The book considers the London theatrical culture which took shape
in the 1570s and came to an end in 1642.
* * Places emphasis on those plays that are readily available in
modern editions and can sometimes to be seen in modern productions,
including Shakespeare.
* Provides students with the historical, literary and theatrical
contexts they need to make sense of Renaissance drama.
* Includes a series of short biographies of playwrights during
this period.
* Features close analyses of more than 20 plays, each of which
draws attention to what makes a particular play interesting and
identifies relevant critical questions.
* Examines early modern drama in terms of its characteristic
actions, such as cuckolding, flattering, swaggering, going mad, and
rising from the dead.
Spis treści
Introduction.
Timeline.
The Set-Up.
The Moment.
Irreligious Drama.
Courtiers and Capitalists.
Actors and Writers.
The Stage.
Background Voices.
Allegory.
Ceremony.
Drama.
Festivity.
History.
Love.
Medicine.
Rhetoric.
Romance.
Satire.
The Writers.
Francis Beaumont (1584/5-1616).
Richard Brome (c. 1590-1652).
George Chapman (1559-1634).
Thomas Dekker (c. 1572-1632).
John Fletcher (1579-1625).
John Ford (1586-?1650).
Robert Greene (1558-1592).
Thomas Heywood (c. 1573-1641).
Ben Jonson (1572-1637).
Thomas Kyd (1558-1594).
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593).
John Marston (1576-1634).
Philip Massinger (1583-1640).
Thomas Middleton (1580-1627).
Anthony Munday (1560-1633).
George Peele (1556-1596).
William Rowley (d. 1626).
William Shakespeare (1564-1616).
James Shirley (1596-1666).
Cyril Tourneur (d. 1626).
John Webster (c. 1579-c. 1630).
Key Plays.
Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy.
Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great.
Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus.
William Shakespeare, Richard II .
Ben Jonson, Every Man In His Humour .
Thomas Dekker, The Shoemakers’ Holiday .
William Shakespeare, Hamlet.
John Marston, The Dutch Courtesan.
William Shakespeare, King Lear.
The Revenger’s Tragedy .
Ben Jonson, Volpone, or, The Fox .
Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle.
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, The Maid’s
Tragedy.
Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton, The Roaring Girl.
William Shakespeare, The Tempest .
Thomas Middleton, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside.
Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair.
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi.
Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, The Changeling.
Philip Massinger, The Roman Actor .
Thomas Heywood, The Fair Maid of the West.
John Ford, 'Tis Pity She’s a Whore.
Richard Brome, A Jovial Crew.
Actions That A Man Might Play.
Attending.
Being a Woman.
Conjuring.
Cuckolding.
Dressing Up.
Feigning.
Flattering.
Going Mad.
Inheriting.
Plotting.
Rising from the Dead.
Seducing.
Swaggering.
Bibliography.
Index
O autorze
Peter Womack is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of East Anglia. He is the co-author of English Drama: A Cultural History (Blackwell Publishing, 1996), and the author of Improvement and Romance: Constructing the Myth of the Highlands (1989) and Ben Jonson (Blackwell Publishing, 1986).