I haven't been blogging much - I haven't really known what to do with this blog since the rebrand of Beyond Shakespeare and I'm effectively in isolation. Everyone will soon be in isolation. And that's fine, I don't get out much. But all I've got now is to edit things for the podcast. Next to no new recordings will be coming in - or not till I get my head together and organise some remote recording from other people who are in isolation.
So... prose. Stories. Single narrator text. That's the thing to keep me sane. And produce more for the future of the podcast. And keep me sane.
After the live show was cancelled on Friday, and every other job I had lined up over the course of the year also got cancelled, I was a bit manic. Like, I have all this time now, what do I do with it? And then I saw a post from Professor Tracey Hill on twitter, mentioning The Wonderful Year by Thomas Dekker, and I thought, looks interesting. So I hunted around, had a look and thought.
Well, I'm not doing anything on Sunday.
So, Sunday comes and I record the whole thing. I was thinking of editing the whole thing, but I ran out of steam. There are lots of pick ups and questions of how to finish it as audio, but it's basically in the can.
At this time of general plague, doing a reading of a pamphlet about another plague - there's a fuck ton of death in it - would be very bad for my mental health. It wasn't. It might be bad for YOUR mental health, if you listen to it, but it was very therapeutic.
Which is odd, because recording audio books is the most tedious of recording jobs. It is exhausting and oddly painful in surprising parts of the body. But that was a good day. I determined to work through the first session in the morning, and see if I could finish it by the end of the week for the podcast.
And then, this morning, I thought... why not keep going? Why not just keep doing the prose, the poetry, the non dramatic stuff? Not every day, not perfectly - but as part of the day? Because it was good for me to get out of the edit, out of my head, and just say words.
But I know what my motivation is like, I'll get bored - so, I decided to try doing it live. Again, I'm not going to be doing anything live for a while, so why not. Even if only one person is listening, it's part of the practice.
I put out a feeler on twitter, hunted for a platform (so much has changed since I last live streamed anything) and did a test with a short poem The Rising to the Crown of Richard III, which came to my attention, along with other pieces I've been developing, thanks to Dr. Jitka Štollová who I met at the Changing History conference the other year. It's not as good a quality as a proper recording, but it was good enough and it got a few listens - so I'll be going on with it for a while. So, tomorrow (16th March 2020) at 12.30pm GMT, for between 30 minutes and an hour I will be performing a text - probably the same text over the course of the week. Not because anyone is clamouring for it, but because it's good for me. And it basically makes public the kind of initial work I do with any text that comes my way. An initial fun read through. And then I'll get it recorded properly.
Come and join me. https://www.podbean.com/lsw/beyondshakespeare/s-3OlgtMoSJx
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 is a blog about what exists beyond Shakespeare, about the plays, fragmentary and extant, that shaped the theatrical world that shaped our dramatic history.
Monday, 16 March 2020
Saturday, 2 March 2019
The (Vaguely) Complete Playes of Christopher Marlowe
NB: We've got a website! www.beyondshakespeare.org - that doesn't mean we're abandoning this blog, but it does mean that the main action is starting to shift elsewhere.
Latest News - Reserve Your Seat Now!
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast Presents...
The (Vaguely) Complete Workes of Christopher Marlowe (Abridged... by a sharp pointy thing in the eye)
Recording live as a radio show in the atmospheric and historic location of the Farmers Club in Bury St Edmunds, it's an evening (and afternoon) of drama, comedy, satire, history and the satanic ritual*.
Go Beyond Shakespeare and enjoy some Kit.
*No creatures of darkness will be harmed during this event.
Strictly Limited Numbers - Book Now!
Bury St Edmunds - Saturday 13th April at 2.30pm & 7.30pm
Performing in the Bury St Edmunds Farmers Club Lower Lounge on Saturday 13th April 2019Tickets: £15 - Contact 01284 750 969 or email FrontofHouse@BSEFC.co.uk - or go to their website.
