stevelongstaffe.bsky.social
@stevelongstaffe.bsky.social
Reposted by stevelongstaffe.bsky.social
Some fun things about The Book of Sir Thomas More, which the internet has been talking about of late.
74% of the surviving text is written by Anthony Munday. Literally. He might have worked on it with someone else, say Chettle, but he LITERALLY wrote it out.
Then the text had some rewrites...
74% of the surviving text is written by Anthony Munday. Literally. He might have worked on it with someone else, say Chettle, but he LITERALLY wrote it out.
Then the text had some rewrites...
February 6, 2026 at 8:31 AM
Some fun things about The Book of Sir Thomas More, which the internet has been talking about of late.
74% of the surviving text is written by Anthony Munday. Literally. He might have worked on it with someone else, say Chettle, but he LITERALLY wrote it out.
Then the text had some rewrites...
74% of the surviving text is written by Anthony Munday. Literally. He might have worked on it with someone else, say Chettle, but he LITERALLY wrote it out.
Then the text had some rewrites...
I saw McKellen do this speech from Sir Thomas More forty-odd years ago in his one man show rattling the bucket for HIV/AIDS charities.
www.facebook.com/story.php?st...
www.facebook.com/story.php?st...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
February 5, 2026 at 8:36 AM
I saw McKellen do this speech from Sir Thomas More forty-odd years ago in his one man show rattling the bucket for HIV/AIDS charities.
www.facebook.com/story.php?st...
www.facebook.com/story.php?st...
Reposted by stevelongstaffe.bsky.social
Today is Candlemas
If you have not cleared all your Christmas decorations by today, a demon hiding behind them will cause dire mischief in your house for the rest of the year.
See my popular post on this: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
If you have not cleared all your Christmas decorations by today, a demon hiding behind them will cause dire mischief in your house for the rest of the year.
See my popular post on this: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
"Twelfth Night Till Candlemas"
The story of a forty-year book-quest and of its remarkable ending
emptycity.substack.com
February 2, 2026 at 7:41 AM
Today is Candlemas
If you have not cleared all your Christmas decorations by today, a demon hiding behind them will cause dire mischief in your house for the rest of the year.
See my popular post on this: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
If you have not cleared all your Christmas decorations by today, a demon hiding behind them will cause dire mischief in your house for the rest of the year.
See my popular post on this: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
Well, this is exciting! I'm doing my improvising Shakespeare thing as part of the bill opening this year's Liverpool Improv fest. Check out this Glastonbury of improvising talent here: www.liverpoolimprovfestival.com
February 1, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Well, this is exciting! I'm doing my improvising Shakespeare thing as part of the bill opening this year's Liverpool Improv fest. Check out this Glastonbury of improvising talent here: www.liverpoolimprovfestival.com
We have many mentions of a play called Hamlet, beginning many years before Hamnet Shakespeare died. Who needs experts? Social media in a nutshell.
Constance's lament for her son in King John, usually dated to around the year Hamnet died, is the real deal.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kps...
Constance's lament for her son in King John, usually dated to around the year Hamnet died, is the real deal.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kps...
"Grief fills the room up of my absent child"
YouTube video by Release - Topic
www.youtube.com
January 23, 2026 at 6:16 PM
We have many mentions of a play called Hamlet, beginning many years before Hamnet Shakespeare died. Who needs experts? Social media in a nutshell.
Constance's lament for her son in King John, usually dated to around the year Hamnet died, is the real deal.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kps...
Constance's lament for her son in King John, usually dated to around the year Hamnet died, is the real deal.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kps...
I settled in. My interviewer told me he was expecting it to take about 45 minutes. He pressed record ... and then told me that I was the world expert in theatrical moustaches. Three quarters of an hour later we had a podcast.
stitcher2.acast.com/livestitches...
stitcher2.acast.com/livestitches...
stitcher2.acast.com
December 20, 2025 at 1:35 PM
I settled in. My interviewer told me he was expecting it to take about 45 minutes. He pressed record ... and then told me that I was the world expert in theatrical moustaches. Three quarters of an hour later we had a podcast.
stitcher2.acast.com/livestitches...
stitcher2.acast.com/livestitches...
