We return to live shows in January 2026 with a specially commissioned performance of an adaptation of Pierce Penniless by Thomas Nashe.

It’s part of the Thomas Nashe and Voice conference (9th-10 January) in Cambridge – it’s a two-day conference on the writings of Thomas Nashe (1567-c.1601), the Elizabethan poet, pamphleteer, and satirist. The event will feature keynote addresses by Emma Smith (University of Oxford), Cathy Shrank (University of Sheffield), and H.R. Woudhuysen (University of Oxford), as well as our staged reading of Pierce Penniless. The adaptation and performance will be recorded for the podcast, and in other ways as well.

The Book of Sir Thomas More: Piece by Piece – Sunday 12th April 2026 from 1pm at the White Bear Theatre, Kennington

Join us for our latest deep dive into a play full of history and mischief. Our newest all day event is covering the manuscript play of Sir Thomas More by Anthony Munday, with a little help from his friends. The text of the play will be performed in full, covering all the twists and turns of a manuscript being written, rewritten, and censored by the Master of the Revels.

With introductions, panel discussions, a full script in hand performance of the text, and a performance of the play-within-a-play of Lusty Juventus, this is a not to be missed all day event, from the producers of Middleton’s Endgame: A Game at Chess LIVE!

We also have a few surprise announcements about the show coming in February – which we’re very excited about! Tickets will be strictly limited in number, be first in line by signing up for tickets now.

The BIG Vote Winner – The patreon vote winner for 2025 was Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay by Robert Greene, which will go into pre-production now. Thank you to all our supporters for their votes and for keeping this whole process going.

For a complete breakdown of the results this year and before, go to our BIG Vote page.

Wyrd Revels

Our latest Revels season was a roaring success – more will follow soon! But for now, thank you to everyone who supported our work!

Running for five days, 21st to 25th October, our Revels are a season of play readings, recording live for the Beyond podcast. The full line up of plays was…

The Witch of Edmonton by Dekker, Ford & Rowley

The Wise-woman of Hogston by Thomas Heywood

Thyestes by Seneca, translated by Jasper Heywood, includes post-show discussion

Doctor Faustus (both 1604 & 1616 versions) by Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe, plus revisers

The Saturday performance of Doctor Faustus was followed by a post season discussion of the Wyrd with Dr Rebekah King, and Dr Tabitha Stanmore – Author of Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic.

All the details available on our Wyrd Revels page! Audio from the season will be released next year!

Entertaining Henry

Our three day pop up festival ran at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury from Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd June 2025. The material from those shows are being archived now for our patrons. For more info, go to our Entertaining Henry page.

Beyond will take you through a whistle-stop tour of the entertainment world from Henry’s reign: from his youthful days to his more fractious later life, we will share the history of his reign through the plays he and his subjects enjoyed.

Play along with our Tudor Bingo Card, catch the pop-up merry tales, and enjoy entertainments fit for a king!

The BIG Vote Result

The vote is in and the winning play was… Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe and Friends. It has been added to the ongoing record rosta, which includes full cast audio adaptations of Thomas of Woodstock and The Castle of Perseverance. We hope to have Faustus recorded by the end of 2025 – how we will do this will be announced soon. Many other things are afoot, but that would be telling…

In the meantime, we are re-releasing the 2020 live stream of The Ghost of Richard III by Christopher Brooke, adapted and performed by Robert Crighton. Available from 10th September.

Get Involved! Join In Online

We’re running exploring sessions online weekdays from 2pm and 7pm UK time – to get involved and read along with a play next week, then sign up today! More details on our exploring page.

Recent Past Events

Middleton’s Endgame: A Game at Chess LIVE!

Now in the past – it went really well – read on to see what you missed…

We’re running a pop up Middleton festival, Middleton’s Endgame: A Game at Chess LIVE!, at The White Bear in Kennington, featuring a live performance of A Game at Chess, discussions of the play, a look at Middleton’s last public work, the 1626 Lord Mayor’s show, and other selections of writing from across his life. The event will run on the afternoon of Sunday 11th August from 1pm till late.

At the same time as these live celebrations, we working on something on the aftermath of this monumental run at the Globe, as well releasing a full cast audio adaptation for the podcast. These will come out from late August through to November, precise timings to follow. More info on our A Game at Chess page!

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Beyond Shakespeare – 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 just one guy.

Apart from a few noble exceptions, every-other-plays are often passed over, ignored or simply unknown. The podcasts/videos/website present full audio productions of the plays, exploratory read throughs, fragmentary and extant material, other texts not directly dramatic, all of which shaped the theatrical world that is more generally known.

We’re going to produce EVERYTHING. In full, in part, in different ways, live, in studio, in rehearsal, in production. You can sample some of our work in progress work on ALL the plays in this podcast timeline…

You help support us by pledging on our patreon, and get bonus material, early access and other exclusives, as well as a vote as to what we do next. You can even subscribe on our free tier, to keep up to date. Alternatively you can support us with a one off donation.

Subscribe to Beyond Shakespeare on your podcatcher of choice – or just listen here.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel – where there are new uploads two or three times a week.

Follow us on various social media usually as @BeyondShakes