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.
Sir Thomas More event – 12th April 2026 – London. Full details to follow, but this is another long form all day event covering the manuscript play of Sir Thomas More. As we did with A Game at Chess, this will be a deep dive with a full performance of the text, in all its variations, as well as panel discussions and a performance of the play within a play of Lusty Juventus. Tickets will be strictly limited in number, be first in line by signing up for tickets now.
Other Productions by Other Producers
In January Red Bull Theatre are doing a reading of Sejanus, His Fall by Ben Jonson – 26th January, live stream available for a few days after.
And 23rd March – The Roaring Girl by Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton – in the same fashion.
At time of last update, none of the major playing companies in the UK have anything scheduled for 2026 or beyond from the wider English pre-modern period.
The RSC’s only production from the wider early modern period was Edward II by Christopher Marlowe which ran till Saturday 05 April 2025. They have now announced no plays into 2026. We await future announcements.
The last Royal National Theatre production from the wider pre-modern period was Edward II in late 2013 – (we are not including 2015’s Everyman as it was a top down rewrite, or plays from after 1642.) It is possible we have missed a play here, it’s a bit tricky to search for past productions, but we think this is accurate. They have now announced no plays into 2026. We await future announcements.
The last Globe production from the wider pre-modern period was The Duchess of Malfi in early 2024 – we are not including events where only a few scenes from a play have been read. There are no productions planned for 2025. We await future announcements.
Past Events – Wyrd Revels and Beyond
Wyrd Revels – Performed on 21-25th October at the White Bear in Kennington. Our Revels seasons are where we perform script in hand performances, recording for the podcast. We recorded five shows across the week, with a few bonus events. 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 panel discussion with Professor Liz Oakley-Brown, 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!
Entertaining Henry
Entertaining Henry was a Pop Up Festival of Performance and History from the Life and Times of Henry the Eighth – it performed from 20th-22nd June 2025 and the shows are being archived on our patreon feed. Full details can be found on our event 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. Featuring Youth, The World and the Child, The Temptation, Gentleness and Nobility, Thersites & The Pardoner and the Friar.
Play along with our Tudor Bingo Card, catch the pop-up merry tales, and enjoy entertainments fit for a king!
Discussing: Live!
Discussing: Snail Fight with Professor Liz Oakley-Brown – Tuesday 10th June 2025
Professor Liz Oakley-Brown returns to the pod to discuss the play Thersites, that snail fight, and why the Tudors loved snails!
The audio from this live discussion is available on the podcast now…
Discussing: Thomas More with Dr Joanne Paul – Monday 26th May 2025
Dr Joanne Paul is a writer, historian and broadcaster working on the history of the Renaissance, Tudor and Early Modern Periods – we’ll be discussing Thomas More and Joanne’s upcoming book on his life and death.
An edited version of this live discussion is available on the podcast now…
Travelling Players in Early Modern England: Civic Spaces and Provincial Performance
Tuesday 26th November 2024 – Online Event on the Exhibition at the Guildhall of Stratford-upon-Avon – Featuring Dr William David Green and host Robert Crighton.
Sunday 11th August – Middleton’s Endgame: A Game at Chess LIVE!
A pop up festival of Thomas Middleton, featuring his last performed works, including his most (in)famously successful play A Game at Chess, and his Lord Mayor’s Show for 1626.
Following their successful Winter Revels run at the White Bear, Beyond returns for a day long event celebrating the work of Thomas Middleton at the end of his career. A Game at Chess, a play featuring chess pieces in a cold war one side against the other, was performed nine times in a row in 1624, a scandalous event that ended his career. Beyond will be recording the play live for the podcast, as well as other works and material from the end of Middleton’s career. With expert discussion, and even a whole Lord Mayor’s Show, this is not to be missed.
Setting up the Board… an overview of Thomas Middleton in the 1620’s, and the theatrical context for…
A Game at Chess by Thomas Middleton – a live recording of the play with the Beyond company.