Reposted by stevelongstaffe.bsky.social
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
November 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
RIP Tom Stoppard. Arcadia's the best play in English since Beckett. Two intertwined will-they-won't-they-did-they? plots, to make space for five characters as smart and witty as TS to do their thing. Wilde-tier stuff, but with heart.
Can't show that with a quote, so here's a bit that's just funny.
Can't show that with a quote, so here's a bit that's just funny.
November 29, 2025 at 9:30 PM
RIP Tom Stoppard. Arcadia's the best play in English since Beckett. Two intertwined will-they-won't-they-did-they? plots, to make space for five characters as smart and witty as TS to do their thing. Wilde-tier stuff, but with heart.
Can't show that with a quote, so here's a bit that's just funny.
Can't show that with a quote, so here's a bit that's just funny.
Reposted by stevelongstaffe.bsky.social
Since we are once again dealing with "the only silent era comedians of note were men" I feel I need to stand up for the ladies.
Marion Davies!
Marion Davies!
November 26, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Since we are once again dealing with "the only silent era comedians of note were men" I feel I need to stand up for the ladies.
Marion Davies!
Marion Davies!
Strong @schoolofnight.bsky.social vibe here in this LRB article on medieval poetic manuscripts. Coincidence?
October 16, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Strong @schoolofnight.bsky.social vibe here in this LRB article on medieval poetic manuscripts. Coincidence?
Who knows what the Liverpool muses will bring me to improvise with this Saturday? Should I expect something tragical-comical-iambical-romantical? To be honest, probably just ridicucal-iambic. That's the muses for you at that time of night ...
October 6, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Who knows what the Liverpool muses will bring me to improvise with this Saturday? Should I expect something tragical-comical-iambical-romantical? To be honest, probably just ridicucal-iambic. That's the muses for you at that time of night ...
RIP Tony Harrison. Here's the Big H, a bonkers BBC 1984 school nativity play. The patter here from the teachers transformed into Herod is positively Doddyesque in its relentlessness. I used to try to do the bit beginning @ 35.00 in one breath when lecturing year 1 on poetry. youtu.be/v7l4MZY4jFU?...
The Big H
YouTube video by Phil S
youtu.be
September 27, 2025 at 9:17 PM
RIP Tony Harrison. Here's the Big H, a bonkers BBC 1984 school nativity play. The patter here from the teachers transformed into Herod is positively Doddyesque in its relentlessness. I used to try to do the bit beginning @ 35.00 in one breath when lecturing year 1 on poetry. youtu.be/v7l4MZY4jFU?...
An echo of my old trade from 2024: I'm on this pod with two wonderful scholars discussing politics in 16c poetry. At the end I read out a 1594 version of the founding moment of the English radical tradition: John Ball's 1381 sermon asking 'When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?'.
🚨Our live post show discussion on A Mirror for Magistrates, William Baldwin, and literature on Richard II from the period is now on the pod. With Dr Harriet Archer, Professor Thomas Betteridge and Dr Stephen Longstaffe. #discussion #history #theatre #live audioboom.com/posts/875334...
After the Fall - Mirror for Magistrates Post Show Discussion (LIVE)
A post show discussion of A Mirror for Magistrates
audioboom.com
August 30, 2025 at 7:00 PM
An echo of my old trade from 2024: I'm on this pod with two wonderful scholars discussing politics in 16c poetry. At the end I read out a 1594 version of the founding moment of the English radical tradition: John Ball's 1381 sermon asking 'When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?'.
In what can only be described as sheer programming genius, my one-man impro Shakespeare show is on in Liverpool @6pm the same night as Eddie Izzard does his one-man Hamlet @ 7.30. It's *technically* possible to see both.
C'mon, guys. You've got to laugh.
store.makeitwrite.org/product/shak...
C'mon, guys. You've got to laugh.
store.makeitwrite.org/product/shak...
Shakespeare On The Spot – Make it Write and Studio Below Store
store.makeitwrite.org
August 18, 2025 at 7:29 PM
In what can only be described as sheer programming genius, my one-man impro Shakespeare show is on in Liverpool @6pm the same night as Eddie Izzard does his one-man Hamlet @ 7.30. It's *technically* possible to see both.
