Share

cover art for Two Gentlemen of Verona: ‘O Heaven, Were Men but Constant.’

The History Of European Theatre

Two Gentlemen of Verona: ‘O Heaven, Were Men but Constant.’

Season 6, Ep. 24

Episode 137:


The dating of the play

Printing in the First Folio

The sources for the play and the nature of the text

A brief synopsis of the play

The major themes of the play

How the status and youth of Valentine and Proteus helps to understand their actions in the play

The role of Speed and how the play features the embryo of Shakespearean wordplay

The role and values of Lance, and Crab the dog, as a comparison to Proteus

Some well-regarded verse from the play

Different readings of the theme of love

The problematic rape and forgiveness scene

The play as a courtly romance

The play as a parody of past cultural norms

Is the text more corrupt than is generally thought?

How our understanding of male relationships at the time might affect our view of the play

The performance history of the play



Support the podcast at:

www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com


www.patreon.com/thoetp


www.ko-fi.com/thoetp

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 1. Prologue and Pre History

    25:26||Season 1, Ep. 1
    Episode 1An 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/privacy
  • 1. Trailer

    03:52||Ep. 1
    An introduction to The History Of European Theatre PodcastThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
  • 2. Dionysus and the beginning of Greek Theatre

    26:53||Season 1, Ep. 2
    Episode 2An 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 featuresAn overview of the main playwrights and their plays:AeschylusSophoclesEuripidesAristophanesMenanderThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
  • 3. The Place Of Seeing

    31:49||Season 1, Ep. 3
    Episode 3The vocabulary of the theatre we inherit from the GreeksThe layout of the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens and it's main featuresDevelopments in the theatre over timeThe ChorusStage MachineryMasks and costumeThe judging and prizesThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
  • 4. Aeschylus: The First Tragedies

    27:38||Season 1, Ep. 4
    Episode 4The situation of Athens at the time of the first extant tragedies.The very earliest dramatists and the little we know of themThe life of Aeschylus including his service in the Persian WarsHis earliest surviving play 'The Persians'This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
  • 5. The Oresteia part 1

    28:21||Season 1, Ep. 5
    Episode 5A detailed review of Agamemnon, the first part of The Oresteia trilogy by AeschylusThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
  • 6. The Oresteia part 2

    21:55||Season 1, Ep. 6
    Episode 6A detailed review of The Libation Bearers and Eumenides, the second and third part of The Oresteia trilogy by AeschylusThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
  • 7. Sophocles: That Charming Man

    30:44||Season 1, Ep. 7
    Episode 7The 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
  • 8. Antigone: Nomos Vs Physis

    27:47||Season 1, Ep. 8
    Episode 8A 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