Theatre and Government under the Early Stuarts

Cambridge University Press, 7/8/1993
EAN 9780521401593, ISBN10: 0521401593

Hardcover, 288 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm
Language: English

This collection of commissioned essays by established scholars, responds to critical debate on political theatre of the turbulent early years of the seventeenth century. Theatre is widely interpreted. The authors discuss censorship, the social implications of pageantry, Reformation ideals, popular theatre and the politics of the masque throughout the period. An early chapter discusses political theatre in the light of work by revisionist and post-revisionist historians. The drama of Jonson, Dekker, Middleton, Massinger, Chapman, Heywood and Rowley is given detailed attention, while Shakespeare's plays are considered in the introductory chapter.

1. Theatre and government under the early Stuarts J. R. Mulryne
2. Early Stuart politics Simon Adams
3. Ben Jonson and the Master of the Revels Richard Dutton
4. The politics of the Jacobean masque Graham Parry
5. Reform or reverence? The politics of the Caroline masque Martin Butler
6. The spectacle of the realm
civic consciousness, rhetoric and ritual in early modern London James Knowles
7. The Reformation plays on the public stage Julia Gasper
8. Politics and dramatic form in early modern tragedy Kathleen McLuskie
9. Drama and opinion in the 1620s
Middleton and Massinger Margot Heinemann
Index.

"...this collection sculpts new contours from familiar topography." Choice

"Mulryne's summary of recent scholarship is lucid and fair, and his own suggestions are sensible..." Richard McCoy, Shakespeare Quarterly

"This valuable collection does more than break new ground; it also surveys territory already traversed, reassessing earlier debates in light of more recent thinking .... a volume that is unusually rich in its coverage, its quality, and its capacity to stimulate thought." Robert Evans, Comparative Drama