The Politics of Performance in Early Renaissance Drama

by Greg Walker

Overview

Greg Walker provides a new account of the relationship between politics and drama in the turbulent period from the accession of Henry VIII to the reign of Elizabeth I. Building on ideas first developed in Plays of Persuasion (1991), he focuses on political drama in both England and Scotland, exploring the complex relationships among politics, court culture and dramatic composition, performance and publication. This interdisciplinary analysis will find a market among Tudor historians as well as students of medieval and Renaissance drama.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521029919
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2006
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.55(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Playing by the book: early Tudor drama and the printed text; 2. Household drama and the art of good counsel; 3. John Heywood and the politics of contentment; 4. Acting government: Sir David Lindsay's Ane Satyre of The Thrie Estaitis; 5. Dramatic justice at the Marian court: Nicholas Udall's Respublica; 6. Strategies of courtship: the marital politics of Gorboduc; Epilogue; Appendices; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Walker's analyses are convincing and historically detailed. He is clearly at his best when illustrating the historical contexts and allusions that the texts engage. He provides an amazing amount of detail." Peter C. Herman, Albion

"Recommended for well-read upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty." Choice

"Walker is the most provocative theater historians writing today on the early Tudor period, and he continues to offer new ways of looking at old problems and to suggest new aveunes for understanding the drama and politics of the period." Modern Philology

From the Publisher