The History Of European Theatre
Philip Rowe
A more or less chronological history of the development and practice of theatre
- 36 minutes 39 secondsEastward Ho: ‘He That Rises with Ease, Alas, Falls as Easily’
Episode 209:
After the failure of ‘Sejanus His Fall’ Jonson’s next play was a collaboration with John Marston and George Chapman, a new play for the Blackfriars’s theatre and it’s resident company of boy actors. Jonson maybe needed the collaboration to restore his confidence in his writing, although from what we know of his character perhaps more likely it was the hope of a decent payday that spurred him on. Returning to comedy must have been part of the attraction. Whatever the case the three playwrights managed to produce a comedy that was funny, thoughtful, moralistic and yet still controversial. The exact reasons for that controversy and the strength of reaction to the play from king James is now obscure to us, but at the time nearly cost the playwrights not only their liberty, but their ears as well.
The three authors of the play – who wrote what?
The first performance and printing of the play
A synopsis of the plot
The play as a response to ‘Westward Ho!’
The Prologue
The comparison of good and bad work ethics
The child acting companies and how their plays were received
Combining three types of play on ‘Eastward Ho’
The city comedy
The citizen comedy
The morality tale
Three journeys in the play
The voyage to Virginia
Gertrude’s journey
Golding’s rise in the city
Reference to the Roanoke settlement and the view of the New World
The fate of the adventurers after the shipwreck
The influence of the city of London and alchemy
The pairing of characters for dramatic effect
The theatrical nature of the play and Quicksilver’s redemption
The consequences of the play for the playwrights
The later performance history of the play
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30 March 2026, 5:30 am - 44 minutes 14 secondsConsent and Other Big Questions in ‘Measure for Measure’: A Conversation with Roberta Barker
Episode 207:
It was just about this time last year I talked to Roberta Barker about her work on the boy actors of the Elizabethan period and she mentioned at the time that she was then working on a new edition of ‘Measure for Measure’ for Cambridge University Press and I’m pleased to say that she agreed to carve some time out of her busy schedule to discuss the play with us today. Having been immersed in the play for a long time there is no one better placed at the moment than Roberta to discuss the play so I was particularly pleased when she agreed to come back onto the podcast at this point.
Roberta Barker is a member of the Joint Faculty of King’s College, London, where she is Professor of Theatre teaching in the Foundation Year and Early Modern Studies programs, and Dalhousie University, Halifax Nova Scotia, where she teaches Theatre in the Fountain School of Performing Arts. Her research interests centre upon the relationship between performance and the social construction of identity and has explored such topics as the representation of gender and class in early modern tragedy, the early modern careers and modern afterlives of Shakespeare’s boy players, and the role played by the performance of illness on the nineteenth-century stage in the evolution of realist style. She is also a theatre and opera director.
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23 March 2026, 6:30 am - 3 minutes 29 secondsPodcast Announcement - Advertisements
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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16 March 2026, 11:46 am - 35 minutes 59 secondsMeasure For Measure: ‘Some Rise by Sin, and Some by Virtue Fall’
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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www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com
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16 March 2026, 6:30 am - 37 minutes 46 secondsOthello part 2: ‘Farewell the Tranquil Mind, Farewell Content’
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
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9 March 2026, 6:30 am - 36 minutes 46 secondsOthello part 1: ‘O, Beware, my Lord, of Jealousy’
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
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2 March 2026, 6:30 am - 44 minutes 18 secondsBeyond Shakespeare: A Conversation with Robert Crighton
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
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9 February 2026, 6:30 am - 36 minutes 14 secondsSejanus His Fall: ‘Ambition Makes More Trusty Slaves Than Need’
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
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2 February 2026, 6:00 am - 41 minutes 53 secondsWhy did Shakespeare write ‘Troilus and Cressida’?: A Conversation with Rachel Aanstad
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
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26 January 2026, 6:30 am - 37 minutes 13 secondsTroilus and Cressida: ‘Men prize the thing ungained more than it is’
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
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www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com
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19 January 2026, 6:30 am - 43 minutes 16 secondsShakespeare and Brecht: A Conversation with Stephen Unwin
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 US: https://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Brecht-Practical-Performance-Companions/dp/1350419613/ref=sr_1_1
Support the podcast at:
www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com
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