Shakespeare and his contemporaries, with Darren Freebury-Jones

Shakespeare and his contemporaries, with Darren Freebury-Jones

What does it mean to be called an “upstart crow”? In 1592, a pamphlet titled Greene’s groats-worth of witte described William Shakespeare, in the first allusion to him as a playwright, with this phrase, calling him “an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers.” This phrase sparked centuries of speculation. As Darren Freebury-Jones explores in his book, Shakespeare’s borrowed feathers: How early modern playwrights shaped the world’s greatest writer, Shakespeare’s so-called borrowing was neither unusual for the time nor a weakness—it was ultimately a testament to his genius. Exploring how Shakespeare navigated a competitive theatrical scene in early modern England, Freebury-Jones reveals the ways in which Shakespeare reshaped the works of contemporaries like John Lyly, Thomas Kyd, and Christopher Marlowe into something distinctly his own. By combining traditional literary analysis with cutting-edge digital tools, he uncovers echoes of Lyly’s witty comedies and gender-bending heroines, Kyd’s tragic revenge dramas, and Marlowe’s powerful verse in Shakespeare’s early plays. This episode sheds light on Shakespeare’s role as a responsive and innovative playwright deeply embedded in the early modern theatrical community. Listen in to learn more about the influences on the “upstart crow” as he created a canon of timeless works. Dr Darren Freebury-Jones is author of the monographs: Reading Robert Greene: Recovering Shakespeare’s Rival (Routledge), Shakespeare’s Tutor: The Influence of Thomas Kyd (Manchester University Press), and Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers (Manchester University Press). He is Associate Editor for the first critical edition of The Collected Works of Thomas Kyd since 1901 (Boydell and Brewer). He has also investigated the boundaries of John Marston’s dramatic corpus as part of the Oxford Marston project and is General Editor for The Collected Plays of Robert Greene (Edinburgh University Press). His findings on the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries have been discussed in national newspapers such as The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Observer, and The Independent as well as BBC Radio. His debut poetry collection, Rambling (Broken Sleep Books), was published in 2024. In 2023 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in recognition of his contributions to historical scholarship.

Episoder(296)

Pop Culture Shakespeare with Stefanie Jochman

Pop Culture Shakespeare with Stefanie Jochman

Do you remember what sparked your interest in Shakespeare? Was it a great performance, a magic moment in a high school English class, or a clever adaptation? When did you realize you were hooked? Acro...

27 Nov 201832min

Julie Schumacher on The Shakespeare Requirement

Julie Schumacher on The Shakespeare Requirement

Should college students be required to study Shakespeare? As American universities examine the role of the liberal arts and humanities in our society, what will—and what should—happen to the Bard’s pl...

13 Nov 201828min

How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England

How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England

What is a knave? How about a varlet? Did people in Shakespeare’s time really throw the contents of their chamber pots out of their windows? And was that, like. . . encouraged? If you’ve ever wondered ...

30 Okt 201836min

Shakespeare Uncovered

Shakespeare Uncovered

For three years, Shakespeare Uncovered has provided a crash course in Shakespeare’s best-known plays, presented in hour-long documentary form and guided by film and theater stars like Morgan Freeman, ...

16 Okt 201828min

Understanding Peter Sellars

Understanding Peter Sellars

Director Peter Sellars once staged "Antony and Cleopatra" in a Harvard dormitory swimming pool. His King Lear owned a Lincoln Continental. His work is complex. But what confounds some audience members...

2 Okt 201839min

Imagining Shakespeare's Wife

Imagining Shakespeare's Wife

The family. The cottage. The age difference. The pregnancy. The children. The second best bed. The grave. We know so little about Anne Hathaway, but it hasn’t stopped us from speculating about her lif...

18 Sep 201835min

Steven Berkoff: Shakespeare's Heroes and Villains

Steven Berkoff: Shakespeare's Heroes and Villains

Since the 1990s, playwright and actor Steven Berkoff has been traveling the world performing a one-actor show called "Shakespeare’s Villains." It’s fitting, coming from the actor perhaps best known fo...

4 Sep 201832min

Pop Sonnets (rebroadcast)

Pop Sonnets (rebroadcast)

Here’s the assignment. Fourteen lines in iambic pentameter, with an a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g rhyme scheme. Now: add Taylor Swift. It’s astounding and gratifying that Shakespeare—a 450-year-old ...

21 Aug 201824min

Populært innen Premium

papaya
giver-og-gjengen-vg
krimpodden-vg
avhort
podme-krim
storefri-med-mikkel-og-herman
aftenpodden
harm-og-hegseth
tusvik-tnne
tore-og-haralds-podkast
den-siste-hytteturen
konspirasjonspodden
aftenpodden-usa
topp-3-med-wold-og-fladseth
popradet
aftenbladet-dokumentar
fastlegen
stopp-verden
ma-pa-behandling-med-morten-ramm
katastrofe-2