King’s Gambit – a look into the aftermath of the scandal of A Game at Chess and the responses to it.
Lord Mayor’s Show 1626 by Thomas Middleton – an adaptation of Middleton’s last performed work.
Middleton’s Endgame – a panel discussion about everything that the day has covered.
The day should end before 8pm, so that we can all get some food at a civilised hour.
The Beyond Winter Revels 2023
A Season of Tragedy, History, True Crime, Literature, Comedy – live recording sessions for the podcast at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington, London.
Tuesday 12th December – Dido, Queen of Carthage by Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe
A tragedy of a doomed love affair between Aeneas, survivor of the Trojan war, and the Queen of Carthage.
Wednesday 13th December – Cleopatra by Samuel Daniel
A history play, covering the last days of the Queen of Egypt.
Written as a follow up to his patrons translation of The Tragedy of Antony, Samuel Daniel’s play is a mix of storytelling and drama.
Thursday 14th December – Arden of Faversham by the Unknown
A true crime thriller. Thomas Arden’s wife wants him dead, and pulls in a succession of accomplices to arrange the deed. The plans keep going wrong. Until they don’t.
Friday 15th December – Beware the Cat by William Baldwin
A Gothic horror story of talking cats. A young man tells how he learnt to understand the secret of the language of cats. When he hears what they say, he discovers that cat kind are organised and coming for you.
Saturday 16th December – The Old Wives’ Tale by George Peele
A shaggy dog story for a winter’s night. Three lost youths stumble across a cottage in a forest, where an Old Wife tells an Old Wives’ tale. The story comes to life before their eyes, and gets… a little muddled in the telling.
Sunday 22nd October at 2.30pm – (live streamed audio on YouTube) Occupation and Idleness
Occupation and Idleness is the earliest surviving interlude play – a moral tale about how to educate young boys (it was mostly boys in those days) and presents two allegorical figures who try to turn a young lad away from idleness. Occupation is a hard working ploughman, and he cannot get Idleness to do any studying. It falls to another figure to turn the lad around – in a way which we definitely don’t recommend today! Bonus play – Preist the Barber.
With Liza Graham, Emma Kemp and Robert Crighton
Sunday 29th October at 2.30pm – (live streamed audio on YouTube) The Lord Mayor’s Show 1623 LIVE!
Full coverage of the 400 year old event, fed into our studio via the latest scrying glass link up. Join your hosts John and Joan as they commentate on all the action, with guest Professor Tracey Hill in the studio, and behind the scenes chats with Thomas Middleton and Anthony Munday in the green room. Including the water pageant, the Triumphs of the Golden Fleece by Anthony Munday, and the street pageants The Triumph of Integrity by Thomas Middleton
Live streaming as audio on YouTube at 2.30pm on Sunday 29th October 2023
Thursday 20th July 2023 – (live & recorded) Bosworth Field by Sir John Beaumont at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury
The Tragedy of Iphigenia by Euripides, translated by Jane, Lady Lumley – Live Streamed on YouTube April 2023 – available for our patrons, edit to be released on the podcast in November.
Beyond Shakespeare Presents…
The Ghost of Richard III by Christopher Brooke
Adapted for the stage and performed by Robert Crighton
King Richard III wants to set the record straight about his life. His bones having been disturbed, his conscience afflicted, he is summoned from beyond the grave to tell his life story, and he leaves nothing out. From his early days learning how to out politic the most dangerous politicians, his working up to the position of Protector, the murder of the princes and his final fall – Richard will not let up till all is told.
Based on The Ghost of Richard III by Christopher Brooke, a narrative poem from 1614, and brought to life by the Beyond Shakespeare Company for the Quay Theatre.
The live stream of the world premiere was on Tuesday 21st July 2020 – the video is currently unavailable, but will return online soon.
beyondshakespeare.org 