Playing Companies and Commerce in Shakespeare’S Time Roslyn Lander Knutson Index More Information
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THE ALCHEMIST THROUGH the AGES an Investigation of the Stage
f [ THE ALCHEMIST THROUGH THE AGES An investigation of the stage history of Ben Jonson's play by JAMES CUNNINGHAM CARTER B.Sc., University of British Columbia, 196 8 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT. OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of English We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October 1972 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada Date 27 QclAtt ii ABSTRACT THE ALCHEMIST THROUGH THE AGES An Investigation of the Stage History of Ben Jonson's Play This study was made to trace the stage history of The Alchemist and to see what effect theatrical productions can have in developing critical awareness of Jonson's dramatic skill in this popular play. Therefore an attempt has been made to record all performances by major companies between 1610 and 197 0 with cast lists and other pertinent information about scenery/ stage action and properties. The second part of the thesis provides a detailed analysis of four specific productions considered in light of their prompt books, details of acting and production, and overall critical reception. -
An Introduction to Shakespeare, by 1
An Introduction to Shakespeare, by 1 An Introduction to Shakespeare, by H. N. MacCracken and F. E. Pierce and W. H. Durham This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: An Introduction to Shakespeare Author: H. N. MacCracken F. E. Pierce W. H. Durham Release Date: January 16, 2010 [EBook #30982] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 An Introduction to Shakespeare, by 2 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN INTRODUCTION TO SHAKESPEARE *** Produced by Al Haines [Frontispiece: TITLE-PAGE OF THE FIRST FOLIO, 1628 The first collected edition of Shakespeare's Plays (From the copy in the New York Public Library)] AN INTRODUCTION TO SHAKESPEARE BY H. N. MacCRACKEN, PH.D. F. E. PIERCE, PH.D. AND W. H. DURHAM, PH.D. OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF YALE UNIVERSITY New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1925 All rights reserved PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA An Introduction to Shakespeare, by 3 COPYRIGHT, 1910, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1910. Reprinted April, December, 1911; September, 1912; July, 1913; July, 1914; December, 1915; November, 1916; May, 1918; July, 1919; November, 1920; September, 1921; June, 1923; January, 1925. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. {v} PREFACE The advances made in Shakespearean scholarship within the last half-dozen years seem to justify the writing of another manual for school and college use. -
Introduction
introduction Romance is a twilight zone in studies of late sixteenth-century literary genres in England. Half-way between the nostalgia of medieval chivalry and the enterprising spirit of early modern exploration, piracy and com- merce as preludes to a future empire, it is both very old-fashioned and innovatively modern. Appearing in narrative as well as in dramatic forms, romance lays simultaneous claims to history and imagination, which were not necessarily in opposition in the period, and caters for a readership of servants and citizens while equally fi nding its way into Spenserian epic, Sidneyan pastoral or even late Shakespearian tragicomedy and Miltonian poetry. The three plays grouped in this volume are early modern attempts at conquering that twilight zone in a context of expanding contacts with Muslim lands around the Mediterranean. romance and conquest in early modern england ‘The structural core of all fi ction’ for Northrop Frye, who sees it as a means to translate mythical archetypes into human experience, 1 romance is also ‘a notoriously slippery category’, as Barbara Fuchs warns. 2 The basic defi nition with which Helen Cooper starts her authoritative study of the genre is a primarily narrative fi ction in the vernacular which appears from the twelfth century onward, characterised by exotic settings, distant in time and/or place, concerned with love and/or chivalry, and involving high-ranking individuals engaged in some ideal quest. It may include such recurrent patterns as encounters with the supernatural, obscured identities or miraculous conversions. 3 Patricia Parker’s earlier deconstructionist approach complicates this defi nition by insisting on the proliferating digressions which form the structure of romance and defer its closure and collective coherence. -
English Professional Theatre, 1530-1660 Edited by Glynne Wickham, Herbert Berry and William Ingram Index More Information
Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-10082-3 - English Professional Theatre, 1530-1660 Edited by Glynne Wickham, Herbert Berry and William Ingram Index More information Index Note: search under ‘London and Environs’; ‘Playing Companies’; ‘Playhouses’; and ‘Stage Characters’ for individual entries appropriate to those categories. Abell, William (alderman), 586 Andrews, Richard (player), 245 Abuses, 318 Anglin, Jay P., ‘The Schools of Defense’, Acton, Mr (justice of the peace), 158 296 Actors. See Players Anglo, Sydney, 20; ‘Court Festivals’, 291 Adams, John (player), 300 Annals of England. See Stow, John Adams, Joseph Quincy, Shakespearean Playhouse, Anne, Queen, 119, 122, 125, 513–14, 561, 562, 550n, 597n, 626n; Dramatic Records of Sir 564, 580, 625, 630–1; her company of Henry Herbert, 581, 582, 582n players, see Playing Companies Admiral, Lord. See Lord Admiral Apothecaries, 388, 501 Admiral’s players. See Playing Companies Arber, Edward, 192 Aesop, 171 Archer, George (rent gatherer), 611n Agrippa, Henry Cornelius (writer), 159 Arches, Court of the, 292, 294n, 312 Alabaster, William (playwright), 650 Ariosto, Ludovico, I Suppositi, 297n Aldermen of London. See London Armin, Robert (player and writer), 123, 196, Alderson, Thomas (sailor), 643 197, 198; Foole vpon Foole, 411–12 All Hallowtide, 100 Army Plot, The, 625, 636 All Saints Day, 35 Arthur, Thomas (apprentice player), 275–7 Allen, Giles, 330–2&n, 333–6&n, 340, 343–4, Arundel, Earl of (Henry Fitzalan, twelfth Earl), 346–7, 348, 352, 355, 356–7, 367–72, 372–5, 73, 308; his company -