C'mon, guys. You've got to laugh.
store.makeitwrite.org/product/shak...
C'mon, guys. You've got to laugh.
store.makeitwrite.org/product/shak...
Long before you-know-who, stories of Richard II's reign filled the air. @beyondshakes.bsky.social have just dropped some from the 16C poem The Mirror For Magistrates, recorded live in 2024. I'm on from about 19.40, complaining from beyond the grave as Richard's murdered uncle, Thomas of Woodstock.
👑Recorded live, it's our adaptation of the opening of A Mirror for Magistrates by William Baldwin and Friends. The Fall of Richard II conjures up the ghosts of figures from history amidst an editorial meeting about how to write narrative history. #poetry #drama #history audioboom.com/posts/875334...
A Mirror for Magistrates: The Fall of Richard II (LIVE adaptation)
Live recording of our adaptation of the opening of A Mirror for Magistrates
audioboom.com
August 15, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Long before you-know-who, stories of Richard II's reign filled the air. @beyondshakes.bsky.social have just dropped some from the 16C poem The Mirror For Magistrates, recorded live in 2024. I'm on from about 19.40, complaining from beyond the grave as Richard's murdered uncle, Thomas of Woodstock.
A clip from the last of my work in progress gigs for Shakespeare On The Spot, at the British Shakespeare Association meeting in June. This ambush game gets audience suggestions for a thing. Later in the show it appears in a simile/metaphor used by Lear's daughters to praise him.
August 6, 2025 at 2:35 PM
A clip from the last of my work in progress gigs for Shakespeare On The Spot, at the British Shakespeare Association meeting in June. This ambush game gets audience suggestions for a thing. Later in the show it appears in a simile/metaphor used by Lear's daughters to praise him.
A great audience for Shakespeare on the Spot last Saturday at the King's Arms, Salford. Pic on right is the 'Is this an [object from the audience] I see before me' game.
Next stop, a return to my old trade at the end of the month - performing at the @bsashakespeare.bsky.social conference in York.
Next stop, a return to my old trade at the end of the month - performing at the @bsashakespeare.bsky.social conference in York.
June 10, 2025 at 7:56 AM
A great audience for Shakespeare on the Spot last Saturday at the King's Arms, Salford. Pic on right is the 'Is this an [object from the audience] I see before me' game.
Next stop, a return to my old trade at the end of the month - performing at the @bsashakespeare.bsky.social conference in York.
Next stop, a return to my old trade at the end of the month - performing at the @bsashakespeare.bsky.social conference in York.
Ten new @markravenhill.bsky.social plays from 1611 Commedia dell' Arte scenarios! I have a ticket for the lot and am performing in the penultimate one, 6pm Saturday (as grumpy old git Pantalone). Come and have a laugh - profits to an anti-VAWG charity.
Tix from wiltons.org.uk/whats-on/run...
Tix from wiltons.org.uk/whats-on/run...
Run At It Laughing - Wilton's Music Hall
Run At It Shouting presents RUN AT IT LAUGHING - 10 new comedies by Mark Ravenhill A world where everyone is a fool. Identities are mistaken and swapped. Misunderstandings abound. Sex and money are on...
wiltons.org.uk
May 5, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Ten new @markravenhill.bsky.social plays from 1611 Commedia dell' Arte scenarios! I have a ticket for the lot and am performing in the penultimate one, 6pm Saturday (as grumpy old git Pantalone). Come and have a laugh - profits to an anti-VAWG charity.
Tix from wiltons.org.uk/whats-on/run...
Tix from wiltons.org.uk/whats-on/run...
Ian did this for me and my siblings a few years ago, and I'll always be grateful. It makes a difference.
Mothering Sunday's at the end of this month. If your Mum's dead and you'd like me to read out her name in Lancaster Priory on the morning of the 30th, please respond to this with her name and tag the post #RememberedMums25. Reposts welcome. 👑 ❤️
March 4, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Ian did this for me and my siblings a few years ago, and I'll always be grateful. It makes a difference.
Reposted by stevelongstaffe.bsky.social
Angelic hosts in focus at St. Nicholas, King's Lynn.
October 17, 2024 at 6:31 AM
Angelic hosts in focus at St. Nicholas, King's Lynn.