From the earliest drama in English, to the closing of the theatres in 1642, there was a hell of a lot of drama produced - and a lot of it wasn't by Shakespeare. Apart from a few noble exceptions these plays are often passed over, ignored or simply unknown. This podcast presents full audio productions of the plays, fragmentary and extant, that shaped the theatrical world that shaped our dramatic history.
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Audio podcast adventures from the mind of award-winning playwright and performer Robert Crighton - stories, drama, comedy and general audio sound things coming to you every week directly into your ears. You can support 'The Worlds of Robert Crighton' at www.patreon.com/robertcrighton
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335: Two Shepherds in Praise of Astraea by Mary Sidney (Dialogue)
11:41
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A Dialogue between two Shepherds, Thenot and Piers, in Praise of Astraea by Mary Sidney - this is probably a sung dialogue, but we present the dialogue as it comes. Written in the 1590's Emma Kemp - Thenot Alex Scott Fairley - Piers. This episode was produced by Robert Crighton Our patrons received this episode in January 2024 - approx. 8 months ea…
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The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Nine: How Doctor Faustus would have married, and how the devil had almost killed him for it. Our…
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335: 1566 and All That - Part 1 (Hamlet to Hamilton Crossover)
2:10:02
2:10:02
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Here's the first of two special crossover episodes with Emily C A Synder of the Hamlet to Hamilton podcast. I say two, it's actually five, but these two come as a mini set. We have been dancing through texts from the medieval up to the reign of Elizabeth on their podcast, and now we're doing the same over on ours - with the 1560's. It's a case of t…
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332: Exploring: Kemp's Nine Days Wonder (Archive LIVE Stream)
1:08:17
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March 2020, we were as a company reeling from having to cancel our first full scale live show, and had pivoted briefly to audio only live streams on YouTube. We had tried another audio platform briefly, but it had been disappointing in terms of quality. After a series of readings of The Wonderful Year, Robert did a live exploring session on Kemp's …
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Welcome to a little teaser for an approaching crossover event. Your host Robert Crighton has been moonlighting over at the Hamlet to Hamilton Podcast, and now they're coming to visit us. To prepare for our look into verse in the 1560's, we have a little teaser of this episode covering drama during the reign of Henry the Eighth. You can listen to th…
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331: Astorildo and Carrabunculo by the Unknown (Fragment)
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Welcome to this episode of Fragments, looking at Astorildo and Carrabunculo. We recorded the audio for this as part of a test live stream session, shared only with our patrons. It went reasonably well, and so I edited the runs together into this episode here. The usual fragments run at the text is followed by the original exploring style discussion…
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330: Exploring: Wisdom and Will by John Fisher
35:35
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It's the third of three Dialogues by John Fisher - recorded in a secret London location with Liza Graham and Robert Crighton. As ever with these printed dialogues, there is the usual tension between the question as to whether they are dramatically interesting, or are tipped towards functioned as Socratic dialogue for reading alone. These were print…
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The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Eight: The manner how Faustus proceeded in his damnable life and of the diligent service that Me…
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329: Exploring: Of Maidens by John Fisher (Dialogue)
49:24
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It's the second of three Dialogues by John Fisher - recorded in a secret London location with Liza Graham and Robert Crighton. As ever with these printed dialogues, there is the usual tension between the question as to whether they are dramatically interesting, or are tipped towards functioned as Socratic dialogue for reading alone. These were prin…
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328: Exploring: On Idleness by John Fisher (Dialogue)
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It's the first of three Dialogues by John Fisher - recorded in a secret London location with Liza Graham and Robert Crighton. As ever with these printed dialogues, there is the usual tension between the question as to whether they are dramatically interesting, or are tipped towards functioned as Socratic dialogue for reading alone. These were print…
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327: The Noble Gentlemen by John Fletcher (Epilogue)
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Another Epic Epilogue, this time a short but sweet note from The Noble Gentlemen by John Fletcher and… someone. Part of what we might call the messy Beaumont and Fletcher extended collaborative universe. Fletcher worked with a lot of people, but in this case it’s possible that he died leaving the text unfinished and someone else worked from then on…
