Season 2, Episode 4: Queerness and Power and Ecofeminism, OH MY!

Hosted by Eli Cronin and Katie Graham

Content Note: Discussions of sexual harassment and/or assault, in-play depictions of a sexist slur, mild thematics that imply incest, and discussions of mental illness.

Points of Interest:

• Summary of The Antipodes
• Introduction of Ecocriticism and Queer Theory
• Performance of a scene between Letoy and Diana
• Analysis of said scene
• How Letoy uses the space and his authority to his advantage
• Diana’s attempts at agency
• The variability of the message of The Antipodes depending on the production’s intention
• Puppets! And pirates!

Season 2, Episode 5: Let Me Play the Director Too!

Hosted by Morgan Ford and Ronan Melomo

Points of Interest:

• Introduction to the hosts (Ronan Melomo, Morgan Ford)
• There were no directors in early modern English theatre…right?
• Letoy functions as a director and behaves like one too.
• Other director characters from the early modern English canon: Hamlet kind of, Quince big-time.
• Why does it matter if there were directors in early modern theatre? Why might it matter that we’re convinced that there weren’t?
• Perhaps the act of direction is actually an “original practice” too and director-less theatre is a contemporary invention. And maybe that’s ok.
• The plague in London and how it impacted theaters and peoples’ lives
• The Antipodes was a play written in a really bad plague year by a playwright who had lived through past plagues too.
• Brome’s original audience as intended patient for his play (a play about the curative power of theatre).
• Historical plagues & COVID-19

Season 2, Episode 6: Is It a Mad World?

Hosted by Brie Roche and Alaina Smith

Special guest: Alaina’s husband, Paul!

Content Note: Discussions of madness, stereotypes surrounding mental illness, and ethical issues surrounding of medical treatment

Points of Interest:

• Material culture and domestic references in drama, especially in relation to women
• Reframing madness as social nonconformity
• A guessing game, featuring Alaina’s husband Paul!
• Close reading madness, gender, and mental health
• Queerness in The Antipodes