The History Of European Theatre

Hello everyone

I’m interrupting your day for a small announcement about the podcast.  If you have listened to any episodes recently you will have noticed that advertisements are now playing at the start, middle and end each episode.  Placing advertisements in the podcast is a way of helping to recoup the costs of putting the podcast out for free, which is why I took the plunge and decided to go down this path.  For those of you who support the podcast on Patreon on either of the paid levels of membership from next Monday’s episode I will be adding all new episodes without adverts to your Patreon feed, so that you can listen to them there.  The episode that comes out on a Monday morning UK time will be released on Patreon on the Sunday before.  For those of you on the top tier membership on Patreon these episodes will come on the same feed from which you currently get the extra episodes, so no need for you to make any changes.

If you are currently not a supporter on Patreon and you like the uninterrupted podcast experience, then now would be a great time to join us there and it will only cost you £1 a month.  If you want to investigate that, or joining at the higher membership level and receiving two additional theatre related audio podcasts a month for an even deeper dive into theatre history then follow the link in the show notes or just go to patreon.com and search for ‘the history of European theatre’.

A bit thank-you to everyone who already supports the podcast on Patreon and also thanks to all of you who listen every week as we make our way through the long history of theatre.

As ever if you want to contact me about this change, or anything to do with the podcast you can reach me by email at [email protected], or through the website where you can leave me a voice message by clicking on the microphone icon or you can write to me on the contact page.  That’s all at www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com

Link: www.patreon.com/thoetp

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Episode 207 

Whereas the larger-than-life characters in ‘Othello’ left us with no moral ambiguities, but plenty of questions about the nature of the outsider and society’s attitude towards those who are different.  Shakespeare’s next offering, ‘Measure for Measure’ was a very different piece with few of those certainties.

The dating and earliest performance of the play

The early print history of the play

Changes made by Thomas Middleton

The source material for the play

A brief synopsis of the play

Comedy of Tragicomedy?

Issues with the structure of the play

Justice and mercy

The premise of the play examined

How the characters avoid easy categorisation

The role of the duke

The role of Isabella

The role of Angelo

The role of Lucio

The ending of the play and Isabella’s response to the duke

The mixed critical response to the play

The later performance history of the play

Measure for Measure on film

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Episode 206

Last time I discussed the dating and sources for Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Othello’, the early performance history, and some points about the structure and poetry in the play.  Then I took you through the first part of the play, up to the point where Iago had managed to sow seeds of doubt into Othello’s mind about the constancy of women and get his professional rival Michael Cassio so drunk and fired up that he got involved in a brawl with the town governor and is demoted.  In doing so I looked at the characters of Iago, Brabantio and Cassio, so on this occasion listening to that episode is essential before starting on this one.  If you need to do that as soon as you are back, I will be picking up from exactly where I left off last time.

The character and expected role of Emelia

The relationship of Emelia and Desdemona

The character of Bianca and the Venetian courtesan

How Bianca contrasts with Desdemona

Conflicting views of the character of Desdemona

The character of Othello

The play as a tragedy of Greek proportions

The disintegration of Othello from strong leader to murderer

Othello as a social disruptor

The ‘noble savage’ Vs the veneer of sophistication

The role of resentment and honour in the play

Later performances of the play

Some very selected criticism of the play

Support the podcast at:

www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com

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Episode 205:

Last time Ben Jonson’s retelling of a slice of Roman Imperial history failed to impress at the Globe theatre.  As an actor in that play Shakespeare had first-hand experience of the way the audience in the theatre could turn on the poet and the players alike, but it is difficult to think that his confidence in his own work was much dented by the experience.  His next play ‘The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice’ is, I would say, brim full of the confidence of an experienced playwright who knew that his play would both entertain on several levels and provoke much thought in the audience.

