Episode 136:

Having given you my own thoughts on ‘Titus Andronicus’ last time I’m pleased to say that for this special guest episode I was able to take the discussion even further with Eleanor Conlon, a fellow podcaster and a theatre professional as you will hear Eleanor has a lot to say about the play and insights that, in some cases, go in different directions from what I was able to say about the play.

Eleanor Conlon is an actor, director, and award-winning writer based in Sussex.

After completing her BA in English Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, Eleanor earned her MA in Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at Kings College and Shakespeare’s Globe. While at The Globe, Eleanor worked dramaturgically on productions by Dominic Dromgoole Matthew Dunster and Jeremy Herrin, and with Jenny Tiramani on the Original Practices Costume Archive.

After achieving success with her theatre company The Barefoot Players in the late 2000s and early 2010s, with which she produced plays including Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Doctor Faustus and The Alchemist, the latter two of which she also directed, as well as productions of several of Shakespeare’s works, plays by Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, and others, she founded her current and much acclaimed theatre company Rust & Stardust.

Writing over a dozen plays rooted in English folklore, Eleanor has worked with her puppet-maker partner Katie Sommers to tour Rust & Stardust’s shows all over the UK, including their plays The Wild Man of Orford, Black Shuck, The Marsh Demons of Iken, and Doctor Dee’s Daughter and the Philosopher’s with celebrated recorder quartet Palisander.

In addition to recent adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays including The Tempest and Macbeth with Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells, in 2023 she launched the Three Ravens Podcast with her partner Martin Vaux – also a writer and actor – which explores history, legends, and diverse aspects of folk culture.

Featuring original stories each week based on the lore of England’s 39 historic counties, Three Ravens quickly rose into the Top 1% of podcasts globally. It currently sits in the Top 50 UK Fiction Podcasts, with 4.9/5 star ratings on iTunes, Apple Podcasts and Spotify and a passionate fanbase across social media.

For Three Ravens contact:

Website: https://www.threeravenspodcast.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threeravenspodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threeravenspodcast

X: @threeravenspod

For Rust + Stardust Theatre

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eleanorstardust/

Website: https://www.rustandstardust.co.uk

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www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com

www.patreon.com/thoetp

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Episode 135:

Is Shakespeare’s early tragedy more than just a gore-fest?

The first performance of the play, maybe

The three playing troupes involved with the play

Is the play a collaboration with George Peele?

The popularity of violence in plays

The sources for the play

A brief summary of the play

The establishing of characters in the first act

The justifications for Titus’ desire for revenge

The role of young Lucius

The flaw in Titus’ character that leads to tragedy

Family life as represented in the play

The contrasts drawn between Lavinia and Tamora

The portrayal of fatherhood in the play

The use of Ovid’s ‘Metamorphosis’

Shakespeare’s use of personification, borrowed from medieval morality plays

The extreme violence in the play

The Peacham Drawing

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A short word from my good podcasting friend Peter Schmitz, he of the ‘Adventures In Theatre History Philadelphia’ podcast, who has written a book on that very subject and I’m sure that it will be as informative, as amusing and generally as fascinating as his podcast episodes always are.  What is even better is that Peter has produced a short audio that gives you all the information you need about the book and how you can get hold of it. These links might be useful:

