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

Welcome to our live stage recording of Thersites attributed to Nicholas Udall, from a dialogue by Joannes Ravisius Textor. It's not designed as an audio adaptation, this is simply recorded from a distance on stage. However, it is hopefully of some use. It was recorded as part of our Entertaining Henry season on Sunday 22nd June 2025 at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury.
With Alexandra Kataigida as Thersites, Roel Fox as Mulciber (a smith) Liza Graham as Mater (Thersites’ mother) Simon Nader Mirza as Miles (a soldier) and Robert Crighton as Iratus Scaena Procurator.
The Backstage Technical Manager was Valentina Vinci.
Music by Roel Fox
Many thanks to Joe Fawcett, Tom Lagden, and everyone behind the scenes at the Quay.

We have a playlist of our exploring sessions and a fairly full Zoom staging of the uncut play.
We have a discussion of the play with Prof. Liz Oakley-Brown
The entire Entertaining Henry season was recorded, including most of the rehearsal period - all of this material can be found on our patreon feed.

Our patrons received a mix of this episode in November 2025 - 6 months 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 www.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

Today we're having a chat with Dr Carla Suthren about the play Jocasta translated by George Gascoigne, Francis Kinwelmersh and Christopher Yelverton from Ludovico Dolce's Giocasta, which was homeopathically connected to Euripides Phoenician Women. Performed around 1566, it was created by students of Gray's Inn. Dr Suthren is editing a modern edition, which will be published soon.

If you'd like to explore our first look at the text, it can be found here.

Our patrons received a mix of this episode in February 2026 - 3 months 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 www.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

Welcome to our live stage recording of Gentleness and Nobility by John Heywood with John Rastell (though we've probably cut most Rastell from this edit). It's not designed as an audio adaptation, this is simply recorded from a distance on stage. However, it is a fairly complete recording and hopefully of some use. It was recorded as part of our Entertaining Henry season on Saturday 21st June 2025 at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury.

With Valentina Vinci as The Knight, Liza Graham as The Merchant and Robert Crighton as The Ploughman
The Backstage Technical Manager was Roel Fox.
Additional Music from zapsplat.com
Many thanks to Joe Fawcett, Tom Lagden, and everyone behind the scenes at the Quay.

We've done a lot on John Heywood, and this play - this is the third production available on the podcast, the first a full cast audio adaptation and the second an different archive recording (with a different cut of the text). There are also exploring sessions and more. We like this play.
The entire Entertaining Henry season was recorded, including most of the rehearsal period - all of this material can be found on our patreon feed.
Our patrons received a mix of this episode in November 2025 - over 6 months 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 www.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.

Chapter Twenty-Six: How Faustus was asked a question concerning the Spirits that vex men.

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

Thunder sfx thanks to zapsplat.com
Our patrons received this episode in October 2024 - approx. 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 www.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

And this month it's a chat about our sponsors, The Malone Society, and their work. If you're a free subscriber to our Patreon then you can be entered into our monthly giveaway of a free Malone Society edition each month!

The Malone Society publishes editions of early printed and manuscript texts of plays, plus collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. In addition to the annual volumes distributed to members, we support scholarship through fellowships and research grants, prizes, symposia and a range of bibliographically inspired t-shirts.

New members receive a copy of the current annual volume and a volume from our backlist of their choice, and new student members receive three free volumes from the backlist. Membership is available for purchase in a variety of currencies, and we offer discounted membership rates to students and scholars who are precariously, contingently, or independently employed.
To join the society, please go to our website: malonesociety.com.

Lucy Munro is Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Literature at King’s College London. Her most recent book is Shakespeare in the Theatre: The King’s Men, and she has published on the uses of archaic theatrical forms in Sir Thomas More. She is currently writing a book about the Globe and Blackfriars playhouses.

Our patrons received a mix of this episode relatively recently, but usually it's months, occassionally years 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 www.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

Welcome to our live stage recording of The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness by John Bale. It's not designed as an audio adaptation, this is simply recorded from a distance on stage. However, it is a fairly complete recording and hopefully of some use. It was recorded as part of our Entertaining Henry season on Saturday 21st June 2025 at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury.
With With Simon Nader Mirza as Jesus, Alexandra Kataigida as Satan, and Roel Fox and Liza Graham as Angels.
The Backstage Technical Manager was Valentina Vinci.
Music by Roel Fox
Many thanks to Joe Fawcett, Tom Lagden, and everyone behind the scenes at the Quay.

The entire Entertaining Henry season was recorded, including most of the rehearsal period - all of this material can be found on our patreon feed.

Our patrons received a mix of this episode in November 2025 - 6 months 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 www.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

And this week it's a chat about one of our favourite plays with Isobel Strevens - Tancred and Gismunda by... well, a lot of people. We're oddly fascinated by this very bloody play - BUT do read the content warning below. And there are a lot of spoilers, if you've not encountered the play before.

Exploring playlist for much of our work on the texts.

Isobel is a PhD student at the University of Bristol. Her research focuses on dismemberment on the early modern stage, exploring how both the rise of dissection and the influence of classical reception shaped the depiction of violence in the drama of the period. To see what else she gets up to, follow her Instagram account: @izzidoesacademia

CW: we'll be discussing violence, injury detail, structural misogyny, suicide, self harm, and death.

Our patrons received a mix of this episode in January 2026 - 4 months 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 www.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

Welcome to our live stage recording of The World and the Child, or Mundus et Infans by the Unknown. It's not designed as an audio adaptation, this is simply recorded from a distance on stage. However, it is a fairly complete recording and hopefully of some use. It was recorded as part of our Entertaining Henry season on Friday 20th June 2025 at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury.
With Robert Crighton as the World, Roel Fox as the Child, Alexandra Kataigida as Conscience, Liza Graham as Folly, and Simon Nader Mirza as Perseverance.
The Backstage Technical Manager was Valentina Vinci.
Additional Music by Roel Fox
Many thanks to Joe Fawcett, Tom Lagden, and everyone behind the scenes at the Quay.

The entire Entertaining Henry season was recorded, including most of the rehearsal period - all of this material can be found on our patreon feed.
For more on The World and the Child, visit our playlists - with background and spoilers

Our patrons received a mix of this episode in November 2025 - 5 months 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 www.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.