Shakespearean Drama, the Plague Years, and Consolations for Today Jyotsna G
SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA, THE PLAGUE YEARS, AND CONSOLATIONS FOR TODAY JYOTSNA G. SINGH THANKS to WILLIAMSTON THEATRE .We thank you for your continuing support to Williamston theatre This talk is also dedicated to ALL THE Theatre Practitioners Critics and Scholars whose work inspired this talk and to whom I am indebted include the following: Profs. Emma Smith, Stephen Greenblatt, Rebecca Totaro, Ernest Gilman, and Paul Yachnin, and James Shapiro. SHAKESPEAREAN LONDON – 1616 C. THE GLOBE THEATRE LEFT CORNER FOREGROUND OUTSIDE LONDON CITY LIMITS NOT RESPECTABLE. IN SOUTHWARK- CENTER BACKGROUND ST PAUL’S CHURCHYARD, PLAGUE BURIALS AND BOOK SELLERS vEarly modern London was an expanding metropolis filled with diverse life, from THE MONARCH to courtiers, merchants and artisans to prostitutes, beggars and apprentices. vThus Shakespeare’s London was home to a cross-section of early modern English culture, with increasing evidence of its GLOBAL ROLE . Trading companies brought wealth to the city. Levant Company, East india Company, Royal African Company. Its populace of roughly 100,000 people included royalty, nobility, merchants, artisans, laborers, actors, beggars, thieves, and spies, as well as refugees from political and religious persecution on the continent. Drawn by England’s budding economy, merchants from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and even further afield set up shop in London. As a result, Londoners would hear a variety of accents and languages as they strolled about the city – a chorus of voices from across Europe. Also found in the population were foreigners outside the European Christian world; Moors, Turks, Indians from the New World, and also some Sub- Saharan Africans. These could be ambassadors or servants.
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