English Renaissance theatre
Reformation-era literature |
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English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642.
This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson.
Background
The term English Renaissance theatre encompasses the period between 1562—following a performance of Gorboduc, the first English play using blank verse, at the Inner Temple during the Christmas season of 1561—and the ban on theatrical plays enacted by the English Parliament in 1642. In a strict sense "Elizabethan" only refers to the period of
Along with the economics of the profession, the character of the drama changed towards the end of the period. Under Elizabeth, the drama was a unified expression as far as social class was concerned: the Court watched the same plays the commoners saw in the public playhouses. With the development of the private theatres, drama became more oriented towards the tastes and values of an upper-class audience. By the later part of the reign of Charles I, few new plays were being written for the public theatres, which sustained themselves on the accumulated works of the previous decades.[1]
Sites of dramatic performance
Grammar schools
The English grammar schools, like those on the continent, placed special emphasis on the trivium: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Though rhetorical instruction was intended as preparation for careers in civil service such as law, the rhetorical canons of memory (memoria) and delivery (pronuntiatio), gesture and voice, as well as exercises from the progymnasmata, such as the prosopopoeia, taught theatrical skills.[2][3] Students would typically analyse Latin and Greek texts, write their own compositions, memorise them, and then perform them in front of their instructor and their peers.[4] Records show that in addition to this weekly performance, students would perform plays on holidays,[5] and in both Latin and English.[6]
Choir schools
Choir schools connected with the Elizabethan court included
Universities
Inns of Court
Upon graduation, many university students, especially those going into law, would reside and participate in the
Masque
Establishment of playhouses
The first permanent English theatre, the Red Lion, opened in 1567[25] but it was a short-lived failure. The first successful theatres, such as The Theatre, opened in 1576.
The establishment of large and profitable public theatres was an essential enabling factor in the success of English Renaissance drama. Once they were in operation, drama could become a fixed and permanent, rather than transitory, phenomenon. Their construction was prompted when the Mayor and Corporation of London first banned plays in 1572 as a measure against the plague, and then formally expelled all players from the city in 1575.[26] This prompted the construction of permanent playhouses outside the jurisdiction of London, in the liberties of Halliwell/Holywell in Shoreditch and later the Clink, and at Newington Butts near the established entertainment district of St. George's Fields in rural Surrey.[26] The Theatre was constructed in Shoreditch in 1576 by James Burbage with his brother-in-law John Brayne (the owner of the unsuccessful Red Lion playhouse of 1567)[27] and the Newington Butts playhouse was set up, probably by Jerome Savage, some time between 1575[28] and 1577.[29] The Theatre was rapidly followed by the nearby Curtain Theatre (1577), the Rose (1587), the Swan (1595), the Globe (1599), the Fortune (1600), and the Red Bull (1604).[a]
Playhouse architecture
Archaeological excavations on the foundations of the Rose and the Globe in the late 20th century showed that all the London theatres had individual differences, but their common function necessitated a similar general plan.[30] The public theatres were three stories high and built around an open space at the centre. Usually polygonal in plan to give an overall rounded effect, although the Red Bull and the first Fortune were square. The three levels of inward-facing galleries overlooked the open centre, into which jutted the stage: essentially a platform surrounded on three sides by the audience. The rear side was restricted for the entrances and exits of the actors and seating for the musicians. The upper level behind the stage could be used as a balcony, as in Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra, or as a position from which an actor could harangue a crowd, as in Julius Caesar.[31] The pit was the place where the poorest audience members could view the show. Around the 1600s a new area was introduced into the theaters, a 'gullet'. A gullet was an invisible corridor that the actors used to go to the wings of the stage where people usually changed clothes quickly[citation needed].
