Bøger i Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama serien

Contends that academic drama represents an important, but understudied, site of cultural production in early modern England. Focusing on plays that were written and performed in academic environments, this work investigates how those plays strive to give coherence to issues of religion, politics, gender, pedagogy, education, and economics.

A study of laughter and weeping in English theatres, broadly defined, from around 1550 until their closure in 1642. This title is concerned both with the representation of these actions on the stage, and with what can be reconstructed about the laughter and weeping of theatrical audiences themselves.

Offering evidence of women's extensive contributions to the theatrical landscape, this volume sharply challenges the assumption that the stage was "all male" in early modern England. The editors and contributors argue that the pervasiveness of female performance affected cultural production, even on the professional London stages that used men and boys for women's parts. In short, Women Players in England 1500-1660 shows that women were dynamic cultural players in the early modern world.

Investigates significant and unexplored signs of John Marston's literary rivalry with Ben Jonson. This book argues that the anonymous play "The Family of Love", sometimes attributed to Thomas Middleton and sometimes to Lording Barry, was in part the work of John Marston, and that it constitutes a whimsical statement of amity with Jonson.

Featuring chapters dealing with Shakespeare and performance culture in modernity, this collection intends to bring better understanding to Shakespeare's imaginative investment in the relationship between theatrical production and the emotional, intellectual and cultural effects of performance broadly defined in social terms.

Considering major works by Kyd, Shakespeare, Middleton and Webster among others, this book transforms understanding of early modern revenge tragedy. It shows revenge tragedy is not an anti-Catholic and Reformist genre, but one rooted in, and in dialogue with, traditional Catholic culture.

Explores the way in which the stories of the Caesars, and of the Julio-Claudians in particular, can be used to figure the stories of English rulers on the Renaissance stage. This title demonstrates how early modern English dramatists, using Roman modes of literary representation as cover, commented on the issues of the day.

Drawing upon the scholarship in Renaissance studies regarding notions of the body, political, physical and social, this study examines how the satiric tragedians of the English Renaissance employ the languages of sex - including sexual slander, titillation, insinuation and obscenity - in the service of satiric aggression.

Offers fresh interpretations of Shakespeare's works in the context of two major contemporary notions of collectivity: the crowd and rumour. This plays illustrates that rumour and crowd are mutually dependent; they also betray a fascination with the fact that crowd and rumour make individuality disappear.

Focuses on the implications of the archival research which has profoundly changed our view of the continuation of performances of Chester's civic biblical play cycle into the reign of Elizabeth I. This volume includes essays that focus on the performance of 1572 which took place despite the objections of the bishop of Chester.