The Theatrical City: Culture, Theatre and Politics in London, 1576-1649

Description

This collection of essays adopts a novel, interdisciplinary approach to a diverse group of texts composed in London during the Renaissance. Eight literary scholars and eight historians from two continents have been paired to write companion essays on each text. This original method opens up rich insights into London's social, political, and cultural life which would have eluded members of either discipline working in isolation. 'Theatrical' is taken to be a very flexible term, and is applied to the civic rituals and public spectacles of the capital (for example, the execution of King Charles I) as well as to the elite and popular theatre. The eight texts therefore include historical accounts, political documents and polemical works as well as plays.

"The structure of the text is clearly laid out and justified....Chronologically ordered, the eight chapters each contain a pair of essays, one written by a historian and one by a literary critic ....the authors have been able to engage in a pointed dialogue....Each article is thought provoking, and the authors successfully create a collaborative style of dialogue promised by the course's original concept, often referring to each other's work and carefully avoiding repetitive information....the articles are convincing, intelligently written and concise. The variety of articles offered will be of particular value to theater historians and scholars with interdisciplinary interests." Erica Kylander-Clark, Theatre Studies