The playhouses were generally built with timber and plaster. Individual theatre descriptions give additional information about their construction, such as flint stones being used to build the Swan. Theatres were also constructed to be able to hold a large number of people.[32]
A different model was developed with the Blackfriars Theatre, which came into regular use on a long-term basis in 1599.[b] The Blackfriars was small in comparison to the earlier theatres and roofed rather than open to the sky. It resembled a modern theatre in ways that its predecessors did not. Other small enclosed theatres followed, notably the Whitefriars (1608) and the Cockpit (1617). With the building of the Salisbury Court Theatre in 1629 near the site of the defunct Whitefriars, the London audience had six theatres to choose from: three surviving large open-air public theatres—the Globe, the Fortune, and the Red Bull—and three smaller enclosed private theatres: the Blackfriars, the Cockpit, and the Salisbury Court.[c] Audiences of the 1630s benefited from a half-century of vigorous dramaturgical development; the plays of Marlowe and Shakespeare and their contemporaries were still being performed on a regular basis, mostly at the public theatres, while the newest works of the newest playwrights were abundant as well, mainly at the private theatres.[citation needed]
Audiences
Around 1580, when both the Theater and the Curtain were full on summer days, the total theater capacity of London was about 5000 spectators. With the building of new theater facilities and the formation of new companies, London's total theater capacity exceeded 10,000 after 1610.[33]
Ticket prices in general varied during this time period. The cost of admission was based on where in the theatre a person wished to be situated, or based on what a person could afford. If people wanted a better view of the stage or to be more separate from the crowd, they would pay more for their entrance. Due to inflation that occurred during this time period, admission increased in some theaters from a penny to a sixpence or even higher.[34]
Commercial theaters were largely located just outside the boundaries of the City of London, since City authorities tended to be wary of the adult playing companies, but plays were performed by touring companies all over England.[35] English companies even toured and performed English plays abroad, especially in Germany and in Denmark.[36][d]
Upper class spectators would pay for seats in the galleries, using cushions for comfort. In the Globe Theatre, nobles could sit directly by the side on the stage.[38]
Performances
The acting companies functioned on a repertory system: unlike modern productions that can run for months or years on end, the troupes of this era rarely acted the same play two days in a row.[39] Thomas Middleton's A Game at Chess ran for nine straight performances in August 1624 before it was closed by the authorities; but this was due to the political content of the play and was a unique, unprecedented and unrepeatable phenomenon. The 1592 season of Lord Strange's Men at the Rose Theatre was far more representative: between 19 February and 23 June the company played six days a week, minus Good Friday and two other days. They performed 23 different plays, some only once, and their most popular play of the season, The First Part of Hieronimo, based on Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, 15 times. They never played the same play two days in a row, and rarely the same play twice in a week.[40][e] The workload on the actors, especially the leading performers like Richard Burbage or Edward Alleyn, must have been tremendous.
One distinctive feature of the companies was that they included only males. Female parts were played by adolescent
In the Elizabethan era, research has been conclusive about how many actors and troupes there were in the 16th century, but little research delves into the roles of the actors on the English renaissance stage. The first point is that during the Elizabethan era, women were not allowed to act on stage. The actors were all male; in fact, most were boys. For plays written that had male and female parts, the female parts were played by the youngest boy players.[45] Stronger female roles in tragedies were acted by older boy players because they had more experience. [45] As a boy player, many skills had to be implemented such as voice and athleticism (fencing was one).[45]
In Elizabethan entertainment, troupes were created and they were considered the actor companies. They travelled around England as drama was the most entertaining art at the time.
