The Aesthetics of Spectacle in Early Modern Drama and Modern Cinema Robert Greene's Theatre of Attractions

by Sager, Jenny

• ISBN13: 9781137332394
• ISBN10: 1137332395
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-09-20
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This is a highly original study, which offers an innovative new approach towards the study of early modern drama. This book examines the work of the Elizabethan playwright, Robert Greene, arguing that his plays are innovative in their use of spectacle. This study's most striking feature is the use of the one-to-one analogies between Greene's drama and modern cinema, in order to explore the plays' stage effects.
While recent Shakespearean criticism interprets his drama through the lens of performance, criticism of non-Shakespearean drama continues to disconnect the plays from even the scarce performances of them today. This book aims to bring the study of performance into the realm of non-Shakespearean drama so that the plays of Shakespeare's contemporaries might not descend further into obscurity.
This innovative study advocates the rejection of a purely text-based interpretation of drama and emphasizes the powerful visual dimension of the early modern stage.

Author Biography

Jenny Sager has taught early modern drama at the University of Oxford and Bath Spa University, UK. She has published articles in Early Modern Literary Studies, the University of Durham's Postgraduate Journal and the Lost Plays Database. She is currently editing a special issue of the Shakespeare Bulletin on the subject of early modern drama and film.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Conventions
Introduction
1. The Aesthetics of Spectacle
2. Stage Properties
3. The Leviathan in Thomas Lodge and Robert Greene's A Looking Glass
4. Resurrecting the Body in James IV
5. The Brazen Head in Alphonsus and Friar Bacon and Friar Bacon
6. Stage Conventions
7. Madness and Creativity in Orlando Furioso
8. The Aesthetics of Violence in Selimus
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index