Any general enquiries call 07946 652 196, or email admin@beyondshakespeare.org
 |
| Picture - from our Discover John Heywood night, 2018 |
Performed by the Beyond Shakespeare Enterluders - including Heydn McCabe & Rob Myson. Produced by Robert Crighton
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast can be found online via itunes or your favourite podcast provider. Follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakesThe ‘Beyond Shakespeare’ Podcast – A (Sort of) Mission Statement
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.
We're going to produce EVERYTHING. In full, in part, in different ways, live, in studio, in rehearsal, in production - help support us by pledging on our patreon account, and get a vote as to what we do next. www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare
Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher or just listen here.
Sunday, 11 November 2018
Discover John Heywood!
NB: We've got a website! www.beyondshakespeare.org - that doesn't mean we're abandoning this blog, but it does mean that the main action is starting to shift elsewhere.
Latest News - Discover John Heywood Tickets Now On Sale!
The Beyond Shakespeare Company Presents...
DISCOVER John Heywood:
Entertainer to the King (and the Queen, another King, and another Queen – he lived a long time...)
Live Recording of a Podcast for the Beyond Shakespeare Company
Beginning his career as a musician and all round entertainer in the court of Henry the Eighth, John Heywood became a writer of some of the best plays of his age. The Beyond Shakespeare Company has been producing a complete works of John Heywood throughout 2018, playing his comedies and dramas for audiences online.As a special fundraiser and launch for the newly created company, we present a selection box of Heywood's best work to entertain and edify. Recording live as a radio show in atmospheric and historic locations in East Anglia, Discover John Heywood will be an evening of comedy, debate, satire, history and the odd fart joke.
Go Beyond Shakespeare and discover the greatest theatre maker of his age.
Strictly Limited Numbers - Book Now!
Bury St Edmunds - Saturday 1st December from 7pm
Performing at the Bury St Edmunds Farmers Club - with buffet option.Pre-show Buffet Option – Hosted by the Artistic Director of the company, Robert Crighton, who will talk about the show and introduce John Heywood to you.
Buffet, Introduction & Show (7pm onwards) – £30 for buffet and show
Tickets for just the Show (8pm onwards) – £15
Performing in the Bury St Edmunds Farmers Club Lower Lounge on Saturday 1st December
Tickets: Contact 01284 750 969 or email FrontofHouse@BSEFC.co.uk - or go to their website.
Any enquiries call 07946 652 196, or email admin@beyondshakespeare.org
Directed by Robert Crighton and performed by the Beyond Shakespeare Enterluders - including Heydn McCabe, Rob Myson, and Geir Madland.
The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast can be found online via itunes or your favourite podcast provider. Follow us on Twitter @BeyondShakes
The ‘Beyond Shakespeare’ Podcast – A (Sort of) Mission Statement
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.
We're going to produce EVERYTHING. In full, in part, in different ways, live, in studio, in rehearsal, in production - help support us by pledging on our patreon account, and get a vote as to what we do next. www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare
Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher or just listen here.
Monday, 7 May 2018
The Pardoner and the Friar by John Heywood
Written around 1529, printed in 1533.
Cast of Four:
The FRIAR
The PARDONER
The PARSON
Neighbour PRAT
Perfect for student or fringe production, running at approximately 30 minutes without a break.
Our Production: Full cast audio adaptation - with Rob Myson as the Friar and Heydn McCabe as the Pardoner. Also featuring Robert Crighton as the Parson and Simon Nader as Neighbour Prat. Additional voices by Michael Fouldes and Andy Piper. We're also looking at doing the play live, because that is the natural home for it.
If you'd like to read the text of the play there's a facsimile of the original printing here and a modern spelling edition of the play here. NB: there are a few errors and oddities in this edition, but it's close enough for mustard.
As per usual, our production text was cross referenced between various editions, which are reasonably plentiful for this play. That said, we don't think there are currently any easier to use modern spelling editions to work from - if you're interested in staging the play, we're happy to share our rehearsal script, if it is of use.
