English Drama Before Shakespeare

by Happe; Peter

• ISBN13: 9780582493742
• ISBN10: 0582493749
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1999-02-25
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

English Drama before Shakespearesurveys the range of dramatic activity in English up to 1590. The book challenges the traditional divisions between Medieval and Renaissance literature by showing that there was much continuity throughout this period, in spite of many innovations. The range of dramatic activity includes well-known features such as mystery cycles and the interludes, as well as comedy and tragedy. Para-dramatic activity such as the liturgical drama, royal entries and localised or parish drama is also covered. Many of the plays considered are anonymous, but a coherent, biographical view can be taken of the work of known dramatists such as John Heywood, John Bale, and Christopher Marlowe. Peter Happe's study is based upon close reading of selected plays, especially from the mystery cycles and such Elizabethan works as Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. It takes account of contemporary research into dramatic form, performance (including some important recent revivals), dramatic sites and early theatre buildings, and the nature of early dramatic texts. Recent changes in outlook generated by the publication of the written records of early drama form part of the book's focus. There is an extensive bibliography covering social and political background, the lives and works of individual authors, and the development of theatrical ideas through the period. The book is aimed at undergraduates, as well as offering an overview for more advanced students and researchers in drama and in related fields of literature and cultural studies.

Table of Contents

Series List

Editors' Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Historical Continuity and Development: The Scope of Drama, 1350-1590

Dramatic Practice, 1350-1590

The Medieval Drama

Worship, Instruction and Entertainment

Liturgical Drama

Texts and Mystery Plays and Moralities

Staging

Dramatic Values

Humanism, Renaissance and Reformation

Education and Polemic

Classical Comedy and Tragedy

Individual Dramatists up to 1555

Interludes

Other Dramatic Forms

Professional Theatre

Theatre and Companies

The Context of the Professional Stage: James Burbage and John Lyly

Kyd and Marlowe

Greene, Peele and Other Popular Plays, 1580-95

Epilogue

Chronology

General Bibliographies

Historical and cultural background

Theatres, actors and audiences

General criticism

Individual Authors

Notes on biography, major works and criticism

Anonymous plays

Selected criticism

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.