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313: Occupation and Idleness by the Unknown (Full Cast Audio Adaptation)
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It's our full cast audio adaptation of Occupation and Idleness by the Unknown - recorded live on YouTube, and mixed for your delectation and pleasure. Occupation and Idleness by the Unknown Robert Crighton - Occupation Emma Kemp - Idleness Liza Graham - Doctrine . Occupation and Idleness. Technical presentation by Robert Crighton CW: Scenes of viol…
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The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Seven: How Mephostophiles came for his writing, and in what manner he appeared, and his sights h…
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326: Aegio, possibly by William Alley (Fragment)
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Another fragment is given a bit of love - this is based on a recording we made from a live stream, but given a tidy up and the usual Fragments treatment. Aegio, possibly by William Alley - c.1560 With Liza Graham as Larymos – hot to trot for predestination – and Robert Crighton as Phronimos – free will is not an illusion. Our patrons received this …
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314: !Spoilers! Occupation and Idleness by the Unknown
1:04:30
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It's the !Spoilers! episode for our full cast audio adaptation of Occupation and Idleness by the Unknown - based on the live stream session on YouTube, and mixed for your delectation and pleasure. Hosted by Robert Crighton. Occupation and Idleness by the Unknown Robert Crighton - Occupation Emma Kemp - Idleness Liza Graham - Doctrine Technical pres…
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325: Discussing: The Tragedy of Mariam with Prof. Elizabeth Schafer
43:48
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A discussion with Professor Elizabeth Schafer about The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary, and other plays. This, as you may have noticed by now, is part of a sequence of discussions about female playwrights, and might be leading up to something special further down the line. Or not. We're working on it. The host was Robert Crighton A full cast a…
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324: !Spoilers! Beware the Cat by William Baldwin
59:54
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Welcome to our !Spoilers! walk through of Beware the Cat by William Baldwin. The audio recording of our live adaptation from the Revels season is available now - but it isn't on the pod for the moment. It can be listened to by signing up for free to our Patreon. Why so? In brief, I'm planning a full production of this show for next year, so I won't…
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The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Six: How Doctor Faustus set his blood in a saucer on warm ashes, and writ as followeth. Our patr…
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Finale of a three part series looking at The Shrewsbury Fragments - this is fragment number three, a Pilgrims play. This clears the very earliest surviving material, clearing a path towards the late medieval plays, that survive in greater abundance. The Shrewsbury Pilgrims by the Unknown With Alex Scott-Fairley as Cleophas, Valentina Vinci as Luke’…
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321: Preist the Barber by the Unknown (Full Cast Audio Adaptation)
18:03
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Hello and welcome to this special presentation of Preist the Barber, based on a live streamed recording session from 2023. This episode also comes in two full cast audio versions – the first is a relatively straightforward audio adaptation, which has a few sound effects, and then a sillier mix of the same presented as a studio comedy from the 1970’…
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323: Middleton's Endgame: A Game at Chess LIVE!
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Hello! Just a quick update on some things happening in the REAL WORLD. Yes, tickets are on sale now for… our next public live show Middleton’s Endgame: A Game at Chess LIVE!, running at The White Bear in Kennington on Sunday 11th August from 1pm till the evening. Tickets are on sale here! It’s not just our live recording of A Game at Chess, it’s a …
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321: Discussing: Renaissance Drama by Women with Prof. Marion Wynne-Davies
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This is a discussion with Professor Marion Wynne-Davies about the collection of plays and documents, published in 1996, Renaissance Drama by Women, which was co-edited with S.P. Cerasano. Whilst it was published a fair while ago, it was this collection that began our work on these plays, and we're probably not alone. This episode features clips fro…
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321: !Spoilers! Preist the Barber by the Unknown
15:48
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Welcome to another spoilerific walk through of our live streamed curio of Preist the Barber. It's a genuinely odd work which needs a lot of glossing - more than I have been able to do for this release. So, this might make more sense than the final full audio release. Because there's nothing funnier than someone laboriously explaining the jokes as t…
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The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Five: The third parley between Doctor Faustus and Mephostophiles about a conclusion. Our patrons…