7.5 X 11 Long Title.P65
Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-11103-4 - Shakespeare Survey: Close Encounters with Shakespeare’s Text Edited by Peter Holland Excerpt More information SHAKESPEARE, TEXT AND PARATEXT SONIA MASSAI ‘Reader, . Introth you are a stranger to me; why should liography. One crucial aspect of this legacy is the I Write to you? you neuer writ to mee.’ common tendency to identify the printer’s copy (Nathaniel Field, A Woman is a Weather-Cock, rather than the printed text as the ultimate source v STC 10854, 1612,A3 ) of textual authority. As a result, all those features ‘To the onely rewarder, and most iust poiser of ver- that were added to the printer’s copy as the dra- tuous merits, the most honorably renowned No-body, matic manuscript was transmitted into print and bounteous Mecænas of Poetry, and Lord Protector of transformed into a reading text tend to be over- oppressed innocence.’ looked. The paradox of course is that no dramatic (John Marston, Antonio and Mellida, manuscripts used as printer’s copy to set up early STC 17473, 1602,A2) modern playbooks have survived.1 Scholars inter- ested in Shakespeare and performance often criti- The early modern dramatic paratext is a rich cize the ‘tyranny of print’.2 Ironically, the study of and varied repository of tributes to patrons and Shakespeare in print has also been deeply affected readers, where dramatists negotiated or parodied by the ‘tyranny of the lost manuscript’. This under- their attitudes towards dramatic publication and standing of the printed text as a misrepresentation their reliance on the medium of print as a source of the printer’s copy, combined with the absence of income and literary reputation. -
Heads, Coins and Rebellion in the Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt (C
‘Noble being Base’: Heads, Coins and Rebellion in The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt (c. 1602) Jenny Sager University of Cologne [email protected] This article examines a lesser-known play, The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt, which, in a trend initiated by David Bevington, and expanded upon by Judith D. Spikes and Julia Gasper, has been read primarily for its topical link to the Essex Rebellion.1 It is the contention of this article that the play should instead be considered for its broader ruminations on the power of the monarchy and the ability of rebels to usurp royal authority through the metaphoric associations of coins and heads, both of which have prominent connection to the main setting of the play: the Tower of London. Thomas Dekker and John Webster’s early Jacobean history play depicts the story of Lady Jane’s nine day reign, Mary’s succession to the throne, the Spanish marriage, and Quotations from The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt are taken from the following edition: The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker, ed. by Fredson Bowers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), Vol. 1. In the interest of readability, I have modernised the spelling and punctuation of all early modern texts, with the exception of the titles of primary texts listed in the notes. Those exceptions withstanding, the letters ‘u’, ‘v’, ‘i’ and ‘j’ have been silently normalised in accordance with modern usage. The use of capitalisation has also been silently normalised. The use of italics within the text has also been silently removed to provide clarity for the modern reader. -
The Absence of America on the Early Modern Stage by Gavin R. Hollis A
The Absence of America on the Early Modern Stage by Gavin R. Hollis A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (English Language and Literature) in The University of Michigan 2008 Doctoral Committee: Professor Valerie J. Traub, Chair Professor Michael C. Schoenfeldt Associate Professor Susan M. Juster Associate Professor Susan Scott Parrish © Gavin Hollis 2008 To my parents ii Acknowledgements In an episode of The Simpsons, Marge urges Bart not to make fun of graduate students because “they’ve just made a terrible life choice.” This may be true, but one of the many advantages of this “life choice” is that I have met, been inspired by, and become firm friends with an array of people on both sides of the pond. The first debt I owe is to my advisors at the University of Michigan, who have seen this project through its many stages of confusion and incoherence. Mike Schoenfeldt, Scotti Parrish, and Sue Juster have been supportive, critical, rigorous, inventive, and excellent company. My biggest debt of gratitude is owed however to Valerie Traub, the chair of my dissertation committee, whose influence on this project and has been, and I hope will continue to be, immense. I’m also indebted to faculty at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and at The Shakespeare Institute who have shaped me as a scholar before I made it these shores. I am especially grateful to Peter Holland, who, it is no exaggeration to say, taught me how to read Shakespeare. Thank you also to John Jowett, Drew Milne, and John Lennard. -