The cast is all male, but there is no particular reason why the genders should not be changed for modern productions - the only character with a name is Prat and his pronoun is a nicely generic neighbour, so play about.
Setting: A church before the Reformation. The play is a satire of certain practices of the church, the abuse of power, the selling of relics, the competition between different orders. That said, the play would survive a more modern staging - it is inherently playful, not strictly realistic.
Plot and Character: The Friar enters and appeals for alms, then gets on his knees to pray - presumably with his donation receptacle before him. His act of piety also a ploy to get money. This is interrupted by the arrival of the Pardoner who stands on a stool and starts flogging access to his holy relics - pretty mangy ones at that - for which act he claims he has a Papal dispensation to do. The Friar then stands and begins his patter again, but the Pardoner speaks over him. The two continue to talk to the crowd over each other, occasionally stopping to argue with each other, getting increasingly annoyed. Eventually they come to blows, the Parson and neighbour Prat coming in to break them up and expel them from the church. In the end the Pardoner and the Friar join forces to beat them up instead and leave together. The play is deceptively simple, but brilliantly structured, the overlapping arguments fitting together perfectly, allowing for play and give and take between the two protagonists.
Perfect for student or fringe production, running at approximately 30 minutes without a break.
Our Production: Full cast audio adaptation - with Rob Myson as the Friar and Heydn McCabe as the Pardoner. Also featuring Robert Crighton as the Parson and Simon Nader as Neighbour Prat. Additional voices by Michael Fouldes and Andy Piper. We're also looking at doing the play live, because that is the natural home for it.
As per usual, our production text was cross referenced between various editions, which are reasonably plentiful for this play. That said, we don't think there are currently any easier to use modern spelling editions to work from - if you're interested in staging the play, we're happy to share our rehearsal script, if it is of use.
The cast is all male, but there is no particular reason why the genders should not be changed for modern productions - the only character with a name is Prat and his pronoun is a nicely generic neighbour, so play about.
Setting: A church before the Reformation. The play is a satire of certain practices of the church, the abuse of power, the selling of relics, the competition between different orders. That said, the play would survive a more modern staging - it is inherently playful, not strictly realistic.
Plot and Character: The Friar enters and appeals for alms, then gets on his knees to pray - presumably with his donation receptacle before him. His act of piety also a ploy to get money. This is interrupted by the arrival of the Pardoner who stands on a stool and starts flogging access to his holy relics - pretty mangy ones at that - for which act he claims he has a Papal dispensation to do. The Friar then stands and begins his patter again, but the Pardoner speaks over him. The two continue to talk to the crowd over each other, occasionally stopping to argue with each other, getting increasingly annoyed. Eventually they come to blows, the Parson and neighbour Prat coming in to break them up and expel them from the church. In the end the Pardoner and the Friar join forces to beat them up instead and leave together. The play is deceptively simple, but brilliantly structured, the overlapping arguments fitting together perfectly, allowing for play and give and take between the two protagonists.
Modern Staging Suggestions: Site specific would be an obvious way to go, but otherwise this play can be performed anywhere. An actual church, with difficult acoustics, might work against the play, so a deader space might be preferable. Unlike Heywood's debate plays this has a clear setting which can be indicted through action and dialogue, though with some set if desired.
Comparison with other Heywood Plays: This was the second play we recorded with our Heywood company, though the third we've produced. It was immediately embraced by the cast who found it a joy to perform, especially following the tougher text of Witty and Witless. It feels like a natural cousin to John John, with firm place and action, as well as clear comic thrust - they would make a good double bill as a one act show - running together at around 70 minutes. Whilst it covers similar ground as The Four Pp (yet to be recorded, so this assessment is perhaps premature) it is a more theatrical event.
Issues: Presenting this play as audio was difficult as it's inherently theatrical. The audiences attention is vied for by the two principle performers. That said, we were also glad that we didn't need to learn the play - it's incredibly difficult to get right. If you're staging it, make sure you get the text to your actors early so that they can be comfortable (i.e. know it) before they start to rehearse. They'll be taking their cues from each other as well as saying their lines - at the same time. It is only to be attempted by actors who are good with lines. About-right-it'll-do acting will not suffice unless you're playing Prat.
