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Crash Course Theater
Hrotsvitha, Hildegard, and the Nun who Resurrected Theater
Season 1
Episode 9
When last we saw Theater, it was just making its way back in the West, by sneaking a little drama into the Easter mass. In today's episode, we're talking about Hrotsvitha, the cool 10th century nun from Lower Saxony who was maybe the first playwright of the new era of theater. She wrote comedies with a moral message, and influenced future heavy hitters like Hildegard of Bingen.
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10:40
Spain was having kind of a moment in the 16th and 17th centuries.

12:54
In the 1600s, English theater had to go into hiding, from PURITANS. Enter: WOMEN.

11:50
Thanks, Shakespeare! Let's talk about Ben Jonson, revenge tragedies, and court masques.

10:46
Let's take a look at Shakespeare's comedies, romances, problem plays and heroines.

11:29
Shakespeare's tragedies had some jokes, and they changed the way tragedies were written.

10:52
How a young Shakespeare stormed into London's theater – and wrote some pretty good plays.

12:17
Let's take a look at London theater and the playwrights who set the stage for Shakespeare.

10:43
Painting, music, architecture, and plays with fart jokes were all thriving from 1300-1500.

12:20
Noh, and its counterpart Kyogen are some of the most revered theater forms in Japan.

11:10
After European churches changed their minds on theater, drama became an outdoor activity.

11:59
As Christianity rose in the west, theater declined. But it returned – via Catholic Mass!

12:02
Thanks to Bharata Muni, we can tell you quite a bit about Ancient Sanskrit theater.