Essays on aspects of early drama, including in this volume a focus on the Towneley plays. Editors: Sarah Carpenter, Pamela M. King, Meg Twycross, Greg Walker. Medieval English Theatre is the premier journal in early theatre studies. Its name belies its wide range of interest: it publishes articles on theatreand pageantry from across the British Isles up to the opening of the London playhouses and the suppression of the civic mystery cycles, and also includes contributions on European and Latin drama, together with analyses of modernsurvivals or equivalents, and of research productions of medieval plays. This volume includes essays on spectatorship, audience reception and records of early drama, especially in Scotland, besides engaging with the current interest in the Towneley Plays and the history of its manuscript.

English Drama before Shakespeare surveys the range of dramatic activity in English up to 1590. The book challenges the traditional divisions between Medieval and Renaissance literature by showing that there was much continuity throughout this period, in spite of many innovations. The range of dramatic activity includes well-known features such as mystery cycles and the interludes, as well as comedy and tragedy. Para-dramatic activity such as the liturgical drama, royal entries and localised or parish drama is also covered. Many of the plays considered are anonymous, but a coherent, biographical view can be taken of the work of known dramatists such as John Heywood, John Bale, and Christopher Marlowe. Peter Happe's study is based upon close reading of selected plays, especially from the mystery cycles and such Elizabethan works as Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. It takes account of contemporary research into dramatic form, performance (including some important recent revivals), dramatic sites and early theatre buildings, and the nature of early dramatic texts. Recent changes in outlook generated by the publication of the written records of early drama form part of the book's focus. There is an extensive bibliography covering social and political background, the lives and works of individual authors, and the development of theatrical ideas through the period. The book is aimed at undergraduates, as well as offering an overview for more advanced students and researchers in drama and in related fields of literature and cultural studies.

English Drama before Shakespeare surveys the range of dramatic activity in English up to 1590. The book challenges the traditional divisions between Medieval and Renaissance literature by showing that there was much continuity throughout this period, in spite of many innovations. The range of dramatic activity includes well-known features such as mystery cycles and the interludes, as well as comedy and tragedy. Para-dramatic activity such as the liturgical drama, royal entries and localised or parish drama is also covered. Many of the plays considered are anonymous, but a coherent, biographical view can be taken of the work of known dramatists such as John Heywood, John Bale, and Christopher Marlowe. Peter Happe's study is based upon close reading of selected plays, especially from the mystery cycles and such Elizabethan works as Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. It takes account of contemporary research into dramatic form, performance (including some important recent revivals), dramatic sites and early theatre buildings, and the nature of early dramatic texts. Recent changes in outlook generated by the publication of the written records of early drama form part of the book's focus. There is an extensive bibliography covering social and political background, the lives and works of individual authors, and the development of theatrical ideas through the period. The book is aimed at undergraduates, as well as offering an overview for more advanced students and researchers in drama and in related fields of literature and cultural studies.

This volume is a photographic facsimile from the copy of the play by George Wapull in the Harry Ransom Centre.It was originally printed in 1576 by Hugh Jackson, and is one of only five extant copies. The introduction discusses the place of this play in Jackson's output, including two other interludes printed by him shortly afterwards. Besides compositorial practice and some irregularities, it addresses the identity of the author, historical detail about the surviving copies, and the editorial contribution of John Payne Collier. The text is rich in stage directions and aspects of performance are discussed including the doubling scheme for four players and the active role of the Vice. The play was written at a time when interludes designed for small acting troupes were popular and exhibited remarkable theatrical expertise. The intellectual context is considered, and in particular the place of this play among the considerable number of surviving interludes from London which focus upon wealth and its abuses and other matters of economic importance at the time. -- .

Newest research into drama and performance of the middle ages. Medieval English Theatre is the premier journal in early theatre studies. Its name belies its wide range of interest: it publishes articles on theatre and pageantry from across the British Isles up to the opening of the London playhouses and the suppression of the civic mystery cycles, and also includes contributions on European and Latin drama, together with analyses of modern survivals or equivalents, and of research productions of medieval plays. This volume features essays on stagecraft, performance, and reception across a wide range of theatrical genres. Overlapping themes include a return to the York Corpus Christi Play, the practicalities of pageant waggon construction and maintenance, mechanical stage effects, international influences, East Anglian theatre and "folk" happenings, academic Latin drama, and private gentry festivities. Contributors include Jamie Beckett, Phil Butterworth, Peter Happe, James McBain, Tom Pettitt, James Stokes, and Diana Wyatt.

This edition of "The Trial of Treasure" is a photographic facsimile of one of the five extant copies of this apparently anonymous play which was printed in 1567 by Thomas Purfoote. It reproduces the copy at the Harry Ransome Library, Austin, Texas which has an anomaly in the printing not found in the other copies. In considering typographical characteristics of the text, the Introduction discusses the place of this play in Purfoote's extensive output. It also addresses the relationship with William Wager's" Enough is as Good as a Feast" with which it shares some seventy lines, and considers the possibility of common authorship. The text is rich in stage directions and aspects of performance are discussed including the doubling scheme for five players and the role of the Vice which is exemplified here.