Elizabethan actors never played the same show on successive days and added a new play to their repertoire every other week. These actors were getting paid within these troupes so for their job, they would constantly learn new plays as they toured different cities in England. In these plays, there were bookkeepers that acted as the narrators of these plays and they would introduce the actors and the different roles they played. At some points, the bookkeeper would not state the narrative of the scene, so the audience could find out for themselves. In Elizabethan and Jacobean plays, the plays often exceeded the number of characters/roles and did not have enough actors to fulfil them, thus the idea of doubling roles came to be.[46] Doubling roles is used to reinforce a plays theme by having the actor act out the different roles simultaneously.[47] The reason for this was for the acting companies to control salary costs, or to be able to perform under conditions where resources such as other actor companies lending actors were not present.[47]
There were two acting styles implemented: formal and natural. Formal acting is objective and traditional, while natural acting attempts to create an illusion for the audience by remaining in character and imitating the fictional circumstances. The formal actor symbolises while the natural actor interprets. The natural actor impersonates while the formal actor represents the role. Natural and formal are opposites of each other, where natural acting is subjective. Overall, the use of these acting styles and the doubled roles dramatic device made Elizabethan plays very popular.[48]
Costumes
One of the main uses of costume during the Elizabethan era was to make up for the lack of scenery, set, and props on stage. It created a visual effect for the audience, and it was an integral part of the overall performance.[49] Since the main visual appeal on stage were the costumes, they were often bright in colour and visually entrancing. Colours symbolized social hierarchy, and costumes were made to reflect that. For example, if a character was royalty, their costume would include purple. The colours, as well as the different fabrics of the costumes, allowed the audience to know the status of each character when they first appeared on stage.[50]
Costumes were collected in inventory. More often than not, costumes wouldn't be made individually to fit the actor. Instead, they would be selected out of the stock that theatre companies would keep. A theatre company reused costumes when possible and would rarely get new costumes made. Costumes themselves were expensive, so usually players wore contemporary clothing regardless of the time period of the play. The most expensive pieces were given to higher class characters because costuming was used to identify social status on stage. The fabrics within a playhouse would indicate the wealth of the company itself. The fabrics used the most were: velvet, satin, silk, cloth-of-gold, lace and ermine.[51] For less significant characters, actors would use their own clothes.
Actors also left clothes in their will for following actors to use. Masters would also leave clothes for servants in their will, but servants weren't allowed to wear fancy clothing, instead, they sold the clothes back to theatre companies.[50] In the Tudor and Elizabethan eras, there were laws stating that certain classes could only wear clothing fitting of their status in society. There was a discrimination of status within the classes. Higher classes flaunted their wealth and power through the appearance of clothing, however, courtesans and actors were the only exceptions – as clothing represented their 'working capital', as it were, but they were only permitted to dress so while working. If actors belonged to a licensed acting company, they were allowed to dress above their standing in society for specific roles in a production.[52]
Playwrights
The growing population of London, the growing wealth of its people, and their fondness for spectacle produced a dramatic literature of remarkable variety, quality and extent. About 3,000 plays were written for the Elizabethan stage, and although most of them have been lost, at least 543 remain.[53][54]
The people who wrote these plays were primarily self-made men from modest backgrounds.[g] Some of them were educated at either Oxford or Cambridge, but many were not. Although William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson were actors, the majority do not seem to have been performers, and no major author who came on to the scene after 1600 is known to have supplemented his income by acting. Their lives were subject to the same levels of danger and earlier mortality as all who lived during the early modern period: Christopher Marlowe was killed in an apparent tavern brawl, while Ben Jonson killed an actor in a duel. Several were probably soldiers.
Playwrights were normally paid in increments during the writing process, and if their play was accepted, they would also receive the proceeds from one day's performance. However, they had no ownership of the plays they wrote. Once a play was sold to a company, the company owned it, and the playwright had no control over casting, performance, revision or publication.
The profession of dramatist was challenging and far from lucrative.
Playwrights dealt with the natural limitation on their productivity by combining into teams of two, three, four, and even five to generate play texts. The majority of plays written in this era were collaborations, and the solo artists who generally eschewed collaborative efforts, like Jonson and Shakespeare, were the exceptions to the rule. Dividing the work, of course, meant dividing the income; but the arrangement seems to have functioned well enough to have made it worthwhile. Of the 70-plus known works in the canon of Thomas Dekker, roughly 50 are collaborations. In a single year (1598) Dekker worked on 16 collaborations for impresario Philip Henslowe, and earned £30, or a little under 12 shillings per week—roughly twice as much as the average artisan's income of 1s. per day.[57] At the end of his career, Thomas Heywood would famously claim to have had "an entire hand, or at least a main finger" in the authorship of some 220 plays. A solo artist usually needed months to write a play (though Jonson is said to have done Volpone in five weeks); Henslowe's Diary indicates that a team of four or five writers could produce a play in as little as two weeks. Admittedly, though, the Diary also shows that teams of Henslowe's house dramatists—Anthony Munday, Robert Wilson, Richard Hathwaye, Henry Chettle, and the others, even including a young John Webster—could start a project, and accept advances on it, yet fail to produce anything stageworthy.[58]
Timeline of English Renaissance playwrights
Short yellow lines indicate 27 years—the average age these authors began their playwrighting careers
Genres
Tragedy was a very popular genre. Marlowe's tragedies were exceptionally successful, such as Dr. Faustus and The Jew of Malta. The audiences particularly liked revenge dramas, such as Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. The four tragedies considered to be Shakespeare's greatest (Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth) were composed during this period.
