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The History Of European Theatre
The Merchant of Venice: ‘The Quality of Mercy is not Strained’
Episode 164
Fate, as in Romeo and Juliet, plays a large part in ‘The Merchant of Venice’, as do deep seated grudges, but these are more societal than familial. We are still in Italy, but no longer in close knit Verona, but mercantile and outward looking Venice. As Shakespeare wrote this play London was becoming orientated around increasing global trade and English trading ships were regularly making their way to Venice as a major trading hub, so perhaps it is no surprise that Venice, with its eyes on commerce and profit, was a suitably exotic setting for this tale of greed, love and a clash of cultures.
The dating of the play
The printed history of the play
The sources of the play including earlier theatrical ‘Jew’ plays
A brief outline of the plot
The different views of the character of Shylock – stereotype or sympathetic
The Jewish experience in Elizabethan London
The comic elements of the play
The character of Antonio
Portia’s role in the play
Portia’s ‘mercy’ speech
The performance history of the play
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1. Trailer
03:52||Ep. 1An introduction to The History Of European Theatre PodcastThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy1. Prologue and Pre History
25:26||Season 1, Ep. 1Episode 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/privacy2. Dionysus and the beginning of Greek Theatre
26:53||Season 1, Ep. 2Episode 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/privacy3. The Place Of Seeing
31:49||Season 1, Ep. 3Episode 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/privacy4. Aeschylus: The First Tragedies
27:38||Season 1, Ep. 4Episode 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/privacy5. The Oresteia part 1
28:21||Season 1, Ep. 5Episode 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/privacy6. The Oresteia part 2
21:55||Season 1, Ep. 6Episode 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/privacy7. Sophocles: That Charming Man
30:44||Season 1, Ep. 7Episode 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/privacy8. Antigone: Nomos Vs Physis
27:47||Season 1, Ep. 8Episode 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