A short history of English Renaissance drama / Helen Hackett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hackett, Helen, author.

Series:

I.B. Tauris short histories.

I.B. Tauris short histories

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English drama--Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600--History and criticism.

English drama.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (368 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019

Place of Publication:

London ; I.B. Tauris, 2019.

Summary:

"Shakespeare is a towering presence in English and indeed global culture. Most readers in the English-speaking world, and many beyond, know his name and have at least a passing familiarity with his work. Yet considered alongside his contemporaries he was not an isolated phenomenon, but the product of a period of astonishing creative fertility. This was an age when new media - popular drama, and print - were seized upon avidly and inventively by a generation of exceptionally talented writers. In her sparkling new book, Helen Hackett explores the historical contexts of English Renaissance drama by situating it in the wider history of ideas. She traces the origins of Renaissance theatre in communal religious drama, civil pageantry and court entertainment and vividly describes the playing conditions of Elizabethan and Jacobean playhouses. Examining Shakespeare, Marlowe and Jonson in turn, the author assesses the distinctive contribution made by each playwright to the creation of English drama. She then turns to revenge tragedy, with its gothic poetry of sex and death; city comedy, domestic tragedy and tragicomedy; and gender and drama, with female roles played by boy actors."--Publisher's website.

Contents:

Introduction: Renaissance and reformation

Timeline

English Drama before the 1590s

How plays were made

Marlowe

Shakespeare

Jonson

Sex and death: revenge tragedy

Playing with genre: city comedy, domestic tragedy, tragicomedy

Playing with gender: boy actors, female performers, female dramatists

The afterlives of renaissance drama.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 220-231) and index.

Print version record.

ISBN:

9780755603848

0755603842

9780857733023

0857733028

OCLC:

881415367