'Public' and 'Private' Playhouses in Renaissance England: The Politics of Publication

by Eoin Price

Overview

At the start of the seventeenth century a distinction emerged between 'public', outdoor, amphitheatre playhouses and 'private', indoor, hall venues. This book is the first sustained attempt to ask: why? Theatre historians have long acknowledged these terms, but have failed to attest to their variety and complexity. Assessing a range of evidence, from the start of the Elizabethan period to the beginning of the Restoration, the book overturns received scholarly wisdom to reach new insights into the politics of theatre culture and playbook publication. Standard accounts of the 'public' and 'private' theatres have either ignored the terms, or offered insubstantial explanations for their use. This book opens up the rich range of meanings made available by these vitally important terms and offers a fresh perspective on the way dramatists, theatre owners, booksellers, and legislators, conceived the playhouses of Renaissance London.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137494917
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	02/17/2016
Series:	Early Modern Literature in History
Edition description:	1st ed. 2015
Pages:	95
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.01(d)

About the Author

Eoin Price is Tutor in English Literature at Swansea University, UK. He has published in Literature Compass, The Map of Early Modern London, and The Year's Work in English Studies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Notes and Abbreviations Introduction 1. 'Public', 'Private' and 'Common' Stages, 1559-1600 2. The Emergence of the 'Private' Theatres, 1600-1625 3. 'Private' and 'Public' Indoor Theatres, 1625-1640 Epilogue: Privacy and Drama, 1640-1660 Works Cited Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

'Eoin Price's lively, scholarly study of what it meant to call a Renaissance playhouse 'private' or 'public' will change the ways in which we think about the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre - indeed, it may change the ways in which we think about privacy, culture and the public sphere for good measure. This book is necessary reading for anyone interested in the institution of early modern drama.' Michael Dobson, Director of the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Birmingham, UK

Editorial Reviews

'Eoin Price's lively, scholarly study of what it meant to call a Renaissance playhouse 'private' or 'public' will change the ways in which we think about the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre - indeed, it may change the ways in which we think about privacy, culture and the public sphere for good measure. This book is necessary reading for anyone interested in the institution of early modern drama.' Michael Dobson, Director of the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Birmingham, UK

From the Publisher