- 34 minutes 23 secondsKing Lear Part 2: ‘Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise’
Episode 218:
Last time I looked at the first part of ‘King Lear’ from the opening scene where Lear makes his disastrous decision to split his kingdom between his children, through to the renowned scene where the ex-king and his fool are caught in a raging storm on the moor and saved only by the loyalty of Kent. On the way I looked at the deliciously evil Edmund, the poor judgement of his father Gloucester, and the scheming of Lear’s oldest daughter Goneril. Now I will complete this look at the play and discuss it’s place as a very Jacobean play addressing the concerns of its time when King James was working hard at an attempt to unite his disparate kingdom.
The role, character and purpose of the Fool
The mock trial scene
The blinding of Gloucester
The character and cruelty of Regan
Edgar and Gloucester on the cliffs at Dover
Hope before tragedy as Lear and Cordelia are reunited
A family dispute as the heart of the play
Why Lear resonates so strongly with audiences
The sense of ‘no place’ in the play
King Lear as a message for King James
The significance of the non-Christian setting of the play
The play as a tragedy and a history play
A brief view of the later critical and performance history of the play
A small selection of ‘King Lear’ on film
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1 June 2026, 5:30 am - 33 minutes 41 secondsKing Lear Part 1: ‘How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth it is to Have a Thankless Child!’
Episode 217:
‘King Lear’, the play that is now often regarded as Shakespeare’s finest and deepest work is most often compared to the other two great tragedies of this period in Shakespeare’s writing, ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Othello’, and of course there are thematic comparisons that can be made with those plays, but it has to be pointed out that ‘King Lear’ is also a very different play in tone and structure. Whether we rate ‘King Lear’ as Shakespeare’s best play or not it is a play that has deeply affected audiences and critics through the centuries and I can only imagine the mark it leaves on actors who take on the main roles. Sadly, what we lack is much detail about initial reactions to the play.
The early performance and publishing history of the play
The influences and sources for the play
The opening scene of the play and the abandonment of the natural order
The questions of judgement and miscommunication in the play
The character of Goneril
Edmund as one of Shakespeare’s truly evil characters
Kent as the voice of reason and loyalty
Lear and the Fool in the storm
Lear’s moral awakening
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25 May 2026, 5:30 am - 40 minutes 2 secondsReading Shakespeare’s Mind: A Conversation with Steve Sohmer
Episode 216:
For today’s guest episode I had the pleasure of talking to Steve Sohmer, author of a book titled ‘Reading Shakespeare’s Mind’. In his book Steve examines how Shakespeare’s relationship with several contemporary authors is exposed in his plays. This involves a very close reading of the text and an endlessly enquiring mind and it’s fascinating to read through Steve’s thought processes to understand the conclusions he has come to. As I was preparing for the recording, which you will notice was made before I got onto the recent episodes on the so called problem plays, I saw that Steve had an extensive biography before he got onto Shakespeare study, so rather than read through it here I thought I would open our conversation by getting Steve to tell me about his working experience.
Publishers Website:https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/search-results/?
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reading-Shakespeares-Mind-Steve-Sohmer/dp/1526138077/ref=sr_1_1?
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Shakespeares-mind-Steve-Sohmer/dp/1526138077/ref=sr_1_1?
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18 May 2026, 5:30 am - 34 minutes 49 secondsTimon of Athens: ‘Nothing Emboldens Sin So Much as Mercy’
Episode 215:
Last time Ben Jonson regained his stride in the public theatre with his comedy ‘Volpone’, an at moments sparkling satire of greed and avarice. Just about the only parallel I can draw between this and Shakespeare’s next offering, ‘Timon of Athens’, is that the study of greed appears in both, but they are very different plays in tone, character and intent. Shakespeare not only continued in his recent sombre mood but deepened it significantly with this play. When reading around the play in preparation for this episode on more than one occasion I saw the play cited as Shakespeare’s least popular play, it is certainly one that is rarely performed and there are many questions about the ‘whys and hows’ of its creation, so buckle up, this might well be more than a little challenging.