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Second of a three part series looking at The Shrewsbury Fragments - this is fragment number two, a Marys play. This clears the very earliest surviving material, clearing a path towards the late medieval plays, that survive in greater abundance. The Shrewsbury Mary's by the Unknown Mary Three was played by Fiona Thraille, with Valentina Vinci as the…
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A look at the epilogue to The Fawn, or Parasitaster by John Marston, performed by Fiona Thraille. Our First Look Exploring sessions on the complete play can be found on our Tube of You channel - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLflmEwgdfKoIaZAtWIC3NOYTXU2nd2I_a The epilogue is performed by Fiona Thraille - a British voice actor, narrator and audi…
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319: Discussing: The Theatrical Legacy of Thomas Middleton
45:42
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Welcome to this edited version of our live discussion of The Theatrical Legacy of Thomas Middleton It was an online event celebrating the publication of The Theatrical Legacy of Thomas Middleton, 1624-2024 Featuring Drs Will Green, Anna L. Hegland, Sam Jermy; with host Robert Crighton. You can purchase the book online at... https://www.routledge.co…
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307: The World and the Child (Full Cast Audio Adaptation)
56:36
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At last, it's the last of the big pre-plague audio recordings to come through the machine. It's... The World and the Child, or Mundus et Infans by the Unknown. With Sarah Golding as The World, Robert Crighton as Infans to Age, Rob Myson as Age, Hugh Weller-Poley as Folly, and Fiona Thraille as Perseverance. Technical presentation by Robert Crighton…
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The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Four: The second time of the Spirit appearing to Faustus in his house and their parley. Our patr…
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This is the first of a three part series looking at The Shrewsbury Fragments - this is fragment number one, a Shepherds play. This clears the very earliest surviving material, clearing a path towards the late medieval plays, that survive in greater abundance. In The Shrewsbury Shepherds by the Unknown Third Shepherd was played by Fiona Thraille, wi…
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317: The Road to Bosworth Field (Live Panel Discussion)
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This week it's the live discussion about Richard III in literature, The Road to Bosworth Field, as recorded at the Quay Theatre at Sudbury on Thursday 20th July 2023, following our live performance of Bosworth Field by Sir John Beaumont. With host Robert Crighton were Doctor Jitka Štollová & Doctor Stephen Longstaffe, with additional readings by Sa…
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312: Discussing: A Mirror for Magistrates with Prof. Scott C. Lucas
46:43
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And as a bit of a run up to our next live show The Fall of Richard II, we have a chat with Professor Scott C. Lucas about A Mirror for Magistrates, which he edited in a fine modern edition in 2019, published by Cambridge University Press. If you'd like to hear more about Beware the Cat, we have another episode just for you. Our patrons received thi…
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316: Bosworth Field by Sir John Beaumont (LIVE)
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Welcome to Bosworth Field by Sir John Beaumont, recorded live at the Quay Theatre at Sudbury. The second half of the evening - The Road to Bosworth Field - will drop very soon. Bosworth Field by Sir John Beaumont was hosted by Robert Crighton, sound recorded by Jack Lawson of the Quay Theatre. Many thanks to Joe Fawcett, Sharon Buckler, and the tea…
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The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Three: The conference of Doctor Faustus with his Spirit Mephostophiles the morning following at …
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310: Discussing: The World and the Child with Prof. Greg Walker
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A chat about The World and the Child or, Mundus et Infans, with Professor Greg Walker - who you will remember many a chat about John Heywood on the pod. We're turning the clock back a little bit for a play that survives in print from 1522, but precise dating of production is less clear. Spoilers on the play are already available, and the full cast …
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The Tragedy of Panthea possibly by Richard Farrant. So, this is a short fragment from The Tragedy of Panthea. It was performed by a boy’s company sometime between 1567 and 1580, and depending on the date by the Children of Winsor or the Children of the Chapel Royal. Richard Farrant is a reasonable shout as the author, as he produced within those li…
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304: !Spoilers! The World and the Child (Part 4)
42:13
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We continue our Spoilers for The World and the Child, or Mundus et Infans by the Unknown. Dating around 1500, printed in 1522, it's the smallest cast show on the block - potentially stageable with two (we used five) actors. As a pre-plague bonus recording, we are locked into the takes we made four years ago - but it's come out quite well. This !Spo…
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309: Discussing: Early Plays with Mark Ravenhill