The dating and first performance of the play

The early publication history of the play

Details from a performance in 1610

The source material for the play

The structure of the play

The significance of Venice and Cyprus

The structural balances in the play

The poetry and imagery in the play

The use of language as a dramatic technique

The urgency of the opening of the play

The character of Iago and how he manipulates his victims

The character of Brabantio

What the Elizabethan audience might have thought of a ‘moor’

Queen Elizabeth’s attitude to immigrants from Africa

How Shakespeare handled the racial aspects of the play

The character of Micheal Cassio

Support the podcast at:

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Episode 204:

For today’s guest episode we welcome Robert Crighton to the podcast.  Robert is the guiding light behind ‘Beyond Shakespeare’ a project that aims to shine a light on very early theatre through to Early Modern theatre.  As the name ‘Beyond Shakespeare’ suggests Robert is keen to look at plays not written by Shakespeare and indeed, as you will hear, much of Robert’s work looks at works written long before Shakespeare was around.  I first came across ‘Beyond Shakespeare’ through the online readings of early modern plays that Robert has produced as a means of working towards full audio and staged productions.  It was a very useful point of reference for me when I was looking as those early Jonson plays where there is little chance of seeing a performance.

Beyond Shakespeare:

Link to Website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/

Link to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondShakespeare

Support the podcast at:

www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com

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Episode 203: 

We now stay in the world of the Elizabethan interpretation of classical history and myth with Ben Jonson’s next play ‘Sejanus His Fall’.  Rooted more firmly in history than myth Jonson’s play uses the story of a power struggle motivated by personal ambition to look at the nature of power, justice and politics.  This was quite evidently dangerous ground for a playwright already known for his clashes with the authorities, but it was not just that commentary of contemporary politics that got Jonson into trouble with this play. 

A brief word on the unfinished tragedy ‘Mortimer His Fall’

The ‘argument’ of the play and some thoughts on what the play might have been

The early performance history of ‘Sejanus His Fall’

The possible co-author of the play

The early reception of the play

The background to the poor reception of the play

A synopsis of the play

The ban on satires and histories

The translations of Tacitus and complications with Essex

How John Heyward’s problems with censorship influence the play

The play as a commentary on Elizabethan society

Questions of the control of power in the play

Questions of the application of justice in the play

The motivations of Sejanus

The aesthetic issues with the play

How Jonson mixed comedy and tragedy in the play

The influence of Marlowe on the verse in the play

Jonson censured for the play

The later performance history of the play

Support the podcast at:

www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com

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Episode 202:

For today’s guest episode it is a very warm welcome back to Racheal Aanstad.  You will remember that Racheal and I have discussed Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the podcast and now she returns to discuss ‘Troilus and Cressida’. As you will hear Racheal was able to bring thoughts about the history of the play and it’s sources, particularly Homer’s Iliad, which, I think, really enhances our understanding of this challenging play.

Rachel Aanstad is a writer, artist, historian, and Shakespeare nerd with an MFA in theatre. She is the former Artistic Director of the Rose City Shakespeare Company and the author of A Bawdy Twelfth Night or What You Will Encyclopaedia & Dramaturgical Handbook and A Midsummer Night’s Dream Illustrated Handbook and Encyclopaedia. She lives in the Pacific Northwest from where I spoke to her over a zoom call.

Link to Shakespeare and Friends on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Shakespeareandfriends

Link to A Bawdy Twelfth Night UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Dramaturgical-Shakespearean-Encyclopedias-Handbooks/dp/B0BT2DZGTK/ref=sr_1_1

Link to A Bawdy Twelfth Night USA: https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Dramaturgical-Shakespearean-Encyclopedias-Handbooks/dp/B0BT2DZGTK/ref=sr_1_1

Link to Midsummer Nights Dream UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Midsummer-Nights-Illustrated-Handbook-Encyclopedia/dp/B09PKSTL1S

Link to Midsummer Nights Dream USA: https://www.amazon.com/Midsummer-Nights-Illustrated-Handbook-Encyclopedia/dp/B09PKSTL1S

Link to Marquee TV RSC Production: https://marquee.tv/videos/royal-shakespeare-troilus-cressida

Support the podcast at:

www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com

www.patreon.com/thoetp

www.ko-fi.com/thoetp

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 201

‘Troilus and Cressida’, is a challenging piece by pretty much everybody’s estimation.  Although it is no surprise that Shakespeare looked to the Homeric tales for his next inspiration which part of that story he chose to dramatize perhaps is and what he chose to do with it has perplexed commentators ever since.  Ambiguous is the word most often used, but ultimately opinions range through ‘failure’ to ‘misunderstood’ to ‘modernistic’, and just about everything else in-between.  