The early performance and print history of the play
The source material for the play
The possible co-authorship of the play
A brief synopsis of the plot
The structure of the play
The character of Timon
Issues with explaining Timon’s behaviour
Timon’s railing against Athens and mankind
Timon’s discovery of buried gold
Timon’s death
The character of Alcibiades
The play as a satire of wealth rather than a tragedy
The later performance history
Some of the critical assessments of the play
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11 May 2026, 5:30 am - 32 minutes 59 secondsMuch Ado About Numbers: A Conversation With Rob Eastaway
Episode 214:
For today’s guest episode I was pleased to get the chance to talk to Rob Eastaway, author of a book all about Shakespeare and his relationship to numbers and mathematics. Rob’s book ‘Much Ado About Numbers’ is a very entertaining read, whatever your level of understanding maths might be and quite an eye opener when considering how much maths permeates into Shakespeare’s plays. This is not just about hard numbers and number crunching, but touches to the Elizabethan attitude towards descriptive scales, astrology, astronomy, music and optics. Rob does a great job in the book of condensing these very broad and often technical subjects into a book that is a mixture of popular science, mathematics, history and, of course, literature, so it was great to chat to Rob about just some of those concepts.
Rob Eastaway is author of several bestselling books connecting maths with everyday life, including "Why do Buses Come in Threes?" and "How Many Socks Make a Pair?". His first book "What is a googly?", an introduction to cricket, was famously presented by British Prime Minister John Major to President Bush (snr) at Camp David in 1992, and was published in the USA under the title "Cricket Explained".
With Mike Askew, he wrote "Maths for Mums & Dads", a book that helps parents to understand the new methods being used to teach maths, and offers ideas for how to make maths more engaging and fun at home. An American edition was published in 2010 entitled "Old Dogs, New Math". Rob appears regularly on radio in the UK and is a regular speaker. An activity that has taken him to the Usa and Australia. He was President of the Mathematical Association from 2007-8.
Links to 'Much Ado About Numbers:
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Much-Ado-About-Numbers-Eastaway/dp/1805460293/ref=sr_1_1?
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Much-Ado-About-Numbers-Shakespeares/dp/B0CWD3SNXP/ref=sr_1_1?
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www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com
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4 May 2026, 5:30 am - 34 minutes 53 secondsVolpone: ‘What a Rare Punishment is Avarice to Itself’
Episode 213:
In the spring of 1606, a new Ben Jonson play premiered, not on this occasion at the Blackfriars theatre performed by one of the child companies, but at the Globe and performed by the King’s Men. The reasons for why Jonson sold his play to the King’s Men are not completely clear. Having a play performed by the Kings Men was, of course, prestigious in itself, and some of his early plays had been performed by the Lord Chamberlin’s Men, but up to this point for his most recent plays Johnson had seemed to prefer using the child companies. It may be that the Children of the Queens Revels were wary of another Jonson play after the problems that ‘Eastward Ho’ had caused for the playwrights, or perhaps Johnson himself felt it would be wise to distance himself from that association and switching to the adult company was a way of doing that. Perhaps Jonson had seen the writing on the wall for the Children of the Queens Revels after they had got into trouble for a production of a play by John Day called ‘The Isle of Gulls’.
