The History Of European Theatre

Episode 39The Brothers, dated to 160 BCE, is Terence’s last surviving work.  We have that date exactly because the play is recorded as being presented at the games held to honour the Roman general Lucius Aemillus Paullus.  The first presentation of the play and who was Lucius Aemillus Paullus?The prologue to the play and Terence's defence of his use of Greek plays to create a new piece.A synopsys of the playThe Brothers as a play of ideas and a discussion of it's main themes about the best way to raise sons.The external influences in an expanding Roman Republic and how they influence the play.The main characters Demea and Micio as more complex and developed characters than have been seen before.The role of Sannio the slave dealer and other minor characters.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 38A look at 'The Self Tormenter' by Terrence. Written in 162 or 163 BCE this is the story of disagreements between fathers and sons over the choice of women and how a clever slave almost wins the day.A synopsis of the pay with some comments about the Prologue, the action of the play and the general style.The way Terence changes the standard stock characters and makes them more rounded characters than anything we have seen before, including how the portrayal of the clever slave and the courtesan are more subtle than in previous plays.Some of the issues with the play.How Terence continued to use metatheatre and how he changed it.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 37Terence had a short life and left only six complete comic plays, but he moved the genre on from Plautus and other earlier dramatists.The story of his beginnings as a slave and how he came to RomeThe circles he moved in and how he got support from the Practician class and Caecilius Statius the best known comic dramatist of the day.A short word on the history of Caecilius Statius and Ambitious Turpio, producer and actor.Contemporary criticisms of Terence and his use of Greek comediesA brief review of the six surviving plays.The untimely death of Terence and his legacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 36The influence of Plautus and other Roman playwrights has long been understood, but what are those influences and how did the Roman plays come to the attention of Rennaisance playwrights?How manuscripts survived after antiquity and were rediscovered in the early Renaissance.The growth of secular drama in Italy and the role of Duke Ercole d'Este in FerraraTerence Vs Plautus as the Roman plays became known and appreciated in northern Europe.How early English plays used the Roman models and how the growing education system in Elizabethan England used Latin plays.The influence of Plautus on Shakespeare and similarities in settings, characters and plots.Ben Johnson's debt to PlautusThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 35The Menaechmus Brothers is taken from a Greek new comedy original and via this version by Plautus was used by later dramatists, most notably Shakespeare.In the first half of this episode I summaries the plot that features identical twins and gets quite complicated and confusing for all concerned.I then discuss the weaknesses in the play and it's more cynical outlook than seen in other plays by Plautus.A look at he naming of stock characters and some thoughts on the problematic female characters is followed by a look at the influence of the Saturnalia festival on the play.The theme of the identical twins is strong in the play and supported by other semantical elements in the structure and the Roman ideas of industria and voluptas.If you would like to support the podcast please find us at:www.Patreon.com or www.ko-fi.com.  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook @THOETPThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 34In this eisode we take a detailed look at Casina by Plautus. It's a tale of two men who try to use their slaves in a plot marry the young Casina by proxy.It has a prologue of particular interest. The usual stock characters are there, but for once the women come out strongly as they take control of the situation and thwart the plans in comic style.The play prompts a look at the role of the head of the household, the 'pater families' in Rome and as some suggestions that there is some social commentary on recent events concerning some recent behaviour of the Bacchic cult.If you would like to support the podcast please find us at:www.Patreon.com or www.ko-fi.comFollow us on Twitter and Facebook @THOETPThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 33The life and time of Plautus, the first Roman Playwright from whom we have surviving works. After a hard start he became the most popular of the Roman playwrights churning out comedy after comedy.This episode looks at his life story and playwriting career.Then there is a brief summary of his six most significant plays and a discussion of the role of the courtesan character in the plays, including how this reflects the reality of life for women and prostitutes in Roman society.A note on the lack of political commentary in the plays leads on to a look at how the prologue was used and to conclude I look at the legacy of Plautus in the way his plays have been used as source material for many later adaptations.To support the podcast please find us on:www.patreon.comwww.ko-fi.comThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A little extra episode for Christmas week with best wishes to you all for the holiday season.If you would like to support the podcast please find us at:www.Patreon.com or www.ko-fi.comThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 32An interview with theatre director Jimmy Walters about his 20217 production of Trackers of Oxyrhynchus by Tony Harrison. This version of the Satyr play 'Trackers' by Sophocles was originally performed by the National Theatre in 1988. Jimmy's revival in 2017 was at the Finborough Theatre in west London.In conversation we discussed the approach to the play and the way the adaptation by Tony Harrison put current social concerns at the heart of the play, which still remained true to many aspects of the original Greek play.Jimmy Walters' credits include productions of John Osborne's A Subject of Scandal and Concern, Julius Caesar, Improbable Fiction, A Naughty Night With Noël Coward, Hamlet (for a tour in the United Arab Emirates), I the Jury, Breaded Butler, and Dear Ray at the Edinburgh Festival. Recently he directed Billy Bishop Goes to War for Southwark playhouse and Jermyn Street Theatre and The Skin Game also for Jermyn Street Theatre, which due to the UK lockdown in 2020 was presented via Zoom.  Jimmy co-hosts the '…In quarantine' podcast with Alexandra Evans.  Season 1 discussed several Shakespeare plays and season 2 is taking on the challenge of discussing novels by Charles Dickens.  You can connect with Jimmy on Twitter @jimmywalters101 Please support the podcast atwww.patreon.comwww.ko-fi.comThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 31An interview with Dr Elodie Paillard discussing her work on the non-elite characters in the plays of Sophocles and what they tell us about changes in athenian society in the 5th Century BCE.Dr Paillard is Honorary Associate in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney and lecturer and scientific collaborator in the Department of Ancient Civilizations at the University of Basel. She is currently leading a research project on Greek theatre in Roman Italy, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. She is the author of 'The Stage and the City. Non-élite Characters in the Tragedies of Sophocles' (Paris 2017).She is currently co-editing two forthcoming collective volumes, one on Greek Theatre and Metatheatre: Definitions, Problems & Limits and one on Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World.  In parallel to her interest in ancient Greek theatre, she is also working on the social structure of Classical Athens and the emergence of democracy.You can connect with her on Twitter @elopai Please support the podcast atwww.patreon.comwww.ko-fi.comThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.