History: We know that this play has a modern performance history, but haven't come across many references to shows. If you know of any performances, past/present/future, do let us know. And if you're thinking of having a go at the play - please get in touch. We'd love to know about your take, and to help archive it if we can. We don't want to see just one production of any play, we want multiple takes out there.
His Previous Play: On Gentleness and Nobility - which is in production now.
His Next Play: The Four PP - which we'll get to later in the year.
Tuesday, 6 March 2018
A few changes are afoot...
If you've been here before you may be a tad confused - why the name change? What's going on?
Well, we're having a bit of a rebrand and new things are afoot. Hell, it's a positive leg worth of material a coming.
But that's a little way off - you'll have to be patient.
More soon!
Tuesday, 30 August 2016
Finally, a bit of Heywood
After a few years of pootling along, we're finally getting around to attacking the work of John Heywood, an early Tudor playwright who created a selection of delightful interludes. Using the opportunity of doing a completely separate live streamed comedy show (Live from the Get In), I'm recording Johan Johan - or A mery play between John Johan the husbande, Tyb his wyfe, and Syr Johan the preest (which is a bit of a mouthful and a bugger to tweet) - in front of a live studio audience.
Here's how it works - the final show will be edited and adapted for audio (the physical comedy doesn't come across well for obvious reasons) but I've been recording all the read through/rehearsals so that there are several recordings of these - including one of the full text, plus actor discussion and general thoughts on performance. All this material will appear on the blog in the next few months.
We've had two full rehearsals so far, with another run to go - and so we've gone into this short interlude in some detail - for the moment here were some of our first impressions.
1. It's pretty rude. I knew the play was about cuckolding, but I'd not appreciated the full weight of the innuendo present of hard phallic objects being vigorously worked in the corner of the room. It's, sadly, something that will be lost in the audio recording, but the live audience will get it.
2. The opening speech has become very difficult to pull off. There's nothing like a long speech to open a play, where the protagonist goes into a lengthy debate as to whether to beat his wife or not, to endear that character to the audience. The joke is that he's obviously never going to actually do it, being too afraid of her, and that he keeps swapping between whether he should or not, what the neighbours will say, would it work etc. In the Tudor world, where the chastising of a wife would be acceptable behaviour, this was probably very funny - to the modern audience, this is, to say the least, problematic. We could argue that because he's never going to do it, there's no harm done - but that doesn't really hold much water and it will be interesting to see how the opening will read to the audience. I couldn't let the audience come in cold to this, so to give the play some context I've got a narrator to set the scene, and have cut the speech down so that the appeal for wife beating doesn't go on too long.
3. Pie making is a complicated business. I'd not appreciated how complicated the business of the pie in the story was. In the play, John John is cheated out of eating supper (a pie) by doing a pointless household chore. But the story of the pie runs through the whole play - from arriving in the house at the start, to the back story of the commissioning and making of said pie prior. The backstory of the making of the pie is used by Sir John the priest to get admittance to John John's house and the eating thereof. I hope we'll make this clear to the audience.
4. Having two characters called John is a bit odd and not very helpful - though not actually a problem.
5. The play is, barring the opening (see above), really rather fun and we expect it to prove genuine laughter.
Assuming that the show I'm yoking this recording session to continues, I'm hoping to follow up the play with more from Heywood, recording versions of all his interludes - with the possible exception of The Play of the Weather, which is a bit too big for me at the moment, and which has been looked at in some detail elsewhere.
Here's how it works - the final show will be edited and adapted for audio (the physical comedy doesn't come across well for obvious reasons) but I've been recording all the read through/rehearsals so that there are several recordings of these - including one of the full text, plus actor discussion and general thoughts on performance. All this material will appear on the blog in the next few months.
We've had two full rehearsals so far, with another run to go - and so we've gone into this short interlude in some detail - for the moment here were some of our first impressions.