So We Are Talking Roughly About Twenty‐Five Years of Theatre. Roughly, Because the Tendencies That Characteriz
So we are talking roughly about twenty‐five years of theatre. Roughly, because the tendencies that characterize Jacobean theatre started before James I came to the throne (1603, died 1625) around the year 1599 – the year when the Lord Chamberlain’s Men relocated their theatre from Shoreditch to Southwark (on the southern bank of the Thames) and called it “The Globe”, the year when the private theatre of Paul’s boys was reopened, and a little later the Lord Chamberlain’s Men got hold of the Blackfriars theatre. These developments brought about an unprecedented avalanche of play‐writing and dramaturgical innovation that made the Jacobean period one of the most dynamic and spectacular periods in theatre history as we know it. The period also established a new generation of playwrights: the most prominent of whom are Ben Jonson, John Marston, George Chapman, Thomas Middleton, John Webster, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher – who worked alongside, competed with, collaborated and learned from William Shakespeare – the major figure that continued to sway the English stage from the Elizabethan well into the Jacobean period. 1 Of course, at the beginning of the period the most successful playwright in London was Shakespeare. So far, his fame rested mainly on the series of history plays: the two tetralogies (Henry VI, Parts I‐III and Richard III; and Richard II, Henry IV, Parts I‐II and Henry V) and King John; and his witty romantic comedies that Queen Elizabeth reportedly liked so much: e.g. Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It. -
Viiirenaissance Drama: Excluding Shakespeare
VIII Renaissance Drama: Excluding Downloaded from Shakespeare EOIN PRICE, ELIZABETH SHARRETT, HELEN F. SMITH, PER http://ywes.oxfordjournals.org/ SIVEFORS, AND CLARE WHITEHEAD This chapter has three sections: 1. Editions and Textual Matters; 2. Theatre History; 3. Criticism. Section 1 is by Eoin Price; section 2 is by Elizabeth Sharrett; section 3(a) is by Helen F. Smith; section 3(b) is by Per Sivefors; section 3(c) is by Clare Whitehead. at Keio University (PULC Consortium) on March 18, 2016 1. Editions and Textual Matters The year 2013 was a significant one for The Spanish Tragedy: it appeared as a single edition in the Arden Early Modern Drama series and as part of the RSC’s William Shakespeare and Others: Collaborative Plays. Another edition was added to that list in 2014: Michael Neill’s Norton Critical Edition. The Norton format, designed with the student reader in mind, combines the expected ingredients—text, annotations, and introduction—with useful supplementary material—secondary sources; extracts from influential critical essays—so the edition comfortably differentiates itself from either of last year’s offerings. Neill, one of the most accomplished and experienced editors of early modern plays, has produced a typically fine edition that offers an excellent introduction to this important play. The Norton advertising blurb promises an ‘authoritative text’ but, of course, the matter is rather more complicated than that, as Neill’s ‘Textual Note’ attests. Neill’s base text is the British Library’s 1592 quarto-form octavo and this has been collated with the same library’s 1602 version, in which, famously, a number of new scenes were introduced. -
Heterodox Drama: Theater in Post-Reformation London
Heterodox Drama: Theater in Post-Reformation London Musa Gurnis-Farrell Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2011 © 2011 Musa Gurnis-Farrell All rights reserved ABSTRACT Heterodox Drama: Theater in Post-Reformation London Musa Gurnis-Farrell In “Heterodox Drama: Theater in Post-Reformation London,” I argue that the specific working practices of the theater industry generated a body of drama that combines the varied materials of post-Reformation culture in hybrid fantasies that helped audiences emotionally negotiate and productively re-imagine early modern English religious life. These practices include: the widespread recycling of stock figures, scenarios, and bits of dialogue to capitalize on current dramatic trends; the collaboration of playwrights and actors from different religious backgrounds within theater companies; and the confessionally diverse composition of theater audiences. By drawing together a heterodox conglomeration of Londoners in a discursively capacious cultural space, the theaters created a public. While the public sphere that emerges from early modern theater culture helped audience members process religious material in politically significant ways, it did so not primarily through rational-critical thought but rather through the faculties of affect and imagination. The theater was a place where the early modern English could creatively reconfigure existing confessional identity categories, and emotionally experiment with the rich ideological contradictions of post-Reformation life. ! Table of Contents Introduction: Heterodoxy and Early Modern Theater . 1 Chapter One: “Frequented by Puritans and Papists”: Heterodox Audiences . 23 Chapter Two: Religious Polemic from Print into Plays . 64 Chapter Three: Martyr Acts: Playing with Foxe’s Martyrs on the Public Stage . -
Farewell, King!