The dating and first performance of the play
The slow demise of the Children of the Queen’s Revels
Early performances of the play
A brief synopsis of the play
The prologue and the argument
The city comedy elements in the play
What the setting of the play meant to the English audience
The methods by which Jonson created the Venetian setting
The purpose of the subplot featuring three English tourists
The beast fable elements in the play
Deception and the influence of the gunpowder plot on the play
The satire of greed as the driving theme of the play
Class conflict in the play and it’s moralistic ending
The later performance history of the play
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27 April 2026, 5:30 am - 43 minutes 41 secondsCollecting Thomas Kyd: A Conversation with Darren Freebury-Jones
Episode 212:
For today’s guest episode it is a warm welcome back to the podcast for Darren Freebury Jones. On this occasion Darren is here to discuss Thomas Kyd and the works that have been attributed to him in a new two-volume edition of his collected works, for which Darren is the associate editor. It is always a pleasure to talk to Darren and as a friend of the podcast he needs only the briefest of introductions:
Dr Darren Freebury-Jones is author of several works on early modern theatre including:
‘Reading Robert Greene: Recovering Shakespeare’s Rival’, ‘Shakespeare’s Tutor: The Influence of Thomas Kyd’ and his latest work ‘Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers’, has now just been published in a paperback edition.
In addition to these works and his role as Associate Editor for the first critical edition of The Collected Works of Thomas Kyd since 1901 he has also investigated the boundaries of John Marston’s dramatic corpus as part of the Oxford Marston project and is General Editor for ‘The Collected Plays of Robert Greene’ published by Edinburgh University Press. His findings on the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries have been discussed in national newspapers in the UK and on BBC Radio. His debut poetry collection, ‘Rambling’ was published by Broken Sleep Books in 2024. In 2023 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in recognition of his contributions to historical scholarship.
Links to 'The Collected Thomas Kyd' and 'Shakespeare's Borrowed Feathers'
https://boydellandbrewer.com/book/the-collected-works-of-thomas-kyd-2-volume-set-9781843846994/?
https://www.amazon.com/Shakespeares-borrowed-feathers-playwrights-greatest/dp/152617734X/ref=sr_1_1?
https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526177346/
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www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com
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20 April 2026, 5:30 am - 33 minutes 29 secondsAll’s Well That Ends Well: ‘The Web of Our Life is of a Mingled Yarn’
Episode 211:
Through the last few episodes on Shakespeare’s plays, we seem to have seen a playwright in a serious mood, even when he was writing comedies. ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘Measure For Measure’ are often referred to as having an autumnal tone, something serious underlying the comedy and of course we also have the even darker worlds of the tragedies of ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Othello’. The next play we come to from Shakespeare fits well into this group, but I choose my words carefully there because I can’t say for sure that ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ was his ‘next’ play after ‘Measure For Measure’ as the dating of this comedy is difficult.
The dating of the play
The sources for the play
A brief summary of the plot
How Shakespeare subverts the original folk tale into a comedy
Irony in the play
The two sides of the character of Helen
What does Helen see in Bertram?
The role reversal between Helen and Bertram
The character of Bertram
The bed trick
The character of Parolas
Some examples of criticism of the play
The performance history of the play
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13 April 2026, 5:30 am - 40 minutes 14 secondsWhat’s in a Name? A Conversation with Susan Amussen
Episode 210:
In her new book ‘What’s in a name? How historians know Shakespeare was Shakespeare’ Susan Ammunsen sets out to show how that in early modern England it was entirely possible that a glover’s son could transform into a successful actor and playwright. She does so by detailing a society that was in a moment of flux and opportunity in many aspects of life. It is a compelling read, so I was very pleased to invite Susan onto the podcast to discuss her work.
Susan D. Amussen is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of California, Merced, whose work focuses on the intersections of gender and other structures of power in early modern England and its empire. She is author of numerous books and articles, including ‘Caribbean Exchanges: Slavery and the Transformation of English Society’; ‘Turning the World Upside Down’ and, with David Underdown, ‘Gender, Culture and Politics in Early Modern England’ ‘What’s in a name’ was published on March 24th, 2026, by Manchester University Press.
I spoke to Susan over a Zoom call from her home in California
Manchester University Press: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526191908/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whats-Name-Historians-Know-Shakespeare/dp/1526191903/ref=sr_1_2?
Amazon USA: https://www.amazon.com/Whats-name-historians-know-Shakespeare/dp/1526191903/ref=sr_1_3?
Support the podcast at:
www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com
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6 April 2026, 5:00 am - 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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