Though marginalised, the older genres like
Plays on biblical themes were common, Peele's David and Bethsabe being one of the few surviving examples.
Printed texts
Only a minority of the plays of English Renaissance theatre were ever printed. Of Heywood's 220 plays, only about 20 were published in book form.[59] A little over 600 plays were published in the period as a whole, most commonly in individual quarto editions. (Larger collected editions, like those of Shakespeare's, Ben Jonson's, and Beaumont and Fletcher's plays, were a late and limited development.) Through much of the modern era, it was thought that play texts were popular items among Renaissance readers that provided healthy profits for the stationers who printed and sold them. By the turn of the 21st century, the climate of scholarly opinion shifted somewhat on this belief: some contemporary researchers argue that publishing plays was a risky and marginal business[60]—though this conclusion has been disputed by others.[61] Some of the most successful publishers of the English Renaissance, like William Ponsonby or Edward Blount, rarely published plays.
A small number of plays from the era survived not in printed texts but in manuscript form.[h]
The end of English Renaissance theatre
The rising
Whereas the distressed Estate of Ireland, steeped in her own Blood, and the distracted Estate of England, threatened with a Cloud of Blood by a Civil War, call for all possible Means to appease and avert the Wrath of God, appearing in these Judgements; among which, Fasting and Prayer, having been often tried to be very effectual, having been lately and are still enjoined; and whereas Public Sports do not well agree with Public Calamities, nor Public Stage-plays with the Seasons of Humiliation, this being an Exercise of sad and pious Solemnity, and the other being Spectacles of Pleasure, too commonly expressing lascivious Mirth and Levity: It is therefore thought fit, and Ordained, by the Lords and Commons in this Parliament assembled, That, while these sad causes and set Times of Humiliation do continue, Public Stage Plays shall cease, and be forborn, instead of which are recommended to the People of this Land the profitable and seasonable considerations of Repentance, Reconciliation, and Peace with God, which probably may produce outward Peace and Prosperity, and bring again Times of Joy and Gladness to these Nations.
—His Majesty's Stationery Office, Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642–1660, "September 1642: Order for Stage-plays to cease"[62]
The Act purports the ban to be temporary ("... while these sad causes and set Times of Humiliation do continue, Public Stage Plays shall cease and be forborn") but does not assign a time limit to it.
Even after 1642, during the
The performance of plays remained banned for most of the next eighteen years, becoming allowed again after the
List of playwrights
- William Alabaster[63]
- William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling
- Robert Armin
- Barnabe Barnes
- Lording Barry
- Francis Beaumont
- William Berkeley
- Samuel Brandon
- Antony Brewer
- Richard Brome
- Samuel Brooke
- William Browne (poet)
- Thomas Campion
- Lodowick Carlell
- William Cartwright
- Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland
- Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
- George Chapman
- Henry Cheke
- Henry Chettle
- John Clavell
- Anthony Chute
- Robert Daborne
- Samuel Daniel
- William Davenant
- Robert Davenport
- John Davidson
- John Day
- Thomas Dekker
- Michael Drayton
- Richard Edwardes
- George Ferebe
- Nathan Field
- John Fletcher
- Phineas Fletcher
- John Ford
- Abraham Fraunce
- Ulpian Fulwell
- William Gager
- George Gascoigne
- Henry Glapthorne
- Thomas Goffe
- Arthur Golding
- Robert Greene
- Fulke Greville
- Matthew Gwinne
- William Haughton
- Walter Hawkesworth
- Mary Herbert
- Thomas Heywood
- Thomas Hughes
- Thomas Ingelend
- John Jeffere
- Ben Jonson
- Henry Killigrew
- Thomas Killigrew
- Thomas Kyd
- Sir Henry Lee
- Thomas Legge
- Thomas Lodge
