Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments

This pioneering collection of non–Shakespearean Renaissance drama covers the full sweep of dramatic performances in the England Shakespeare knew. Newly edited from manuscript and quarto, all the major playwrights are here, among them Marlowe, Jonson, Middleton, and Webster. At the same time, the volume features plays, pageants, and entertainments not widely anthologized elsewhere, such as the coronation entries of Elizabeth I and Queen Anne, and Thomas Heywood’s A Woman Killed with Kindness . The second edition includes new emphasis on women as authors and subjects. More early material has also been added, such as Noah and The Second Shepherds’ Play . Mary Sidney’s The Tragedy of Antony has been included in its entirety, as have John Marston’s The Malcontent and Ben Jonson’s The Masque of Queens . As before, extensive footnotes clarify special terms and hidden meanings, and introductions to each of the individual works highlight relevant socio–historical information. A general introduction recalls the cultural history of the Shakespearean age in early modern England.

Acknowledgments. Introduction. Brief Lives. Chronology. Maps. The Oxfordshire St. George Play. The Cycle Plays. The Murder of Abel (Mactatio Abel) (Towneley Cycle). Noah (Chester Cycle). The Second Shepherds’ Play (Towneley Cycle). JOHN HEYWOOD. A Merry Play Between the Pardoner and the Friar, the Curate and Neighbor Pratt. ANONYMOUS. The Noble Triumphant Coronation of Queen Anne, Wife unto the Most Noble King Henry the VIII. RICHARD MULCASTER. The Queen’s Majesty’s Passage. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. The Lady of May. THOMAS KYD. The Spanish Tragedy. CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. The Tragical History of D. Faustus. ANONYMOUS. Arden of Faversham. CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second. MARY SIDNEY, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE. The Tragedy of Antony. THOMAS DEKKER. The Shoemakers’ Holiday. JOHN MARSTON. The Malcontent. ANTHONY MUNDAY. The Triumphs of Re–United Britannia. THOMAS HEYWOOD. A Woman Killed with Kindness. FRANCIS BEAUMONT. The Knight of the Burning Pestle. BEN JONSON. The Masque of Queens. THOMAS MIDDLETON. A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. JOHN WEBSTER. The Duchess of Malfi. BEN JONSON. Bartholomew Fair. ANONYMOUS. The Barriers. THOMAS MIDDLETON AND WILLIAM ROWLEY. The Changeling. JOHN FORD. ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore. Further Background Reading. Appendix: Cultural Documents. I: The Chester Plays. II: The Order of Corpus Christi Plays at Chester. III: The Late Banns for Performance, Chester. IV: Anne Boleyn’s Entry into London. V: The History of a Most Horrible Murder Committed at Favershame in Kent. VI: On the Prohibition of Plays. VII: The Case Against Drama. VIII: Stage Plays and Interludes, with their wickedness. IX: The Life and Raigne of King Edward of Carnarvan. X: The infortunate marriage of a Gentleman, called Antonio Bologna, with the Duchess of Malfi, and the pitifull death of them both. XI: The Creation of Prince Charles. XII: John Chamberlain, Letter to Dudley Carleton, August 21, 1624. XIII: Exchequer Accounts, October 1, 1631––September 10, 1632. XIV: A Survey of the Chambers and Societies of the Inns of Court. XV: Women’s Roles. Index of titles

Arthur F. Kinney is Copeland Professor of Literary History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Director of the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies. He is the editor of A Companion to Renaissance Drama (Blackwell, 2002) and of the journal English Literary Renaissance . His other recent publications include Lies like Truth: Shakespeare, Macbeth, and the Cultural Moment (2001), Shakespeare by Stages (Blackwell, 2002), and Shakespeare’s Webs: Networks of Meaning in Renaissance Drama (2004).

“Arthur Kinney’s superb anthology covers the full range of early modern performance in England … I have used it for undergraduate courses with great success; everything I needed in a single volume.” Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame [of the first edition] “The new edition of Arthur Kinney’s Renaissance Drama is smashing … Kinney’s anthology reveals the rich and varied nature of theatrical culture in late medieval and early modern England. A great resource for teaching in both graduate and undergraduate courses.” Jean E. Howard, Columbia University “… a first–rate piece of scholarly work” Fran Teague, University of Georgia