Beyond Shakespeare

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
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.

We continue the last section of the book - or:
The third and last of Doctor Faustus his merry conceits, showing after what sort he practised Necromancy in the Courts of great Princes, and lastly of his fearful and pitiful end.

Chapter Thirty-Two: How Three Young Dukes being together at Wittenberg to behold the University requested Faustus to help them at a wish to the town, of Menchen in Bavaria, there to see the Duke of Bavaria his Sons wedding.

Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.

Thunder sfx thanks to http://zapsplat.com/

Our patrons received this episode in over 18 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
This week we have another full cast audio adaptation of a Lord Mayors Show, this time from 1609. Sadly, much of the text is lost, but we do have the end and the accounts of some of the elements involved, which we have pieced together with Professor Tracey Hill.

In CAMP-BELL: or The Ironmongers Fair Field
Mine host John was played by Robert Crighton
Mine hostess Joan by Liza Graham
Anthony Munday by Iona Campbell
Saint Andrew by Alex Scott Fairley, and Saint George by Emma Kemp.
The episode was produced by Robert Crighton

Our patrons received this episode in September 2026 - over a month early!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
This week we're sharing this version of the Seven Deadly Sins, as found in the Norwich Archdeacon's visitation book. It might not have been designed for performance, but it could have functioned as a mini pageant on the theme of sin, in a similar way to pageants of the Nine Worthies might be trotted out for civic events. It might date to 1548, based on where the text is placed in relation to other entries, but it might also date a little early or later (1533-51ish)

Aliki Chapple - Pride
Ailbhe Casey - Envy
Tamara Ritthaler - Wrath
Hadrian Conyngham - Covetousness
Roel Fox - Sloth
Oliver Maynard - Gluttony
Emma Kemp - Lechery
The episode was hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

Our patrons received this episode in August 2026 - a month early!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
This week we haves a chat about The Parnassus Plays, written in Cambridge in the early 1600's by some people. Robert Crighton is joined by the editors of an upcoming edition of the plays for the Revels series, Andrew Hadfield and Neil Rhodes.

The plays are available to buy from Manchester University Press now!

Andrew Hadfield has taught a variety of undergraduate courses throughout his career at the Universities of Leeds, Ulster, Aberystwyth, Columbia (New York), and Sussex, concentrating on medieval and early modern literature, Irish literature, literary theory and some twentieth-century literature. He has also taught M. A. courses on Spenser; literature, travel writing and colonialism; and Shakespeare, and also has been a visiting professor at the University of Granada (Spain) since 2007 and a fellow of the British Academy and the English Association.

Neil Rhodes was a Scholar of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, where he was awarded the degrees of MA and DPhil and was a Newdigate prizewinner. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Granada, and Liverpool Hope University, and joint General Editor with Andrew Hadfield of the MHRA Tudor and Stuart Translations. From 2014-16 he held a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to work on a book entitled Common: The Development of Literary Culture in Sixteenth-Century England, published by Oxford University Press in 2018. His teaching is principally in the fields of English Renaissance literature.

Our patrons received this episode in July 2026 - over a three months early!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
Part four of our an epic (yet dinky) series looking at some fragments found in The English Treasury of Wit and Language by John Cotgrave.
You can find a version of the text at https://archive.org/. This fragment comes from page 40 and another quote on Chamber-maids. The text is performed by Aliki Chapple, the host is Robert Crighton.

Our patrons received this episode in March 2025 - over eighteen months early!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
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.

We continue the last section of the book - or:
The third and last of Doctor Faustus his merry conceits, showing after what sort he practised Necromancy in the Courts of great Princes, and lastly of his fearful and pitiful end.

Chapter Thirty-One: How the above mentioned Knight went about to be revenged of Doctor Faustus.

Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.

Thunder sfx thanks to http://zapsplat.com/

Our patrons received this episode in February 2025 - over 18 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
This week we conclude (for now) our Thyestes journey, with a mix of the post-show discussion.
With Helen Good, Tudor historian, and cast member Simon Nader Mirza - hosted by Robert Crighton

Live show technical Manager – Valentina Vinci
Produced by Robert Crighton

CW: torture, violence, references to sexual violence, injury detail, murder, infanticide, cannibalism, discussion of Catholic persecution.

Our patrons received the rough mix of this episode in November 2025 - over 10 months early!

The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on social media @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts

This week we continue our Thyestes journey, with a mix of the live show. Next week we will drop our post-show discussion.

Thyestes by Seneca, translated by Jasper Heywood
Recorded live on Thursday 23rd October 2025 at 7.30pm

Brian Eastty - Chorus leader
Pamela Flanagan - Megaera and Messenger
Karim Kronfli - Atreus
Sophie Lawlor – Philisthenes and Chorus
Shamiso Mushambi - Atreus’ Servant and Chorus
Simon Nader Mirza – Thyestes
Valentina Vinci – Tantalus and Chorus

Live show technical Manager – Valentina Vinci
Continuity – Dennis Caouki
Company Text Coach – Liza Graham
Produced by Robert Crighton

CW: torture, violence, references to sexual violence, injury detail, murder, infanticide, cannibalism.