1. It's pretty rude. I knew the play was about cuckolding, but I'd not appreciated the full weight of the innuendo present of hard phallic objects being vigorously worked in the corner of the room. It's, sadly, something that will be lost in the audio recording, but the live audience will get it.
2. The opening speech has become very difficult to pull off. There's nothing like a long speech to open a play, where the protagonist goes into a lengthy debate as to whether to beat his wife or not, to endear that character to the audience. The joke is that he's obviously never going to actually do it, being too afraid of her, and that he keeps swapping between whether he should or not, what the neighbours will say, would it work etc. In the Tudor world, where the chastising of a wife would be acceptable behaviour, this was probably very funny - to the modern audience, this is, to say the least, problematic. We could argue that because he's never going to do it, there's no harm done - but that doesn't really hold much water and it will be interesting to see how the opening will read to the audience. I couldn't let the audience come in cold to this, so to give the play some context I've got a narrator to set the scene, and have cut the speech down so that the appeal for wife beating doesn't go on too long.
3. Pie making is a complicated business. I'd not appreciated how complicated the business of the pie in the story was. In the play, John John is cheated out of eating supper (a pie) by doing a pointless household chore. But the story of the pie runs through the whole play - from arriving in the house at the start, to the back story of the commissioning and making of said pie prior. The backstory of the making of the pie is used by Sir John the priest to get admittance to John John's house and the eating thereof. I hope we'll make this clear to the audience.
4. Having two characters called John is a bit odd and not very helpful - though not actually a problem.
5. The play is, barring the opening (see above), really rather fun and we expect it to prove genuine laughter.
Assuming that the show I'm yoking this recording session to continues, I'm hoping to follow up the play with more from Heywood, recording versions of all his interludes - with the possible exception of The Play of the Weather, which is a bit too big for me at the moment, and which has been looked at in some detail elsewhere.
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Shakespeare - A Complicated Relationship
The Deathday has been and gone. I was in Stamford doing a show about the 'authorship question' and so I missed it. My connection to the events were mostly via my phone with facebook and twitter. The general reaction on my twitter feed was interesting, because most of the people I follow or who follow me have a similar relationship with the bard. For example I tweeted:
"Happy n-day wishes to all the great anonymous writers of early English drama, who never get celebrated because we don't know who they are."
And this was retweeted many, many times and favourited and generally went down well - and many other people posted similar things. I think this shows rather well the complicated relationship we all have with Shakespeare. On the one hand, I do like his work and would happily bite off the hand that offered me a good part in any of his plays (for example, I'm currently in a production of The Tempest). On the other hand, I'm generally disenchanted with the pure mass of Shakespeare now available. In the last three years, from the build up of the last big anniversary to this one, from birth to death, we've had more than one complete works season, several history cycles and countless other productions.
Obviously, I have a bias. This little project is focused on the work prior to Shakespeare, but it is also partly named after him - because I acknowledge that Shakespeare is the marketing buzz word I need to get anyone to take even a moments notice. If I called this the Early Modern Drama Club then... well, I suspect I'd get fewer hits.
I also have to acknowledge that part of the point of my work is to illuminate the work of Shakespeare, to make the references in his work a little less strange, to give the bard some context. Some of the long term projects I would like to get off the ground would be back to back productions of source plays and Shakespeare's rewrites. On a smaller scale, I'm in the process of creating a storytelling show with Rosalynde by Thomas Lodge as text (touring 2017), partly because I think it'll be fun and partly because I'm directing As You Like It next year. Once again, Shakespeare is the excuse for a widening of the repertoire and an exploration of earlier (and contemporary) work. My work is, in a tiny way, part of a general trend in an extended interest in early English drama - there is more on offer and being produced by bigger companies too. But still in comparison with the bard, it seems like meagre scraps
Every so often people look at the mass of Shakespeare on offer and suggest a moratorium. 'Let's not do Shakespeare for a few years,' some wag says. I've suggested this myself. I've also suggested that the government should order the paying of 'royalties' for Shakespeare production - all funds to be used to fund new writing and theatre production - it would balance the field a bit. But, beyond being impossible and counter productive, it isn't really necessary. These trends come in cycles. Once these anniversaries are over, the major players will probably pull back a bit and look for something else - there'll still be a lot of Shakespeare out there, but maybe not quite so all encompassing. And it's in the interest of the big players to open out the repertoire. In basic economic terms, they need to diversify (with the emphasis perhaps on verse) or die.