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Welcome to this discussing episode, where I chat with modern playwright Mark Ravenhill about early plays by unmodern playwrights. We talk about a whole host of plays, productions, inspirations, and approaches to early modern plays from the perspective of a modern one. Mark Ravenhill's latest play Ben and Imo is being produced by the RSC and will be…
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The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighton Chapter Two: How Doctor Faustus began to practise in his devilish Art, and how he conjured the devil, ma…
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304: !Spoilers! The World and the Child (Part 3)
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We continue our Spoilers for The World and the Child, or Mundus et Infans by the Unknown. Dating around 1500, printed in 1522, it's the smallest cast show on the block - potentially stageable with two (we used five) actors. As a pre-plague bonus recording, we are locked into the takes we made four years ago - but it's come out quite well. This !Spo…
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308: Discussing: Love's Victory by Mary Wroth
41:46
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A discussion of the play Love's Victory by Lady Mary Wroth - which has been produced live by the team of Professor Alison Findlay and director Emma Rucastle. A video of that production is available online now. More about the project can be found here. A production of Edward III at Lancaster Castle (2023), mentioned in the episode, can be seen here.…
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303: !Spoilers! The World and the Child (Part 2)
42:31
42:31
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We continue our !Spoilers! for The World and the Child, or Mundus et Infans by the Unknown. Dating around 1500, printed in 1522, it's the smallest cast show on the block - potentially stageable with two (we used five) actors. As a pre-plague bonus recording, we are locked into the takes we made four years ago - but it's come out quite well. This !S…
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305: The Hanging of Judas - Towneley (Fragment)
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A full performance of The Hanging of Judas, an odd bit of text in the Towneley mystery cycle documents. It's a fragment only, the narrative cuts off, but we fill in some of the gaps. Sadly, this was one of the recording sessions which went wrong technically - I have cleaned it up as best I can, and added some background sfx for atmosphere, but some…
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Welcome to a new monthly Tuesday short release - it's a reading of a book you might not have read, but you will know. The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story. Performed by Robert Crighto…
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303: !Spoilers! The World and the Child (Part 1)
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We are finally releasing this last of the pre-plague recordings - it's The World and the Child, or Mundus et Infans by the Unknown. Dating around 1500, printed in 1522, it's the smallest cast show on the block - potentially stageable with two (we used five) actors. As a pre-plague bonus recording, we are locked into the takes we made four years ago…
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302: The Merry Conceited Jests of George Peele (Omnibus)
1:05:28
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This is our omnibus edition of the complete jests of George Peele - with additional music added to the mix! The Merry Conceited Jests of George Peele was narrated by Sarah Black, with music composed by Tom Cowell and performed by Tom Cowell, Gabriela Ansteeg, Paolo Maldari, Federico Picetti and Corinna Vatterodt. Produced by Sounds Curious for the …
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300: Discussing: Brutan Drama with Dr Kim Gilchrist
1:10:17
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This week it's a chat about Brutan Drama - or plays about Britain's pre-Roman history, which feature in Stage Britain's Past by Dr Kim Gilchrist, our guest! This has been a chat long in the making, and much prepared for, as we discuss Gorboduc, Locrine, King Leir, and Nobody and Somebody - all of which we have played with in exploring sessions (tho…
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Our patrons received this episode about a week ago. It's hard to do a round up in advance. A round up of all things Beyond, as well as beyond Beyond in the world of pre-modern drama. You can join the public end of the BIG VOTE for our next season here! If you're interested in being involved in our live sessions on A Game at Chess by Thomas Middleto…
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297: King Darius by the Unknown (Epilogue)
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A fuller look than usual at the epilogue to King Darius (c.1565) in the context of the wider play. And... oh boy... is King Darius WEIRD. With the wonderful Fiona Thraille as the epilogue, and various voices in passing in our exploring session clip, including possibly Heydn McCabe, Stephen Longstaffe, Gregory Musson, Liza Graham, Alex Scott Fairley…
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The Jests of George Peele - Episode 14: How George Served a Gentlewoman. Performed by Sarah Blake A full audiobook reading, performed by Sarah Blake of Sounds Curious Productions, released monthly - followed by an omnibus version. Our patrons have received early access to nearly all the episodes so far, and have exclusive access to our exploring se…
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