This collection of essays by international scholars focuses on the vernacular urban culture of the Chambers of Rhetoric in the Low Countries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Reflecting social, religious, and economic realities at a time of fundamental change, the Rhetoricians' plays also reveal a range of poetic and theatrical conventions that make them an important source of information both on practical stagecraft and on the role of theatre in the urban community, as seen in their involvement in civic processions or the organization of drama competitions. The volume sets the Rhetoricians' drama in the cultural life of the provinces of the Low Countries during a period dominated by ruling foreign dynasties: the Burgundian dukes and then the Habsburg dynasty, most prominently the Emperor Charles V and his son King Philip II of Spain. It was a time of intense religious controversy which gave rise to debates both on and off stage. These debates, far from damaging Rhetorician culture, actually stimulated its activities and development to such an extent that Rhetoricians became representative voices for their time. The admixture of entertainment and education offered by the Chambers to their own members - and to a wider public - was one which, though originating in a medieval context, soon became linked with humanist and Renaissance thinking. This volume illustrates how, as a consequence, the Chambers of Rhetoric contributed to the development in the Low Countries of an increasingly articulate society.

This is the new paperback edition of the first fully annotated volume of Ben Jonson's "The Magnetic Lady" written in 1632. It contains textual and explanatory notes and the text is modernized for student use. The introduction places the play in the context of Jonson's later dramatic and poetic works and discusses the political context of the Caroline court. A performance history of the play and fresh material relating to its seventeenth-century reception are also provided. This edition by Peter Happè critically reappraises Jonson's much-neglected play and argues for its recognition as a work of real distinction.

This is the first fully annotated edition of Ben Jonson's "The Magnetic Lady," written in 1632. The introduction places the play in the context of Jonson's later dramatic and poetic works and discusses the political context of the Caroline court. A performance history of the play and fresh material relating to its 17th-century reception are also provided. This new edition by Peter Happè reappraises Jonson's much-neglected play and argues for its recognition as a work of real distinction.

This edition of "The Devil is an Ass" (1616) aims to provide an insight into Jonson's life and work, the theatrical qualities of the play, its political background and its textual history. In his introduction, Peter Happe looks at the special place of the play in Jonson's own life, his interest in London, the theatrical setting of the play and its sources and analogues. There are critical and explanatory commentaries and a glossarial index. The play is seen in its historical and political context, by linking it with late medieval and Elizabethan plays, as well as with the Jacobean stage. The text is meticulously and reliably edited, with modernized spelling for today's reader. A commentary is provided to explain difficult or significant passages. The stage history of the play also includes very recent productions.

The series is performing an important service by providing fully annotated editions of Tudor humanists and playwrights in the original Tudor English, with glossaries and listing of textual variants and doubtful readings. COMPARATIVE DRAMA `A first-rate edition that substantially advances the cause of scholarship.' COMPARATIVE DRAMA First complete and fully annotated collection of John Heywood's plays in the original language. It makes possible a reevaluation ofhis remarkable achievement as actor-playwright and an appreciation of his lively contribution to the English language. In all their experimental variety the comedies are seen to have the stamp of an idiosyncratic, theatricalintelligence coupled with a surprising seriousness and Heywood emerges as a resourceful apologist for traditional Catholic doctrine in a time of Reformation. In arguing for a new chronology, the editors suggest that Henry VIII'sservant and entertainer was capable of refreshing irreverence and political daring. Contents: Witty and Witles, Johan Johan, The Pardoner and theFrere, The Foure PP, A Play of Love, The Play of the Wether. Notes.Appendices: Verses from a lost Play of Reason, Translation of . RICHARD AXTON is a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, and University lecturer in English. PETER HAPPEis the former Principal of Barton PeverilSixth-Form College.

Two-volume collection providing the first opportunity to consider Bale's surviving dramatic work as a whole in the original language. His plays explore the theological and political implications of the English Reformation and offers a Protestant counterblast to the English mystery cycles.

Two-volume collection providing the first opportunity to consider Bale's surviving dramatic work as a whole in the original language. His plays explore the theological and political implications of the English Reformation and offers a Protestant counterblast to the English mystery cycles.

This volume presents critical appraisals of Medieval drama, particularly in regard to structure and technique, and the appreciation of theatrical qualities. The selection reflects the marked changes in approaches to pre-Renaissance drama, influenced by new perceptions among both scholars and stage-interpreters.

A leading playwright and polemical writer of the English Reformation, John Bale was one of the most effective proponents of the Protestant cause in sixteenth-century England. He authored polemical prose, numerous plays, and religious history during a period of critical importance for both the development of English theater and Reformation theology. In John Bale, a comprehensive study of Bale's life and works, Happe brings together three areas of current scholarship - literary and theater criticism, theology and history, and bibliography - into one volume. Covering Bale's polemical writings, his literary history and bibliography, and his five extant plays, including his celebrated historical drama King Johan, Happe argues that Bale was as much a political writer as a religious one. Happe's comprehensive analysis of Bale's works reveals that Bale religious morality plays as well as his prose dealing with religious history and scriptural exegesis, were encoded subversive political statements intended to change public opinion.