Passionate Playgoing in Early Modern England
Cambridge University Press, 1/23/2014
EAN 9781107041288, ISBN10: 1107041287
Hardcover, 248 pages, 23.5 x 15.6 x 2 cm
Language: English
Allison P. Hobgood tells a new story about the emotional experiences of theatregoers in Renaissance England. Through detailed case studies of canonical plays by Shakespeare, Jonson, Kyd and Heywood, the reader will discover what it felt like to be part of performances in English theatre and appreciate the key role theatregoers played in the life of early modern drama. How were spectators moved - by delight, fear or shame, for example - and how did their own reactions in turn make an impact on stage performances? Addressing these questions and many more, this book discerns not just how theatregoers were altered by drama's affective encounters, but how they were undeniable influences upon those encounters. Overall, Hobgood reveals a unique collaboration between the English world and stage, one that significantly reshapes the ways we watch, read and understand early modern drama.
Introduction
pondering playgoers
1. Fear-sickness in Macbeth
2. Emotional afterlives in The Spanish Tragedy
3. Hazarding homeopathy in A Woman Killed with Kindness
4. Notorious abuses in Twelfth Night
5. Jonson and the pleasure problem
Coda
becoming selves
Bibliography.