Podcast 4: Performance
James finds out more about Nashe’s world of theatre and spectacle. Andy explores the variety of theatrical spaces in the city and what sounds Nashe would have heard: including the noise of unruly audiences, a variety of sound effects, music and actors’ speech. We learn that Nashe was the first to use the term ‘blank verse’, although he meant it as an insult. Andy also explains the surprising relationship between prose fiction, the mode in which Nashe excelled, and drama. Tracey tells us what was happening outside the playhouses in the theatre of the streets. One event that Nashe would have seen and heard, not least because his friends were involved in it, was the inauguration of the Lord Mayor of London: a loud and spectacular annual celebration involving marching, music, songs, speeches, cannons, and a lot of drinking. What is different about the performance-mad culture of London of the past and the present? Listen to find out!
Tracey Hill's contribution is based on her book Pageantry and Power: A Cultural History of the Early Modern Lord Mayor's Show (Manchester University Press, 2010) which was the winner of the 2011 Bevington Prize.
Andy Kesson's contribution is based on his current research as the Principle Investigator of the AHRC funded project 'Before Shakespeare' (https://beforeshakespeare.com) and his book John Lyly and early modern authorship (Manchester University press, 2014).