The major players in the UK, the RSC and the Globe, have already opened up their programming to other writing from the period. Certain contemporaries of Shakespeare get a look in. A mixed season will get a Marlowe, Jew of Malta or Doctor Faustus perhaps, thrown in, or a bit of Jonson, Webster or even Ford. And it's great. I love it. The only problem I have with this is the lack of follow through.
Recently The Globe released in a box set all the DVD's of productions from the past ten years or so. They've all been released separately and many are ones also screened live in cinemas. Of the twenty plays in the box, nineteen were Shakespeare and one was Doctor Faustus by Kit Marlowe. The RSC has been more modest in output, so far. But both the RSC and Globe have produced dozens of plays by other playwrights, in just the last few years, and some of those productions were very well reviewed - so why not distribute them further?
There is a good reason why not and these companies are not run by idiots. They will only market the plays they think will sell. I balk slight at trying to tell the Globe to try harder because they are a purely commercial outfit, but the RSC is heavily subsidised and, more importantly, I think they're missing the long term view of building interest in other writers. The Globe has released half of the Shakespeare canon on DVD, the RSC is working on it. Once they have released the whole canon once, maybe twice, maybe three times, where do they go?
Whilst I agree that a DVD of The Jew of Malta, say, will not sell brilliantly, it gives students and schools (and dare I say it, people generally) the same opportunities to watch rather than just read a play. It could be sold as a two pack with The Merchant of Venice, which is a logical pairing - and something that might interest schools. Mixing Shakespeare with his contemporaries in box sets is a really great way of mixing the interest out a bit, especially if the plays have references to each other.
Part of the reason Shakespeare has exploded in the world is due to film and television. By releasing a play, making it more familiar, you generally make it easier to sell a new production. The text becomes less scary and more familiar, and then productions can explore them further, open them up to a little expansion. (There is a point of overkill, as mentioned above, but you can only reach that after general success.)
We've got Shakespeare, everyone does Shakespeare - if you don't just mix it up a bit, but actively push and sell his contemporaries and predecessors, then you risk a debt spiral of never ending repeats of Hamlet till we all lose the will to live. If we can make these lesser known plays into as popular a ticket as Shakespeare then there's room to programme not just great other drama, but also have good houses for them.
I'm not even asking these companies to do more other work than they're already doing, just to risk showing it to more people than a few hundred a night for a few months. I've wanted to watch all the non Shakespeare plays the Globe and RSC have produced over the last few years - well received productions mostly, but I can't get there. Just one a year. Maybe two. That's all I ask.
Obviously, I would like you to do something from a bit earlier in the canon, but hey, one thing at a time.
"Happy n-day wishes to all the great anonymous writers of early English drama, who never get celebrated because we don't know who they are."
And this was retweeted many, many times and favourited and generally went down well - and many other people posted similar things. I think this shows rather well the complicated relationship we all have with Shakespeare. On the one hand, I do like his work and would happily bite off the hand that offered me a good part in any of his plays (for example, I'm currently in a production of The Tempest). On the other hand, I'm generally disenchanted with the pure mass of Shakespeare now available. In the last three years, from the build up of the last big anniversary to this one, from birth to death, we've had more than one complete works season, several history cycles and countless other productions.
Obviously, I have a bias. This little project is focused on the work prior to Shakespeare, but it is also partly named after him - because I acknowledge that Shakespeare is the marketing buzz word I need to get anyone to take even a moments notice. If I called this the Early Modern Drama Club then... well, I suspect I'd get fewer hits.
