Writ in the Margins – Details, episodes & analysis

• In this episode, hosts Joan Raube-Wilson and Jake Raiter get astrological as they lead us on a far out journey through the stars to investigate the astronomical underpinnings of Lyly's Women in the Moon. They explore Lyly's use of sources in creating the universe of this astrological sex comedy, particularly Robert Greene's Planetomachia and the curious "Astronomer's Game" once used as a training tool for Renaissance physicians! Can understanding the cosmos and the nuances of planetary alignment like they early moderns help us go deeper into Pandora's world?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our final episode of Season 4, hosts Emily Bassett and Cole Graham zoom in on the figure of Jupiter inside of Lyly's Woman in the Moon specifically and in the context of early modern drama more generally. What does it mean when a major god like Jupiter shows up in your play? What kind of (mostly bad) behavior should the audience expect? And how do productions of these plays handle divine spectacle in practical terms? Join Emily and Cole for an excavation of performance choices and a close-reading of Woman in the Moon's concentrated production history. Featuring a scene from the plays as performed by guest actors Jake Raiter and Joan Raube-Wilson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, hosts Kyle Showalter and Katie Mestres dig into the depths of early modern misogyny and its impact on the world of The Phantom Lady. In both England and on the Continent, widows caused massive anxiety for the patriarchy in the Renaissance. Showalter and Mestres explore the history and context of the widow in both real-life and dramatic contexts, with a tight focus on the character of Doña Angela from The Phantom Lady. They then open the aperture to think about misogyny more broadly in the period through an examination of Renaissance anti-woman pamphlet wars. This episode features dramatized readings from the play with the help of actors Matthias Bolon, Abigail Olshin, Emily Bassett, and John Williams. 

A note on content: This episode includes discussions of misogynistic language and mistreatment/violence towards women. There is also one usage of the f-word in context.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, hosts Anna Bigham and Cece Richardson hone in on the episodic plot of Pericles through an ecofeminist lens. They take us on a voyage to understand the links between Marina and the ocean across the play by investigating the liminality of location and character. They introduce us to Marina as a monstrous in-between figure and -- plot twist! -- reveal why that is a very, very good thing!

A note on content: This episode includes discussion of prostitution, references to sexism, and mention of implied threat of sexual assault in the context of Pericles.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, our hosts Godfred Ogoe and Jim Drake take a deep dive into the plot of Pericles, using an ecocritical lens to think about the play's shifts from verse to prose. They then explore the ways in which the atmospheric and weather shifts that impact the play's environments reveal emotional storms within the characters. This episode features dramatized excerpts from the play.

A note on content: This episode includes mention of sex work, incest, and misogyny as well as brief discussions of physical violence.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, hosts Ethan Goodmansen, Margaret Levin, and Molly Minter dig into the complicated history and context of Elizabeth Cary's Tragedy of Mariam. They first unpack key events from Cary's own life and think through the implications her biography might carry inside of her dramatic work. Then, they examine Cary's play by thinking through the anti-Semitic and Islamophobic language Cary uses and the ways in which white Eurocentric beauty standards impact the play's representations of characters like Salome and Mariam. Finally, our hosts consider Mariam's place on the page and stage in connection to ethics of performance and representation.

A note on content: This episode includes discussions of anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, racist, and misogynistic language in the context of Cary’s play.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, hosts Abigail Olshin and Ashley Wright take us deeper into the terrain of Lady Jane Lumley's Iphigenia at Aulis through a close look at the historical contexts of human sacrifice in Greek drama and the application of an ecocritical lens. Olshin and Wright ask us to consider the function of including performances of sacrificial moments in contemporary productions of these classical plays and think through the ways modern performance concepts are complicated by these plot events.

A note on content: This episode includes discussions of human sacrifice, death, and child death.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first episode of Season 3, hosts Katy Shinas and Anna Taylor take us into the world of Lady Jane Lumley's translation of Iphigenia at Aulis. Their dramaturgical work focuses on the interconnectedness of translation and adaptation, which they wake up in their analysis of Lumley's version of the play in conversation with Euripides's original and Racine's French language translation. Shinas and Taylor take us on a tour of the Iphigenia multiverse, including a multilingual dramatization! Shinas and Taylor note the feminist potential of "tradaptation" in Lumley's work and beyond.

A note on content: This episode includes a brief mentions of suicide, human sacrifice, homicide, and coerced marriage. It also includes discussions and usages of misogynistic language in the episode's dramatized scenework.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.