press which can be found at their website http://www.groundlingpress.com/, and the almost impossible to get edition edited by Stephen Longstaffe (Mellen Critical Editions, 2002). Online versions exist - there is a copy of a fascimile at archive.org, which serves as a foundation https://archive.org/details/cu31924013324540/page/n9
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 Chester Mystery Cycle - Play 21 (Pentecost)
From our Exploring workshop, where we read through the text of this play for future use towards an audio/stage show. We're almost done with the past, for soon we'll be into the future!  This is the Fishmongers play of Pentecost, where the team break up for the regular season finale. There are only three more plays to go, but they are - in various ways - in the future.
The Beyond Shakespeare Irregulars this episode were Liz Cole, Richard Fawcett, Mark Scanlon, and Alan Scott – with host, Robert Crighton.
There are more versions of the Chester plays than you can shake a stick at - (actually there are eight) - so any text you use to follow will probably be a bit different to ours (for the sticklers, our base text was H, except for play five, where it was just easier to go for a group text (D-or Hm, A, R, B) composite - though some readings may have been borrowed from all). However, you don't necessarily need to worry about such things, so here's a nice friendly modern spelling version we found online. http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/plspls/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/index.html

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