I also have to acknowledge that part of the point of my work is to illuminate the work of Shakespeare, to make the references in his work a little less strange, to give the bard some context. Some of the long term projects I would like to get off the ground would be back to back productions of source plays and Shakespeare's rewrites. On a smaller scale, I'm in the process of creating a storytelling show with Rosalynde by Thomas Lodge as text (touring 2017), partly because I think it'll be fun and partly because I'm directing As You Like It next year. Once again, Shakespeare is the excuse for a widening of the repertoire and an exploration of earlier (and contemporary) work. My work is, in a tiny way, part of a general trend in an extended interest in early English drama - there is more on offer and being produced by bigger companies too. But still in comparison with the bard, it seems like meagre scraps
Every so often people look at the mass of Shakespeare on offer and suggest a moratorium. 'Let's not do Shakespeare for a few years,' some wag says. I've suggested this myself. I've also suggested that the government should order the paying of 'royalties' for Shakespeare production - all funds to be used to fund new writing and theatre production - it would balance the field a bit. But, beyond being impossible and counter productive, it isn't really necessary. These trends come in cycles. Once these anniversaries are over, the major players will probably pull back a bit and look for something else - there'll still be a lot of Shakespeare out there, but maybe not quite so all encompassing. And it's in the interest of the big players to open out the repertoire. In basic economic terms, they need to diversify (with the emphasis perhaps on verse) or die.
The major players in the UK, the RSC and the Globe, have already opened up their programming to other writing from the period. Certain contemporaries of Shakespeare get a look in. A mixed season will get a Marlowe, Jew of Malta or Doctor Faustus perhaps, thrown in, or a bit of Jonson, Webster or even Ford. And it's great. I love it. The only problem I have with this is the lack of follow through.
Recently The Globe released in a box set all the DVD's of productions from the past ten years or so. They've all been released separately and many are ones also screened live in cinemas. Of the twenty plays in the box, nineteen were Shakespeare and one was Doctor Faustus by Kit Marlowe. The RSC has been more modest in output, so far. But both the RSC and Globe have produced dozens of plays by other playwrights, in just the last few years, and some of those productions were very well reviewed - so why not distribute them further?
There is a good reason why not and these companies are not run by idiots. They will only market the plays they think will sell. I balk slight at trying to tell the Globe to try harder because they are a purely commercial outfit, but the RSC is heavily subsidised and, more importantly, I think they're missing the long term view of building interest in other writers. The Globe has released half of the Shakespeare canon on DVD, the RSC is working on it. Once they have released the whole canon once, maybe twice, maybe three times, where do they go?
Whilst I agree that a DVD of The Jew of Malta, say, will not sell brilliantly, it gives students and schools (and dare I say it, people generally) the same opportunities to watch rather than just read a play. It could be sold as a two pack with The Merchant of Venice, which is a logical pairing - and something that might interest schools. Mixing Shakespeare with his contemporaries in box sets is a really great way of mixing the interest out a bit, especially if the plays have references to each other.
Part of the reason Shakespeare has exploded in the world is due to film and television. By releasing a play, making it more familiar, you generally make it easier to sell a new production. The text becomes less scary and more familiar, and then productions can explore them further, open them up to a little expansion. (There is a point of overkill, as mentioned above, but you can only reach that after general success.)
We've got Shakespeare, everyone does Shakespeare - if you don't just mix it up a bit, but actively push and sell his contemporaries and predecessors, then you risk a debt spiral of never ending repeats of Hamlet till we all lose the will to live. If we can make these lesser known plays into as popular a ticket as Shakespeare then there's room to programme not just great other drama, but also have good houses for them.
I'm not even asking these companies to do more other work than they're already doing, just to risk showing it to more people than a few hundred a night for a few months. I've wanted to watch all the non Shakespeare plays the Globe and RSC have produced over the last few years - well received productions mostly, but I can't get there. Just one a year. Maybe two. That's all I ask.
Obviously, I would like you to do something from a bit earlier in the canon, but hey, one thing at a time.
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