https://www.brooklinebooks.com/9781955041379/adventures-in-theater-history-philadelphia/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adventures-Theater-History-Peter-Schmitz/dp/1955041377/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FQHNN2ZJG5SE&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8oSl8huLrCxYxe1gR-WgMTKb62F56xPJLXJ49C4eLW52Njy6h53qTfk_QyAlISrCS1nBtjE5fP18rp_sk3gIYoPR7RAWKCe1UItqgZQpd-9PXkMqKB8ftKvQb9JhK0iqaMPdFPSCfo8AyM-8tvFcwNkejTFM0ThPPZlfC0KousFlD-3ZYd4wH6TjhApBJSBVy125ksgHOGMFVNkzSDVWzIz0g_2hLt5zWxDV81pmrfs.pPMmYdPY47WYuKoK1DNaM-yz5JQz_DXXrrqyiIMM2Zg&dib_tag=se&keywords=adventures+in+theatre+history&qid=1726229400&sprefix=adventures+in+theatre+history%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Theater-History-Peter-Schmitz/dp/1955041377/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CNUES6XNBNLW&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IxlWUqR1nThHNR-GNJvuEjIo6f36mo82bS9_8A4Sx2PBGFys45ykLfXSgWrSIMpHJ0mn7qGooCMBFwWMv2nZqMK8rKgLgx9kTpDPQhHmqxigZbGPTyZ83Q5H5P2GQscDk4bNo7HYgM_9jXyO9EXcBSn0HZEqFpQmV_RWMmCXUSL4ld_Z22rnfxbih_CgyVUrMPqutRrwuii1_Hxe1fxx4hszZpQbw9dLxGUkrYUu2-Q.lr0Eg8P1HNDd9nfK-0DQttltOiAQaSpi0unC8HFtmZg&dib_tag=se&keywords=adventures+in+theater+history+philadelphia&qid=1726229447&sprefix=adventures+in+theatre+history+%2Caps%2C140&sr=8-1

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Episode 134:

Author Jem Bloomfield joins us to talk about his recently published book, ‘Allusion in Detective Fiction’, which looks at how and why allusion to Shakespeare and the Bible was used by the masters, or I should say mistresses, of golden age detective fiction.  This may not seem like an obvious area when considering the pervasive influence of Shakespeare, but as you will here the connections that Jem has made can tell us a lot about how knowledge and use of Shakespeare is constantly changing.

Warning – Spoilers present!

Jem discusses major plot points of several classic detective novels, but we thought that they can hardly be counted as spoilers up to about a century after they were first published, but you have been warned.

Link to Jem's book on the publishers website:

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-58339-1

Support the podcast at:

www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com

www.patreon.com/thoetp

www.ko-fi.com/thoetp

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Episode 133: 

The complications with dating the play and it’s relationship with a similar Elizabethan play

The sources for the play

A short summary of the play

The Christopher Sly framing device

Switching of roles in the play

The disguise motif

The motivations of the leading characters

The implication of the falconry images in the play

The Elizabethan idea of a proper wife and correct behaviour

Similarities with Elizabethan ‘wife taming’ ballads

The play as an inheritor of Roman comedy

The protagonists as stock characters

Katherine’s imbalance of the humours

Are Petruchio and Katherine a matched couple?

Do the three marriages resolve the play?

Does the play make a serious point about gender relationships in Elizabethan England?

The ‘difficult’ final speech by Katherine

Support the podcast at:

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Episode 132

My thoughts on seeing a recent production of Richard 3rd at Shakespeare's Globe, starring Michelle Terry in the titular role. The production and the cotrovercy that surrounded it raises questions about gender fluid casting, the nature of leadership and the casting of able bodied actors in this famous portrayal of deformity.

Support the podcast at:

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Episode 131: Richard 3rd: ‘And Thus I Clothe My Naked Villainy.’

Shakespeare dramatises the life of the last Plantagenet king and create one of theatre's most spectacular villains.

The dating of the play

The quarto editions of the play

When is a history play a tragedy, or not?

The sources of the play

The influence of Seneca

Other contemporary versions of the Richard 3rd story.

The centrality of the character of Richard

A brief plot summary

The boldness of Richard’s actions

Richard as prologue and then guide in the play

Lady Anne and her reaction to Richard’s proposal

The influence of Marlowe on Richard 3rd

The role of the female characters in the play

How should we view the presence of Margaret in the play?