Our patrons received the rough mix of this episode in November 2025 - over 10 months early!

The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on social media @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts

This is a chat about Thyestes with Dr Harriet Archer, who we had hoped would be with us on the recording day at the Wyrd Revels for the post-show discussion, but stuff happens, so we picked the thread up now for the final edit on the podcast. As a discussion of the play, content warnings for mentions of violence, sexual violence, and cannibalism. Though we keep our chat fairly PG.
The full live recording and post show discussion will follow very soon.
Audio editing by Dennis Caouki

Our patrons received this episode a month early!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts

This week we have a short fragment from the early 17th century - A play generally labelled as Two Thieves and a Gullible Tapster - but you can make up your own.
A young tapster is hoodwinked by two reprobates into telling them of a traveller with gold worth nicking, and also talks him into giving them drinks on tick. They do this via pretty effective social ploys of making him feel like he’s one of them, peer pressures him into trying tobacco and generally making him feel like one of the in crowd.
You can have a look at the text at the Lost Plays Database.
With Liza Graham as the Tapster, Ailbhe Casey as Reprobate One and Roel Fox as Reprobate the other one.

Our patrons received this episode in July 2026 - over a month early!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
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.

We continue the last section of the book - or:
The third and last of Doctor Faustus his merry conceits, showing after what sort he practised Necromancy in the Courts of great Princes, and lastly of his fearful and pitiful end.

Chapter Thirty: How Doctor Faustus in the sight of the Emperor, conjured a pair of Hart’s horns upon a Knights head that slept out at a casement.

Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.

Thunder sfx thanks to http://zapsplat.com/

Our patrons received this episode in February 2025 - 18 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts

This week we have a chat with Stewart McGill about an upcoming production of The Massacre at Paris by Christopher Marlowe. Stewart is directing the play for Playbox Theatre in October, and we chat about what you might expect from this youth production.
Running 15th to 17th October 2026 at The Dream Factory in Warwick - Tickets and show info here.
Audio editing by Dennis Caouki

Our patrons received this episode a few weeks early. Normally it's a bit more than that, but show chats are more time precious.
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts

The Wise-woman of Hogston by Thomas Heywood
Recorded live on Wednesday 22nd October 2025 at 7.30pm

Aliki Chapple - Luce's Father
Tobias Deacon – Taber
Brian Eastty - Old Chartley
Pamela Flanagan - Wise-woman
Roel Fox – Haringfield
Aisling Groves-McKeown - Luce / A Kitchen maid
Liza Graham - Sir Boniface
Keith Hill - Sir Harry
Alex Kapila – A Woman / Gratiana
Alexandra Kataigida – Chartley
Emma Kemp - Second Luce (Jack)
Nat Kennedy - Joseph
Oliver Maynard - Senser
Kit McGuire - Boyster
Simon Nader Mirza – A Countryman / A Serving-man / Giles
Music by Roel Fox
Live show technical Manager – Valentina Vinci
Continuity – Dennis Caouki
Company Text Coach – Liza Graham
Produced by Robert Crighton

Our patrons received the rough mix of this episode in November 2025 - about 10 months early!

The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on social media @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts

A quick update about our upcoming live stream recording sessions, plus our live in-person events for the Autumn up to Christmas! All of these events will be recorded and shared on the podcast in the future, but you can catch them now by becoming a patron, or buying tickets.

Autumn Live-Stream Line Up - £3+tier patrons, https://www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare

Maroccus extaticus or, Banks’ Bay Horse in a Trance – Monday 14th September 2026 - Whilst not technically a play (it's a pamphlet written in dialogue) it's a chance to exercise our favourite horse. Banks was a well known showman, and here he has a chat with his famous horse about the issues of the day… the day being 1595.

Hick Scorner - Monday 28th September 2026 - A Tudor moral interlude from the early years of the reign of Henry the Eighth.

The Interlude of Youth / Abraham and Isaac (Northampton/Dublin) – Monday 12th October 2026 - A double bill of a Tudor moral interlude (which we essayed last year), and a late medieval biblical play of Abraham and Isaac.

Lusty Juventus – Monday 26th October 2026 - Unfinished business, as we had hoped to record this Tudor moral interlude at our Sir Thomas More event in April, but we ran out of time. So, here it is in full - well, the songs might be recorded separately...

The Baptism & The Temptation by John Bale – Monday 9th November 2026 - A double bill of John Bale's evangelical mystery plays. We have essayed The Temptation last year, but here it is presented with its stablemate.