- Thomas Lupton
- John Lyly
- Lewis Machin
- Francis Marbury
- Gervase Markham
- Christopher Marlowe
- Shackerley Marmion
- John Marston
- John Mason
- Philip Massinger
- Thomas May
- Thomas Middleton
- Anthony Munday
- Thomas Nabbes
- Thomas Nashe
- Thomas Nelson
- Thomas Norton
- George Peele
- William Percy
- John Phillip
- John Pickering (dramatist)
- Henry Porter
- Thomas Preston
- Samuel Rowley
- William Rowley
- George Ruggle
- Joseph Rutter
- Thomas Sackville
- William Sampson
- William Shakespeare
- Edward Sharpham
- James Shirley
- Sir Philip Sidney
- Wentworth Smith
- John Stephens
- Sir John Suckling
- Robert Tailor
- Richard Tarlton
- Thomas Tomkis
- Cyril Tourneur
- Francis Verney
- William Wager
- George Wapull
- William Warner (poet)
- John Webster
- George Whetstone
- George Wilkins
- Robert Wilmot
- Arthur Wilson
- Robert Wilson
- Nathaniel Woodes
- Robert Yarington
Actors
- William Alabaster
- Edward Alleyn
- Robert Armin
- William Barksted
- Richard Brome
- Richard Burbage
- William Cavendish
- Henry Condell
- Nathan Field
- Alexander Gough
- Thomas Greene
- Richard Gunnell
- Stephen Hammerton
- Charles Hart
- John Heminges
- Thomas Heywood
- John Honyman
- Ben Jonson
- Will Kempe
- John Lowin
- William Ostler
- Andrew Pennycuicke
- Augustine Phillips
- Thomas Pollard
- Thomas Pope
- Timothy Read
- Richard Robinson
- Samuel Rowley
- William Rowley
- William Shakespeare
- William Sly
- Robert Wilson
Playhouses
Playing companies
- King's Revels Children
- King's Revels Men
- Lady Elizabeth's Men
- Leicester's Men
- Lord Strange's Men (later Derby's Men)
- Oxford's Boys
- Oxford's Men
- Pembroke's Men
- Prince Charles's Men
- Queen Anne's Men
- Queen Elizabeth's Men
- Queen Henrietta's Men
- The Admiral's Men
- The Children of Paul's
- The Children of the Chapel (Queen's Revels)
- The King's Men
- The Lord Chamberlain's Men
- Sussex's Men
- Warwick's Men
- Worcester's Men
Timeline of English Renaissance playing companies
English Renaissance playing company timeline
This timeline charts the existence of major English playing companies from 1572 ("Acte for the punishment of Vacabondes", which legally restricted acting to players with a patron of sufficient degree) to 1642 (the closing of the theatres by Parliament). A variety of strolling players, and even early London-based troupes existed before 1572. The situations were often fluid, and much of this history is obscure; this timeline necessarily implies more precision than exists in some cases. The labels down the left indicate the most common names for the companies. The bar segments indicate the specific patron. In the case of children's companies (a distinct legal situation) some founders are noted.
Other significant figures
- Susan Baskervile, investor and litigant
- William Beeston, manager
- George Buc, Master of the Revels1609–1622
- Cuthbert Burbage, entrepreneur
- James Burbage, entrepreneur
- Ralph Crane, scribe
- Philip Henslowe, entrepreneur
- Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels 1623–1673
- Edward Knight, prompter
- Francis Langley, entrepreneur
- John Rhodes, manager
- Edmund Tilney, Master of the Revels1579–1609
See also
Notes and references
Notes
- Boar's Head Inn (1598), and the Hope Theatre(1613), neither of them major venues for drama in the era.
- ^ The Blackfriars site was used as a theatre in the 1576-84 period; but it became a regular venue for drama only later.
- ^ Other "private" theaters of the era included the theatre near St Paul's Cathedral used by the Children of Paul's (1575) and the occasionally used Cockpit-in-Court (1629).
- ^ For example, Romeo and Juliet was performed in Nördlingen in 1605.[37]
- E. K. Chambers' The Elizabethan Stage (1923), reflects an earlier interpretation of the identity of the Hieronimo play.[41]
- ^ For example the King's Revels Children, Children of Paul's, and the Children of the Chapel. Shakespeare even alludes to such companies, with a certain amount of scorn, in Hamlet act 2, scene 2.[42]
- Elizabeth Tudor.[55]
- Sir John van Olden Barnavelt.