The curses and prophecy of Margaret

How deformity and old age can be seen to link Richard and Margaret

Richard afflicted by guilt

The theatricality of the play

Does our liking for Richard affect the morality of the play

What the lay can tell us about players and changes in Tudor society

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Episode 130:

Mathew Morris talk to me about the archaeological dig that resulted in the discovery of the final remains of Richard 3rd, which serves as a prelude to the next episode which will be all about Shakespeare’s take on the final Yorkist king.  Towards the end of our conversation, we spoke about the differences between the Richard of the play and what the skeletal remains that were uncovered tell us about the real-life king, but most of the conversation is about how the remains were discovered, recovered for analysis, and how they were proved to be the remains of Richard 3rd.

Mathew Morris is a Project Officer at the University of Leicester Archaeological Service with over a decade of archaeological experience, having excavated a wide range of rural and urban archaeology across the Midlands, from the prehistoric period through to the Second World War.  His specialisms include urban archaeology, community archaeology and Roman and medieval archaeology.

Mathew graduated from the University of Leicester in 2003 with a BA in Archaeology and an MA in Landscape Studies, joining ULAS in 2004.  Notable projects include a massive multi-period urban excavation at Highcross in Leicester that included excavation of Roman town houses, commercial buildings, two lost medieval churches and medieval cemeteries and a Roman cemetery  at Western Road in Leicester, and, of course in 2012 he directed the successful archaeological search for the lost grave of King Richard III.  Recently, he has been digging up more Roman buildings and mosaics in Leicester, at the former Southgates Bus Depot and All Saints' Brewery sites and is currently leading the archaeological work for the Leicester Cathedral Revealed project.

He has co-authored the most comprehensive book ever written on the archaeology of Leicester - 'Life in Roman and Medieval Leicester' (2021) and three popular archaeology books: 'Visions of Ancient Leicester' (2011), 'Richard III: The King under the Car Park' (2013) and 'Roman Leicester: Life in the Roman World' (2018). He is actively involved in promoting archaeology to the general public, regularly providing talks to local societies, and is a Committee member of the Leicestershire Fieldworkers, and a Branch Leader for the Leicestershire Young Archaeologists’ Club.  He also currently leads the Castle Hill Community Archaeology Dig and the Bosworth Links Community Dig.

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Episode 129:

A brief recap on the dating and sources of the play

A brief synopsis of the play

The problem of multiple battlefield scenes and the depiction of violence

How language in the play is used to underline the changing fortunes of the two sides.

The depth of strong characterisation in the play

Warwick, the would-be kingmaker

Henry as an early humanist

Fathers and sons at war with each other

The revenge motive running through the play

A brief recap on the role and character of Margaret

The development of the character of Richard

The question of the extent if Richard’s deformity

Did the play resonate with the contemporary audience?

Support the podcast at:

www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com

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www.patreon.com/thoetp

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Episode 128:

Author John Taplin discusses researching the Stratford families of Shakespeare's time and particularly the ancestry of John Hall, Shakespeare's son-in-law.

John Taplin spent the majority of his career in management in the telecommunications industry until 2001 when he joined the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust at Hall’s Croft and Nash’s House/New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon, until retiring in 2010. A historian, genealogist and biographer, he has published articles on Shakespeare, his contemporaries and associates in and around Stratford, including the families directly associated with New Place.

Shakespeare’s Stratford home, before and after Shakespeare’s lifetime. In 2011 he published his book Shakespeare’s Country Families - A Documentary Guide to Shakespeare’s Country Society. He was a member of the Advisory Board for the Trust’s Dig for Shakespeare project at New Place between 2010-2015, and in 2018 he published a revised and updated edition of his 2011book. He has a Masters degree in historical studies from the University of Leicester.

Links to John's ebook:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twenty-first-Century-Shakespeare-Gleanings-Taplin-ebook/dp/B0CC633JY2/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.UlnFY8UInwIYfhuJf0AiXmtXTQSRHcN9Ativ9cOIX_PGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.4xAoLuO1JQQ2o0LumK9U_Hjq703MON6NOQVolv2BSr4&dib_tag=se&qid=1721225584&refinements=p_27%3AJohn+Taplin&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&text=John+Taplin

Support the podcast at:

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