Description
Book SynopsisIn this book Professor Bradbrook characterizes Shakespeare's achievements and those of his contemporaries and endeavours to 'place' them in their social and differing theatrical contexts. Throughout, the work takes full account of developments in stage history which have altered thinking about Shakespeare's stage.
Table of ContentsList of plates; Preface; Acknowledgements; Theatre map of London, 1520–1642; Table of theatre companies; Part I. The Sociology of the Theatre: 1. The theatre and its poet; 2. The triple bond: actors, audience, playwrights; 3. Shakespeare's Histories and the structure of Tudor society; 4. Social changes and the evolution of Ben Jonson's court masques; 5. Jonson and the image of Jacobean London; 6. The manifold theatres of Jacobean London and their poets; Part II. Jacobean Shakespeare: 7. Macbeth: the sublimation of spectacle; 8. King Lear and the kingdom of Fools and Beggars; 9. Images of love and war: Othello, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra; 10. Entry to romance: Pericles and Cymbeline; 11. Open form in The Winter's Tale; 12. The Tempest; 13. Shakespeare as collaborator; Part II. Caroline Curtain Act: 14. Masque and pastoral; Notes; Index.
