The Cambridge Introduction to Early Modern Drama, 1576–1642

Engaging and stimulating, this Introduction provides a fresh vista of the early modern theatrical landscape. Chapters are arranged according to key genres (tragedy, revenge, satire, history play, pastoral and city comedy), punctuated by a series of focused case studies on topics ranging from repertoire to performance style, political events to the physical body of the actor, and from plays in print to the space of the playhouse. Julie Sanders encourages readers to engage with particular dramatic moments, such as opening scenes, skulls on stage or the conventions of disguise, and to apply the materials and methods contained in the book in inventive ways. A timeline and frequent cross-references provide continuity. Always alert to the possibilities of performance, Sanders reveals the remarkable story of early modern drama not through individual writers, but through repertoires and company practices, helping to relocate and re-imagine canonical plays and playwrights.

Preface. An outline of approaches taken; Introduction: brick, lime, sand, plaster over lath, and 'new oaken boards': the early modern playhouse; Case study A. Richard III at the Globe; Case study B. An outdoor theatre repertoire: the Rose on Bankside; 1. Tragedy; Case study C. Opening scenes; Case study D. Staging violence and the space of the stage; 2. Revenge drama; Case study E. 'Here in the friars': the second Blackfriars indoor playhouse; Case study F. The social life of things: skulls on the stage; 3. Histories; Case study G. Title pages and plays in print; 4. Comedy, pastoral and romantic; Case study H. The boy actor: body, costume, and disguise; 5. City comedies; Case study I. The dramaturgy of scenes; Case study J. Collaborative writing or the literary workshop; 6. Satire; Case study K. Topical theatre and 1605–6; Case study L. 'Little eyases': the children's companies and repertoire; 7. Tragicomedy; Case study M. The visual rhetoric of dumb show; Conclusion. The wind and the rain: the wider landscape of early modern performance; Chronology; Bibliography.

Julie Sanders is Chair of English Literature and Drama at the University of Nottingham and currently Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning at its Ningbo, China campus.