Hands-On History: Historical Playwriting with Rebecca Lyon
Tudors Dynasty & Beyond
RedTop Media / Rebecca Larson
4.4 • 869 Ratings
🗓️ 20 December 2022
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Historical playwrights such as William Shakespeare have been instrumental in telling the history we know today. What a fascinating occupation - one could get into deep water with Elizabeth I if she was displeased. Historical playwrights today have much more creative autonomy in the 21st century. Today, Heather Darsie is joined by historical playwright Rebecca Lyon. Learn about what it is like to use playwriting as a historical outlet.
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Books Recommended by Rebecca Lyons:
-Playwriting: Structure, Character, How and What to Write by Stephen Jeffreys
-The Contemporary Political Play: Rethinking Dramaturgical Structure by Sarah Grochala
- Playwriting: A Writers' and Artists' Companion by Clare Bayley
- How Plays Work by David Edgar
- The Playwright's Workbook by Jean-Claude van Italie
- The Secret Life of Plays by Steve Waters
-What is History? by E.H. Carr (I recommend the 2002 edition with an introduction by Richard J. Evans and the fabulous new book of essays, What is History, Now, Edited by Helen Carr)
-Lying about Hitler by Richard J. Evans
-Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? by James Shapiro
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Credits:
Host: Heather R. Darsie - Twitter
Guest: Rebecca Lyon - Twitter
Edited by: Rebecca Larson - Twitter
Voice Over: David Black
Music: Ketsa, Alexander Nakarada, and Winnie the Moog via FilmMusic.io, used by EXTENDED license.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Adobe Express makes it quick and easy to create everything I need for my business. |
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| 0:09.0 | Get Adobe Express for free. |
| 0:11.0 | Search for Adobe Express to find out more. This is the Tudor's Dynasty podcast. |
| 0:32.4 | And now, Hands on History with Heather. |
| 0:35.6 | Hello, and welcome to the hands- on history segment of Tudor's |
| 0:39.3 | Dynasty podcast. My name is Heather Darcy and I am delighted to be joined by Rebecca Lyon today. |
| 0:45.3 | She is a historical playwright. Welcome, Rebecca. It's so nice to have you. It's lovely to be here, |
| 0:50.5 | yes. What do you do exactly? I'm a playwright and most of my work is for children |
| 0:56.3 | and young people. And I focus on the history of the local area or history that they happen to be |
| 1:01.6 | studying in school. And my work sort of aims really to share, share knowledge and to engage these |
| 1:09.2 | children in their past and to spark their curiosity. |
| 1:13.8 | So what age group do you aim at? |
| 1:16.3 | Usually I write for seven to 11 year olds. |
| 1:20.0 | So they're still curious. |
| 1:22.0 | They're still having lots of silly fun, but they're really expanding their knowledge to different areas. |
| 1:29.3 | What sparked your interest in writing historical plays? |
| 1:32.3 | At university, I did English and History. I read English in history for my undergraduate degree. |
| 1:37.4 | And then I read Shakespeare and literary influence for my master's. |
| 1:42.4 | And I've always loved the theatre. And I've always loved the theatre and I've always loved history. |
| 1:47.1 | And I guess thinking about moments that stick in my mind as a child, I think being involved |
| 1:55.3 | in plays and in the theatre, those can be such magical moments for children. And when you get that magic combined |
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