Re: The Second Shepherds' Play Folger Podcasts

I just finished listening to these podcasts and have to say that the third one, "The Mystery Behind the Mystery Play," would make a marvelous complement to the teaching of Secunda Pastorum. Despite the description of the podcast on the Folger web site, this recording actually features Barbara Palmer and Theresa Coletti discussing the play and the Towneley ms. in great detail. Anyone who hasn't kept up on the recent Towneley Plays vs. Wakefield Cycle debate will get an excellent brief synopsis of the issues and the findings that have, many would say, overturned the Wakefield Cycle paradigm.

If you plan to teach the play to undergraduates (and maybe even to graduate students), I highly recommend that you have your students listen to this podcast so that they have a sense of the history of the text and the compilation of which it forms a part. While most of us probably cover this sort of thing in lecture, having the discussion available for playing on an iPod will make it easy for students to listen to this material on their own, thus opening up more class time for discussion. Thanks for participating in the Folger podcasts, Barbara and Theresa! I only wish I lived closer to DC so I could now see the performance.