A performance of John Milton’s masque Comus directed by Heather Davies http://heatherdavies.com with the original songs by Henry Lawes and dance music by his brother William played by Christopher Verrette and the MIO String Band.

Lutenist John Edwards plays Dump Philli from the Marsh Lutebook. Pieces called 'Dump' are often memorial pieces and are often built on ground basses of as few as two notes, as is this one.

Tracy Ryan reads 'With how sad steps, O Moon, Sonnet 31 from Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella, in original pronunciation of the time of Shakespeare and Sidney.

Lutenist John Edwards plays Anthony Holborne's sombre pavan 'The Countiss of pembruth fineralle' as it is called in Jane Pickeringe's Lutebook, from which this highly decorated version is taken. The Countess of Pembroke is Lady Mary Sidney, whose father and brother died the same year.

Tracy Ryan reads part of a lament by Lady Mary Sidney, on the death of her brother Sir Philip Sidney, author of Astrophel and Stella and The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia in original pronunciation from the time of Sidney and Shakespeare.

Lutenist John Edwards plays Sir Phillip Sidneys Lamentacion from Matthew Holmes' Lute Book.

Tracy Ryan reads a description of the death of Phillip Sidney at Battle of Zutphen from Elizabethan historian John Stow's The Annals of England to 1603 in original pronunciation from the time of Sidney and Shakespeare.

Lutenist John Edwards plays John Dowland's The Battell Galyerd, also known as The King of Denmark's Galliard, in a version from Jane Pickeringe's Lute Book.

Tracy Ryan reads a description of the Battle of Zutphen from Elizabethan historian John Stow's The Annals of England to 1603 in original pronunciation from the time of Sidney and Shakespeare.

Lutenist John Edwards plays The Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Lisle his Galliard composed by John Dowland, based on Orlando di Lasso's Susanne un jour. Viscount Lisle is Robert Sidney, younger brother to Sir Philip and Mary Sidney, the Countess of Pembroke.

Tracy Ryan reads a sonnet by Robert Sidney, the Viscount Lisle, found in manuscript, in original pronunciation from the time of Sidney and Shakespeare.

Lutenist John Edwards plays William Byrd's setting of Will you Walk the Woods So Wild anonymously arranged for the lute.

Tracy Ryan reads a poem from Sir Philip Sidney's romance The Countess of Pembrokes Arcadia in original pronunciation from the time of Sidney and Shakespeare.

Actor Tracy Ryan reads and excerpt from the First Eclogues Sir Philip Sidney's romance The Countess of Pembrokes Arcadia in original pronunciation from the time of Sidney and Shakespeare.

Actor Tracy Ryan reads the first poem from Sir Philip Sidney's sonnet cycle Astrophel and Stella in original pronunciation from the time of Sidney and Shakespeare.

Professor Deanne Williams talks to John Edwards about Philip, Mary and Robert Sidney and their contribution to literature as inspirers and innovators, practitioners and patrons in the Elizabethan and Jacobean period.

Christopher Verrette, violin, plays divisions by Davis Mell on John Come Kiss Me Now and anonymous divisions on Johnny Cock Thy Beaver from Playford's The Division Violin accompanied by The Musicians In Ordinary Renaissance Violin Band: Matt Antal, Brandon Chui, Sheila Smyth, violas, Laura Jones, bass violin and John Edwards, lute.

Deanne Williams and John Edwards discuss John Milton's Comus, The Lady, Alice Egerton, her experience and her exemplars as a performer.

The Musicians In Ordinary Renaissance Violin Band plays Antiq Masque by John Coprario, and the Robert Johnson's First Witches' Dance and Second Witches Dance from The Masque of Queens by Ben Jonson, probably revived in Middleton's The Witch and Shakespeare's Macbeth. The MIO Violin Band is Matt Antal, Brandon Chui, Sheila Smyth, violas, Laura Jones, bass violin, John Edwards, lute, led by Christopher Verrette, violin.

Dr. Natalia Khomenko, Lecturer at York Univ. and VK Preston, Asst. Prof. at Univ. of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies, talk about depictions of witches in 16th and 17th century England and France.