The Queen's Men and their Plays

by Scott McMillin, Sally-Beth MacLean

Overview

This is the first book devoted to the Queen's Men, one of the major acting companies of the age of Shakespeare. The authors break new ground by showing how Elizabethan theater history can be refocused by concentrating on the company that produced the plays, rather than on the authors who wrote them. They provide a full account of the company's acting style, staging methods, touring patterns and repertoire. Their conclusions will interest Elizabethan historians as well as students and scholars of early modern theater.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521025393
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/30/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

1. The London theatre of 1583; 2. Protestant politics: Leicester and Walsingham; 3. The career of the Queen's Men; 4. The Queen's Men in print; 5. Casting and the nature of the text; 6. Dramaturgy; 7. Marlowe and Shakespeare; Appendices; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Part theater history, part dramatic criticism, this is an exemplary work of careful and detailed scholarship; McMillin (Cornell) and MacLean (Univ of Toronto) provide ingenious and stimulating interpretations of the many political, cultural, and socioeconomic factors that influenced the formation and subsequent history of one of the age's premiere companies. They also offer an intriguing, insightful look at late-16th-century Elizabethan theater practice, including the casting and doubling of roles, how playbooks were managed, how the company organized its extensive touring schedule, dramaturgical issues, and matters of performance style." Choice

"...a major and timely contribution to the history of early English theater. It is comprehensive, informative and wise..., packed with fresh ideas." Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England

"This is a groundbreaking piece of theater history." Shakespeare Quarterly

"The book is rich in insight and careful in its conclusions." Sixteenth Century Journal

"No quick sketch can begin to do justice to the riches of this fascinating book." Letters in Canada

"The Queen's Men and their Plays is a major and timely contribution to the history of the early English theater. It is comprehensive, informative, and wise. More than all this, it is packed with fresh ideas...McMillan and MacLean have established themselves as the definitive interpreters of the late Tudor phenomenon known as the Queen's Men." Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England

From the Publisher