Mankind – Monday 23rd November 2026 - A late medieval morality play, featuring a guest appearance by the demon of typos.

In-person events -
Lord Mayor's Show - Thursday 29th October - Tickets on sale NOW!
The Beyond Christmas Revels 2026 - Sunday 6th December 2026 from 1pm at the White Bear in Kennington. Tickets on sale NOW!

The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
This week we have a chat about Cue Scripts with Lizzie Conrad Hughes, founder of Shake-scene S*********e about the practice of using cues scripts to produce a show.

Find out more about their work - https://www.shake-sceneshakespeare.co.uk/
Support their work - https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare

Our patrons received this episode in April 2026 - a few months early!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Welcome to this full cast audio of The Norwich Grocers' Play - version A from the 1530's! Version B from thirty years later will follow anon.
The Story of the Creation of Eve, with the Expelling of Adam and Eve out of Paradise by Stephen Prewett
With Song Marshall as Eve, Benjamin Finch as Adam, Larissa Oates Serpent, and Alison Whismore as God
The text coach for the production was Liza Graham
The Norwich Grocers Play A was produced for the Beyond podcast by Robert Crighton.

Our patrons received the rough mix of this episode in July 2026 - about 1 month early!

The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on social media @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
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.

We begin the last section of the book - or:
The third and last of Doctor Faustus his merry conceits, showing after what sort he practised Necromancy in the Courts of great Princes, and lastly of his fearful and pitiful end.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: How the Emperor Carolus Quintus requested of Faustus to see some of his cunning, whereunto he agreed.

Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.

Thunder sfx thanks to http://zapsplat.com/

Our patrons received this episode in January 2024 - 18 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts
Part three of our an epic (yet dinky) series looking at some fragments found in The English Treasury of Wit and Language by John Cotgrave. This is a fairly chunky opening gambit, with the preface to the book, before our usual drive by at a short bit of text.

You can find a version of the text at https://archive.org. This fragment comes from page 40 and the section of quotes on Chamber-maids. The text is performed by Aliki Chapple, the host is Robert Crighton.

Our patrons received this episode in February 2025 - eighteen months early!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

The Witch of Edmonton by Thomas Dekker, John Ford & William Rowley
Recorded live at the White Bear Theatre on Tuesday 21st October at 7.30pm
CW: Below the cast list

Cast:
Aliki Chapple - Old Banks
Robert Crighton – Justice
Tobias Deacon - Sir Arthur
Brian Eastty - Old Thorney
Pamela Flanagan - Third Clown / Constable / First Countryman
Alex Kapila - Winifred / Sawgut
Emma Kemp – Susan
Susan Kyd – Mother Sawyer
Nat Kennedy – Cuddy Banks
Roel Fox – Warbeck
Liza Graham - Second Morris / Second Morris
Aisling Groves-McKeown - Prologue / First Morris / Third Countryman / Ann
Keith Hill - Old Carter
Alexandra Kataigida - Katherine / Spirit / Hamluc
Oliver Maynard - Somerton / Fourth Morris / Ratcliffe
Kit McGuire – Dog
Simon Nader Mirza – Frank Thorney
Music by Roel Fox
Live Show Technical Manager – Valentina Vinci
Company Text Coach – Liza Graham
Continuity – Dennis Caouki
Produced by Robert Crighton

CW: Violence, misogyny, murder, stabbing, injustice, demonic creatures.

Our patrons received the rough mix of this episode in November 2025 - about 9 months early!

The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on social media @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts

This week it's a discussing episode where I chat with Dr Shirley Bell about her book Music and Emotion on the Caroline Stage - available now!
The book examines the relationship between music and emotion in the Caroline theatre. Music could be ravishing, it could be unsettling, it could be used as a way of depicting madness itself or of treating that madness. This book explores the many ways in which emotions were provoked, controlled and directed through music and its impact on the theatre audience in a range of Caroline drama. Music allows characters to express their emotions in ways that speech does not; it can be ironic, it can undermine the characters’ dialogue, and it can affect the audience in many ways. This book brings together major recent work on emotions and synthesises this work with scholarship on music to demonstrate how music and emotions are intimately linked on the Caroline stage.

Shirley Bell is an associate lecturer and researcher in English at Sheffield Hallam University, UK, specialising in early modern literature, drama, and culture. Her doctoral thesis explored the use of instrumental music and song in the works of Richard Brome, James Shirley, and Ben Jonson’s ‘late plays’ to determine how much of an impact the music had on a holistic understanding of the plays in performance. @drshirleybell on Bluesky, Instagram and TikTok.

The book can be bought here. There is a 20% discount with this code: PALAUT

Our patrons received a mix of this episode in June 2026 - 1 month in advance.
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to https://patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.org/
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQ
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.

About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg’s edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan’s edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.
Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.
In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.
The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.