How does our understanding of early modern performance, culture and identity change when we decentre Shakespeare? And how might a more inclusive approach to early modern drama help enable students to discuss a range of issues, including race and gender, in more productive ways?
Underpinned by these questions, this collection offers a wide-ranging, authoritative guide to research on drama in Shakespeare’s England, mapping the variety of approaches to the context and work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. By paying attention to repertory, performance in and beyond playhouses, modes of performance, and lost and less-studied plays, the handbook reshapes our critical narratives about early modern drama.
Chapters explore early modern drama through a range of cultural contexts and approaches, from material culture and emotion studies to early modern race work and new directions in disability and trans studies, as well as contemporary performance. Running through the collection is a shared focus on contemporary concerns, with contributors exploring how race, religion, environment, gender and sexuality animate 16th- and 17th-century drama and, crucially, the questions we bring to our study, teaching and research of it. The volume includes a ground-breaking assessment of the chronology of early modern drama, a survey of resources and an annotated bibliography to assist researchers as they pursue their own avenues of inquiry.
Combining original research with an account of the current state of play, The Arden Handbook of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama is an invaluable resource both for experienced scholars and for those beginning work in the field.
List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Series Preface Acknowledgements Note on the Text 1 Introduction Michelle M. Dowd (University of Alabama, USA) and Tom Rutter (University of Sheffield, UK) 2 Material and Institutional Contexts of Early Modern Drama: an A-Z Edward Gieskes (University of South Carolina, USA) RESEARCH METHODS AND PROBLEMS 3.1 Did Early Modern Drama Actually Happen? Kurt Schreyer (University of Missouri, USA) 3.2 Drama and Society in Shakespeare’s England Jean E. Howard (Columbia University, USA) CURRENT RESEARCH AND ISSUES 4.1 Ancient and Early Modern European Contexts of Early Modern English Drama Ton Hoenselaars (Utrecht University, Netherlands) 4.2 Playing Companies and Repertories Elizabeth E. Tavares (University of Alabama, USA) 4.3 Playhouses and Performance Laurie Johnson (University of Southern Queensland, Australia) 4.4 Drama Beyond the Playhouses Tracey Hill (Bath Spa University, UK) 4.5 Material Culture Chloe Porter (University of Sussex, UK) 4.6 Engendering the Stage: Women and Dramatic Culture Clare McManus (Northumbria University, UK) and Lucy Munro (King’s College, London, UK) 4.7 Matter, Nature, Cosmos: the Scientific Art of the Early Modern English Stage Jean Feerick (John Carroll University, USA) 4.8 Early Modern Race-work: History, Methodology and Politics Jane Hwang Degenhardt (University of Massachusetts, USA) 4.9 Sexualities, Emotions and Embodiment Holly Dugan (George Washington University, USA) 4.10 Religion and Religious Cultures Benedict S. Robinson (Stony Brook University, USA) NEW DIRECTIONS 5.1 Diversifying Early Modern Drama Part One: Early Modern Disability Studies and Trans Studies Genevieve Love (Colorado College, USA) Part Two: Gaining Perspective: Race, Diversity and Early Modern Studies Farah Karim-Cooper (Shakespeare's Globe, UK) 5.2 Performing Shakespeare’s Contemporaries Harry McCarthy (University of Exeter, UK) CHRONOLOGY AND RESOURCES 6 Rethinking the Early Years of the London Playhouses: An Essay in Chronology Andy Kesson (University of Roehampton, UK) 7 Resources Catherine Evans (University of Manchester, UK) and Amy Lidster (Jesus College, University of Oxford, UK) 8 Further Reading Michelle M. Dowd (University of Alabama, USA) and Tom Rutter (University of Sheffield, UK) Index
Michelle M. Dowd is Hudson Strode Professor of English and Director of the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies at the University of Alabama, USA. She is the author of Women’s Work in Early Modern English Literature and Culture (2009) and The Dynamics of Inheritance on the Shakespearean Stage (2015). She has also co-edited several volumes and published numerous articles on early modern drama. Tom Rutter is Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Drama at the University of Sheffield, UK. He is the author of Shakespeare and the Admiral’s Men (2017), The Cambridge Introduction to Christopher Marlowe (2012) and Work and Play on the Shakespearean Stage (2008), as well as numerous essays and articles on early modern drama.
Reviews for The Arden Handbook of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama: Perspectives on Culture, Performance and Identity
The volume offers a very valiant and successful attempt to solve perhaps the biggest problem facing people who write about early modern drama today: now we know so much how do we distil it? There is not a weak essay to be seen. The book will prove an invaluable resource. * Lisa Hopkins, Sheffield Hallam University, UK *
