Description
Book SynopsisA guide to Renaissance plays and the world they played to. It offers a comprehensive overview of the material conditions of England's most important dramatic period. It looks at the drama in terms of its cultural agency, its collaborative nature, and its ideological complexity.
Trade Review"This collection contains a wealth of information about the vast and rich domain of Renaissance drama. Always lively, the essays display state-of-the-art scholarship on the plays, the playwrights, the theater, and the culture of Early Modern England. It will be an indispensible scholarly resource for those interested in the entirety of the Renaissance theatrical world, an arena which, as this volume definitively confirms, encompassed a rich array of playmakers and theatrical forms."
Jean Howard, Columbia University "Serious first-time readers of Renaissance drama, as well as veteran teachers looking for a credible source of current information, will likely find this substantial volume of great utility." Choice
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations xi
Notes on Contributors xii
Acknowledgments xviii
Introduction: The Dramatic World of the Renaissance 1
Arthur F. Kinney
PART ONE The Drama’s World 11
1 The Politics of Renaissance England 13
Norman Jones
2 Political Thought and the Theater, 1580–1630 25
Annabel Patterson
3 Religious Persuasions, c.1580–c.1620 40
Lori Anne Ferrell
4 Social Discourse and the Changing Economy 50
Lee Beier
5 London and Westminster 68
Ian W. Archer
6 Vagrancy 83
William C. Carroll
7 Family and Household 93
Martin Ingram
8 Travel and Trade 109
William H. Sherman
9 Everyday Custom and Popular Culture 121
Michael Bristol
10 Magic and Witchcraft 135
Deborah Willis
PART TWO The World of Drama 145
11 Playhouses 147
Herbert Berry
12 The Transmission of an English Renaissance Play-Text 163
Grace Ioppolo
13 Playing Companies and Repertory 180
Roslyn L. Knutson
14 Must the Devil Appear?: Audiences, Actors, Stage Business 193
S. P. Cerasano
15 “The Actors are Come Hither”: Traveling Companies 212
Peter H. Greenfield
16 Jurisdiction of Theater and Censorship 223
Richard Dutton
PART THREE Kinds of Drama 237
17 Medieval and Reformation Roots 239
Raphael Falco
18 The Academic Drama 257
Robert S. Knapp
19 “What Revels are in Hand?”: Performances in the Great Households 266
Suzanne Westfall
20 Progresses and Court Entertainments 281
R. Malcolm Smuts
21 Civic Drama 294
Lawrence Manley
22 Boy Companies and Private Theaters 314
Michael Shapiro
23 Revenge Tragedy 326
Eugene D. Hill
24 Staging the Malcontent in Early Modern England 336
Mark Thornton Burnett
25 City Comedy 353
John A. Twyning
26 Domestic Tragedy: Private Life on the Public Stage 367
Lena Cowen Orlin
27 Romance and Tragicomedy 384
Maurice Hunt
28 Gendering the Stage 399
Alison Findlay
29 Closet Drama
Marta Straznicky 416
PART FOUR Dramatists 431
30 Continental Influences 433
Lawrence F. Rhu
31 Christopher Marlowe 446
Emily C. Bartels
32 Ben Jonson 464
W. David Kay
33 Sidney, Cary, Wroth 482
Margaret Ferguson
34 Thomas Middleton 507
John Jowett
35 Beaumont and Fletcher 524
Lee Bliss
36 Collaboration 540
Philip C. McGuire
37 John Webster 553
Elli Abraham Shellist
38 John Ford 567
Mario DiGangi
Index 584