The early print history and dating of the play

The confusion caused by the two quarto versions and the First Folio version

The source material for the play

A brief synopsis of the play

‘Troilus and Cressida’ as a ‘problem play’

The Prologue

The play as an ensemble piece

The ignoble nature of the characters in the play

Cassandra as the voice of truth

Troilus and his view of Cressida

Is there a parallel with Romeo and Juliet?

The portrayal of Achilles and Hector

Ulysses and the ‘great chain of being’ argument

Was the play written for the Inns of Court?

Pandarus and the bitter ending to the play explained

The critical reception of the play

The performance history of the play

Support the podcast at:

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Episode 200

For today’s guest episode it is a welcome return to the podcast for Stephen Unwin.  I spoke to Stephen earlier in this Shakespeare and Jonson season to discuss his book ‘Poor Naked Wretches’ which examines the way Shakespeare portrayed working people and their significance in the plays.  For his next published work Stephen has produced a work that examines Berthold Brecht’s lifelong obsession with Shakespeare and which makes the case for reading the two playwrights together.  This is part of the Arden Performance Companion series so is slanted towards practical suggestions about how performance of Shakespeare can be achieved through Brechtian techniques.

Link to Stephen’s website: www.stephenunwin.uk

Link to online retailers for ‘Shakespeare and Brecht’:

Bloomsbury UK: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/shakespeare-and-brecht-9781350419612/

Bloomsbury US: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/shakespeare-and-brecht-9781350419636/

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shakespeare-Brecht-Practical-Performance-Companions/dp/1350419613/ref=asc_df_1350419613

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Brecht-Practical-Performance-Companions/dp/1350419613/ref=sr_1_1

Support the podcast at:

www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com

www.patreon.com/thoetp

www.ko-fi.com/thoetp

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 199: 

The line I have used for the title of today’s episode is spoken by Feste the fool, a central character in ‘Twelfth Night’.  Fools have already played significant roles in Shakespeare’s previous plays and as you will hear there are possible connections between them and Feste, but significant as he is, and fools will be in forthcoming Shakespeare plays, there is so much more to Twelfth Night than just that one character.  It is a play where other Shakespearean comedic characteristics also feature – identical twins, empowered and quick-witted women, variants on the braggart soldier character, and an exotic, virtually mystical, setting, spring to mind.  If ever there was a comedy where Shakespeare was completely in his stride then this, for me, is the one.

The early performance history of the play

The dating of the play

The early print history of the play

The sources for the play

The establishing of social roles in the play

The positions of the knights Sir Toby and Sir Andrew

The role of Feste, the fool.

The impact of Feste’s songs

Feste as a portrait of Thomas Nashe

The centrality of Malvolio to the themes of the play

Feste’s sung epilogue to the play

Love, desire and infatuation in the play

The play as a knowingly theatrical story

The performance history of the play

Some of the critical reaction to the play

Link to Rachel Aanstad’s ‘A Bawdy Twelfth Night’ for UK customers:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Dramaturgical-Shakespearean-Encyclopedias-Handbooks/dp/B0BT2DZGTK/ref=sr_1_1

Link to Rachel Aanstad’s ‘A Bawdy Twelfth Night’ for US customers:

https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Dramaturgical-Shakespearean-Encyclopedias-Handbooks/dp/B0BT2DZGTK/ref=sr_1_1

Support the podcast at:

www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com

www.patreon.com/thoetp

www.ko-fi.com/thoetp

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.