Farewell, King! Dominique Goy-Blanquet 2 Farewell, King! February 1613, London All is true. The facts are on record. The motives and talks around them are my invention, heavily indebted to Shakespeare and others. DGBl Cast of characters: King James I (age 47) Sir George Buck, Master of the Revels (51) Queen Anne (39) Princess Elizabeth (16) Richard Burbage (40) John Heminges (47) Francis Bacon (52) Francis Beaumont (29) Thomas Campion (46) John Webster (33) Cyril Tourneur (38) Shakespeare (48) Henry Condell (37) William Ostler (27) Sir Walter Ralegh (59) Fulke Greville (59) Sir William Wade, Lieutenant of the Tower (67) John Fletcher (34) John Donne (40) 3 George Chapman (53) Inigo Jones (40) John Milton (4) A page Parts can be doubled, with beards blond, light chestnut, dark russet, or white according to age group of character, and managed by a cast of ten. Music John Bull, Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls, composed by three famous Masters William Byrd, Dr John Bull & Orlando Gibbons, Gentilmen of His Maties most Illustrious Chappell. Ingraven by William Hole, 1611, repr. 1613 with a Dedication to Prince Frederick and his betrothed Lady Elizabeth daughter of King James I, ed. Edward F. Raimbault in modern notation, 1847. Gibbons’s setting of Ralegh’s poem Delalande, “Les folies de Cardenio”. 4 1. Enter King James I and his Master of the Revels, Sir George Buck, doing a nifty little pas-de-deux to the tune of “There’s no business like show business”, then freeze, and shift into highly formal style, stressing hierarchy. -
The Seven Deadly Sins</Em>
Early Theatre 7.1 (2004) David Kathman Reconsidering The Seven Deadly Sins Among the Henslowe-Alleyn papers at Dulwich College is a document long prized by theatre historians: the handwritten ‘plot’ of a play called The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins (Dulwich College MS XIX), apparently designed to be hung on a peg backstage at a playhouse. The text of this play does not survive, but it is usually thought to be identical with Richard Tarlton’s ‘famous play of the seauen Deadly sinnes’, referred to in 1592 by Gabriel Harvey and Thomas Nashe.1 The plot is extremely valuable for its scene-by-scene descrip- tion of the play’s action, which lists the characters and (most of) the players who played those characters in each scene. There are twenty players’ names in all: Mr. Brian, Mr. Phillipps, Mr. Pope, R. Burbadg, W. Sly, R. Cowly, John Duke, Ro. Pallant, John Sincler, Tho. Goodale, John Holland, T. Belt, Ro. Go., Harry, Kit, Vincent, Saunder, Nick, Ned, and Will. In addition, two major roles (King Henry VI and Lydgate) and several minor ones are not accompanied by any player’s name. Since this is the most complete cast list we have for any performance of a pre-restoration play, it has often been used as evidence in reconstructing the history of Elizabethan playing companies, as well as the careers of the individual players named therein.2 One problem is that the company which performed this play is nowhere named in the plot. For more than a century, most theatre historians have assumed that the company in question was some version of Lord Strange’s Men performing in the early 1590s.