The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642

Description

For almost forty years The Shakespearean Stage has been considered the liveliest, most reliable and most entertaining overview of Shakespearean theatre in its own time. It is the only authoritative book that describes all the main features of the original staging of Shakespearean drama in one volume: the acting companies and their practices, the playhouses, the staging and the audiences. Thoroughly revised and updated, this fourth edition contains fresh materials about how specific plays by Shakespeare were first staged, and provides new information about the companies that staged them and their playhouses. The book incorporates everything that has been discovered in recent years about the early modern stage, including the archaeology of the Rose and the Globe. Also included is an invaluable appendix, listing all the plays known to have been performed at particular playhouses and by specific companies.

Andrew Gurr is Professor Emeritus at the School of English and American Studies, University of Reading.

'Here is a concise, compact, well-organised guide to the premises, practices and finances of the actors; I cannot imagine a handier labour-saving device for the student who has been recommended to read far more than he has time for.' Drama 'Gurr's book is admirable in the way it condenses a great deal of technical information into a readable and judicious account. Gurr writes graciously, has a gift for piquant illustration, and provides us with generous quotations from essential documents ...' David Bevington, Shakespeare Quarterly 'The appearance of this fourth, revised edition will place new generations of enquiring readers in Andrew Gurr's debt. Gurr's command of many areas of early modern literary and theatrical scholarship ensures that his concise survey of Shakespeare's theatre remains unparalleled in the field.' John H. Astington, University of Toronto