Four Renaissance Comedies

by Shaughnessy, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780333973653
• ISBN10: 0333973658
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-03-04
• Publisher: Red Globe Pr

Summary

This anthology of four Elizabethan and Jacobean comedies (George Peele's The Old Wives Tale, Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, Philip Massinger's A New Way to Pay Old Debts, and Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday) offers fully modernized and annotated texts and demonstrates the range and variety of English Renaissance comedy.The general introduction surveys the theory and practice of early modern comedy in its time and ours, and each play is prefaced by a brief introduction addressing issues of authorship, theatrical provenance and subsequent performance history.

Author Biography

Robert Shaughnessy is a Professor of Theatre at the University of Surrey Roehampton.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii
General Introduction	ix
A Note on the Texts	xxvii
The Old Wives Tale	1	(32)
Introductory Note	1	(5)
Text	6	(23)
Notes to the Play	29	(4)
The Shoemakers Holiday	33	(72)
Introductory Note	33	(8)
Text	41	(54)
Notes to the Play	95	(10)
The Alchemist	105	(126)
Introductory Note	105	(8)
Text	113	(100)
Notes to the Play	213	(18)
A New Way to Pay Old Debts	231	(82)
Introductory Note	231	(7)
Text	238	(70)
Notes to the Play	308	(5)
Further Reading	313