Description
Book SynopsisHow does our understanding of early modern performance, culture and identity change when we decentre Shakespeare? And how might a more inclusive approach to early modern drama help enable students to discuss a range of issues, including race and gender, in more productive ways?Underpinned by these questions, this collection offers a wide-ranging, authoritative guide to research on drama in Shakespeare's England, mapping the variety of approaches to the context and work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. By paying attention to repertory, performance in and beyond playhouses, modes of performance, and lost and less-studied plays, the handbook reshapes our critical narratives about early modern drama. Chapters explore early modern drama through a range of cultural contexts and approaches, from material culture and emotion studies to early modern race work and new directions in disability and trans studies, as well as contemporary performance. Running through the collection is a shared
Trade ReviewThe volume offers a very valiant and successful attempt to solve perhaps the biggest problem facing people who write about early modern drama today: now we know so much how do we distil it? There is not a weak essay to be seen. The book will prove an invaluable resource. * Lisa Hopkins, Sheffield Hallam University, UK *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Series Preface Acknowledgements Note on the Text 1 Introduction
Michelle M. Dowd (University of Alabama, USA)
and Tom Rutter (University of Sheffield, UK) 2 Material and Institutional Contexts of Early Modern Drama: an A-Z
Edward Gieskes (University of South Carolina, USA)
RESEARCH METHODS AND PROBLEMS 3.1 Did Early Modern Drama Actually Happen?
Kurt Schreyer (University of Missouri, USA) 3.2 Drama and Society in Shakespeare’s England
Jean E. Howard (Columbia University, USA)
CURRENT RESEARCH AND ISSUES 4.1 Ancient and Early Modern European Contexts of Early Modern English Drama
Ton Hoenselaars (Utrecht University, Netherlands) 4.2 Playing Companies and Repertories
Elizabeth E. Tavares (University of Alabama, USA) 4.3 Playhouses and Performance
Laurie Johnson (University of Southern Queensland, Australia) 4.4 Drama Beyond the Playhouses
Tracey Hill (Bath Spa University, UK) 4.5 Material Culture
Chloe Porter (University of Sussex, UK) 4.6 Engendering the Stage: Women and Dramatic Culture
Clare McManus (University of Roehampton, UK)
and Lucy Munro (King’s College, London, UK) 4.7 Matter, Nature, Cosmos: the Scientific Art of the Early Modern English Stage
Jean Feerick (John Carroll University, USA) 4.8 Early Modern Race-work: History, Methodology and Politics
Jane Hwang Degenhardt (University of Massachusetts, USA) 4.9 Sexualities, Emotions and Embodiment
Holly Dugan (George Washington University, USA) 4.10 Religion and Religious Cultures
Benedict S. Robinson (Stony Brook University, USA)
NEW DIRECTIONS 5.1 Diversifying Early Modern Drama Part One: Early Modern Disability Studies and Trans Studies
Genevieve Love (Colorado College, USA) Part Two: Gaining Perspective: Race, Diversity and Early Modern Studies
Farah Karim-Cooper (King's College, London, UK) 5.2 Performing Shakespeare’s Contemporaries
Harry McCarthy (Jesus College, University of Cambridge, UK)
CHRONOLOGY AND RESOURCES 6 Rethinking the Early Years of the London Playhouses: An Essay in Chronology
Andy Kesson (University of Roehampton, UK) 7 Resources
Catherine Evans (University of Manchester, UK)
and Amy Lidster (Jesus College, University of Oxford, UK) 8 Further Reading
Michelle M. Dowd (University of Alabama, USA)
and Tom Rutter (University of Sheffield, UK) Index
