There was no single 'Elizabethan stage'. Early modern actors exploited various opportunities for patronage and profit between the 1570s and 1642, whether touring, or performing at inns, in country houses, in purpose-built theatres, at court, at the universities or at the inns of court. This
authoritative and comprehensive collection of new essays explores the social, political, and economic pressures under which the playing companies of Shakespeare and his contemporaries operated. It shows how they evolved over time to meet new challenges such as the opposition of City of London
authorities, the possibility of permanent location in London, the re-emergence of boy companies c. 1600, and the great increase in court performance which began under James I.
Essays also explore the practical everyday business of playing: acquiring scripts and playhouses, dramatic
authorship, the contribution of financiers and entrepreneurs, rehearsing, lighting, music, props, styles of acting, boy actors, and the role of women in an 'all-male' world. A number of contributors address the methodologies of theatre history itself, questioning its philosophical premises and
evaluating the nature of the evidence we have, such as that from stage directions in play-books or from the visual records. The collection as a whole offers a challenging account of the world of the players in Tudor-Stuart England, revising old assumptions and so inviting us to explore anew the
plays which were written for them and which are their greatest living legacy.
William Ingram: Introduction: Early Modern Theatre History: where we are now, how we got here, where we go next
Section A: Theatre Companies
1. W.R. Streitberger: Adult Playing Companies to 1583
2. Sally-Beth MacLean: Adult Playing Companies, 1583 to 1593
3. Roslyn Knutson:
Adult Playing Companies, 1593 to 1603
4. Tom Rutter: Adult Playing Companies 1603 to 1613
5. James Marino: Adult Playing Companies 1613 to 1625
6. Martin Butler: Adult playing companies 1625 to 1642
7. Michael Shapiro: Early (pre-1590) Boy Companies & their Acting Venues
8. Mary
Bly: The boy companies 1599-1613
Section B: London Playhouses
9. David Kathman: Inn-yard Playhouses
10. Gabriel Egan: The Theatre in Shoreditch, 1576-1599
11. Andrew Gurr: Why the Globe is Famous
12. Ralph Alan Cohen: The Most Convenient Place: The Second Blackfriars
Theatre and Its Appeal
13. Mark Bayer: The Red Bull Playhouse
14. Frances Teague: The Phoenix and the Cockpit-in-Court Playhouses
Section C: Other Playing Spaces
15. Suzanne Westfall: 'He who pays the piper calls the tune': Household Entertainments
16. Alan H. Nelson: The
Universities and the Inns of Court
17. Peter Greenfield: Touring
18. . John H. Astington: Court theatre
19. Anne Lancashire: London Street Theatre
Section D: Social Practices
20. Alan Somerset: Not Just Sir Oliver Owlet: From Patrons to 'Patronage' of Early Modern
Theatre
21. Richard Dutton: The Court, The Master of the Revels and The Players
22. Susan Cerasano: Theatre Entrepreneurs and Theatrical Economics
23. Ian W. Archer: The City of London and the Theatre
24. David Kathman: Players, Livery Companies, and Apprentices
25. Kathleen E.
McLuskie: Materiality and the Market: the case of the Lady Elizabeth's Men. The Lady Elizabeth's Men and the challenge of theatre history
26. Heather Hirschfeld: 'For the author's credit': Issues of Authorship in English Renaissance Drama
27. Natasha Korda: Women in the
Theatre
Section E: Evidence of Theatrical Practices
28. Jacalyn Royce: Early Modern Naturalistic Acting: The Role of the Globe in the Development of Personation
29. Tiffany Stern: Actors' Parts
30. Alan C. Dessen: Stage Directions and the Theatre Historian
31. R. B.
Graves: Lighting
32. Lucy Munro: Music and sound
33. Andrew Sofer: Properties
34. Thomas Postlewait: Eyewitnesses to History: Visual Evidence for Theatre in Early Modern England
35. Eva Griffith: Christopher Beeston, His Property and Properties
Composite
Bibliography
Index
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Richard Dutton has been Humanities Distinguished Professor of English at Ohio State University since 2003. Previously he was at Lancaster University in England for thirty years. Working on the borders of literary criticism and theatre history, he is best known for his work on early modern
censorship.
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