The History Of European Theatre
A podcast tracing the development of theatre from ancient Greece to the present day through the places and people who made theatre happen. More than just dates and lists of plays we'll learn about the social. political and historical context that fostered the creation of dramatic art.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.
Episodes
Episode 1
An Introduction to the podcast and your host.
Pre-history and how the urge to mimic and present might have been the start of theatre.
Religious ritual and Shamanism.
The Abydos Passion play and the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
The beginning of Greek Theatre.
A note on dates and the nature of translations.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privac...
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 2
An overview of the history of Greece to the 5th Century BCE including Minoan and Mycenaean periods, the Greek dark age and the rise of the city state.
The development of the religious festivals and their main features
An overview of the main playwrights and their plays:
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Aristophanes
Menander
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://char...
Episode 3
The vocabulary of the theatre we inherit from the Greeks
The layout of the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens and it's main features
Developments in the theatre over time
The Chorus
Stage Machinery
Masks and costume
The judging and prizes
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Hosted on Acast. See acas...
Episode 4
The situation of Athens at the time of the first extant tragedies.
The very earliest dramatists and the little we know of them
The life of Aeschylus including his service in the Persian Wars
His earliest surviving play 'The Persians'
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Hosted on Acast. See a...
Episode 5
A detailed review of Agamemnon, the first part of The Oresteia trilogy by Aeschylus
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 6
A detailed review of The Libation Bearers and Eumenides, the second and third part of The Oresteia trilogy by Aeschylus
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 7
The life of Sophocles almost spanned the 5th Century BCE and included events from the defeat of the Persian invasion to the relentless grind of the Peloponnesian wars. We look at his life and times and get an overview of the surviving plays and theatrical innovations the he created.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Episode 8
A detailed look at the first of the Theban plays by Sophocles. Greek drama gets personal as the end of a great family drama is acted out, but it's also a political debate as Sophocles questions what happens when man made law bumps up against natural law.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Episode 9
We travel back into the heart of the Oedipus myth with Sophocles' interpretation of this dark story. Seen by many as his greatest work it is a dark tale of unwitting patricide and incest that relentlessly leads to tragedy.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...
Episode 10
The story of the death of Oedipus was Sophocles' last work and puts the role of the Greek hero into a new light. We travel to Colonus, the home town of the playwright, to see the end of Oedipus' troubled life.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...
Episode 11
A summary of the life and times of Euripides, the youngest and most daring of the three great Greek tragedians, but who suffered from a mixed reception in his own time.
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 12
A deep dive into one of Euripides' greatest plays. Is it pure melodrama, a polemic on the rights and treatment of women, or one of the greatest tragedies ever written? As ever Euripides splits opinion.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...
Episode 13
A deep dive into the Euripides version of the story of Electra and her revenge on her mother. Euripides gets down to a more human level while still injecting passages of polemic, but we can also start to get elements of realism and sibling heroes who are not quite heroic enough.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Episode 14
Dionysus takes centre stage in a fantasy of mad women and cross dressing kings. The last and strangest play by Euripides it was a return to tragedy by this ever inventive poet, but unlike anything else that had been seen before.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Hosted on Acast. See ac...
Episode 15
The story of the life, times and plays of Aristophanes, the creator of the only complete plays that we have from the genre of 'old comedy'. He lived in Athens during the turbulent times of the Peloponnesian war and used satire and comedy to criticise the war leaders and Athenian society.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Episode 16
Aristophanes took a wry look at the art of philosophy that had become very trendy in Athens. In particular he pokes fun at Socrates and his philosophical method as a father and son try to escape their mounting debts. It's a funny story, but had a bitter twist for Socrates.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Episode 17
Aristophanes takes a dig at the Athenian legal system and the city leaders who use it to their own ends. The system was part of the democratic process that Athens was still hanging on to despite the rigours of the Peloponnesian war. Citizens took part in the legal process with the same vigour that they displayed when voting or debating. From street crime to murder, how were the criminals judged and punished?
This...
Episode 18
Perhaps the best known of the comedies by Aristophanes Lysistrata imagines a world where women take control in an attempt to force and end the Peloponnesian war. It is sex comedy with a message as the Athenian golden age nears the end.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Episode 19
The Hellenistic world moves on into a period of domination first by Sparta and then by Macedon, but theatre survives and thrives as New Comedy. Our view of how that development progressed is entwined with the life of Menander who is the only representative poet for this period.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
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