English Renaissance Drama

This guide provides students with the historical, literary and theatrical contexts they need to make sense of English Renaissance drama. The book considers the London theatrical culture which took shape in the 1570s and came to an end in 1642, emphasising plays that can be read in modern editions and seen in modern productions. Shakespeare s plays appear as a vital but not dominating component of this repertoire.

The opening section reviews the historical conditions in which Renaissance plays were written and performed, tracing the opposing influences of patronage and the market, the Court and the City. The next section surveys the various languages out of which plays were made, showing how discourses such as history, satire or love were taken up and dramatized. Then a series of short biographies describes the lives of the best–known playwrights of the period. A fourth section provides analyses of over twenty specific scripts, showing what makes them interesting and what critical questions they provoke. Finally, the author links ideological concerns with dramatic practice by considering things that are typically enacted on the early modern stage, such as cuckolding, flattering, swaggering, going mad, and rising from the dead.

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

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).

A book surveying the field by introducing as many as twenty–one dramatists and generally considering the London theatrical culture between the 1570s and 1642. Among the key texts commented on are two of Shakespeare s tragedies, namely Hamlet and King Lear .The book is of good use to readers needing a guide to the historical, literary and theatrical contexts in which English Renaissance drama took shape. ( Year′s Work in English Studies, 2008)

The ideal companion for both students and teachers of Tudor and Stuart plays. I was able to use it and recommend it to my students .They loved it almost as much as I did. The book features excellent, thought–provoking readings of the major plays and a wonderfully quirky, fascinating, and useful section on recurring tropes and patterns .The major writers are represented, and the book will work nicely with the Norton and the Blackwell anthologies .I recommend this book with the highest praise. (Studies in English Literature 1500–1900, Spring 2008)

"...Womack offers insightful critical comments on English Renaissance playwrights, some major plays, and a variety of contextual topics...Womack is an astute critic." (CHOICE)

"Remarkably comprehensive a very fine introduction for the non–specialist." (Touchstone)