- ^ See for example the Red Bull Theatre and Robert Cox
References
- ^ Gurr 2009, pp. 12–18.
- ^ Christiansen 1997.
- ^ Astington 2010, p. 45.
- ^ Christiansen 1997, p. 298.
- ^ Astington 2010, p. 42.
- ^ Astington 2010, p. 43.
- ^ Astington 2010, p. 49.
- ^ Astington 2010, pp. 48–50.
- ^ Astington 2010, p. 51.
- ^ Gurr 2009, p. 45.
- ^ Astington 2010, p. 54.
- ^ Gurr 2009, pp. 67–68.
- ^ a b Boas 1914, p. 346.
- ^ Boas 1914, p. 8.
- ^ Boas 1914, p. 13.
- ^ Boas 1914, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Boas 1914, pp. 14–18.
- ^ Boas 1914, p. 25.
- ^ Boas 1914, pp. 89–108, 252–285.
- ^ Astington 2010, p. 69.
- ^ Astington 2010, pp. 69–71.
- ^ a b c Cunningham 2007, p. 200.
- ^ a b Astington 2010, p. 70.
- ^ Astington 2010, p. 74.
- ^ Bryson 2008, p. 28.
- ^ a b Ordish 1899, p. 30.
- ^ Bowsher & Miller 2010, p. 19.
- ^ Wickham, Berry & Ingram 2000, p. 320.
- ^ Ingram 1992, p. 170.
- ^ Gurr 2009, pp. 123–131, 142–146.
- ^ Ichikawa 2012, pp. 1–12.
- ^ Hattaway 2008, p. 40.
- ^ Cook 2014, pp. 176–178.
- ^ MacIntyre 1992, p. 322.
- ^ Keenan 2002.
- ^ Dawson 2002, pp. 174–193.
- ^ Dawson 2002, p. 176.
- ^ Melissa Thomas (2009). "Theatre Culture Of Early Modern England".
- ^ Tucker, Patrick (2002). Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach. Routledge. p. 8.
- ^ Halliday 1964, p. 374.
- ^ Chambers 1923, p. 396.
- ^ Hamlet 2.2/337–391, Folger Shakespeare Library
- ^ Bellinger 1927, pp. 207–213.
- ^ Ichikawa 2012, p. 100.
- ^ a b c Maclennan 1994.
- ^ Calore 2003.
- ^ a b Kregor 1993.
- ^ Triesault 1970.
- ^ MacIntyre 1992.
- ^ a b Keenan 2014, pp. 109–110.
- ^ Mann 1991.
- ^ Montrose 1996, pp. 35–37.
- ^ Martin Wiggins, in association with Catherine Richardson, British Drama 1533–1642: A Catalogue (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012-).
- ^ Chambers 1923.
- ^ Halliday 1964, pp. 374–375.
- ^ Gurr 2009, p. 72.
- ^ Halliday 1964, pp. 108–109, 374–375, 456–457.
- ^ Halliday 1964, p. 375.
- ^ Blayney 1997.
- ^ Farmer & Lesser 2005.
- ^ Firth & Rait 1911.
- ^ CITEREFChambers1923
Sources
- Astington, John H. (2010). Actors and Acting in Shakespeare's Time: The Art of Stage Playing. Cambridge: Cambridge Core.
- Bellinger, Martha Fletcher (1927). A Short History of the Drama. New York: OL 17749089M.
- Blayney, Peter W. M. (1997). "The Publication of Playbooks". In Cox, John D.; Kastan, David Scott (eds.). A New History of Early English Drama. New York: ISBN 9780231102438.
- OL 7149074M.
- Bowsher, Julian; Miller, Pat (2010). The Rose and the Globe: Playhouses of Shakespeare's Bankside, Southwark: Excavations 1988–91. ISBN 978-1-901992-85-4.
- ISBN 978-0007197903.
- Calore, Michela (2003). "Elizabethan Plots: A Shared Code of Theatrical and Fictional Language". Cambridge Core.
- ISBN 9780199567508.
- Christiansen, Nancy L. (1997). "Rhetoric as Character-Fashioning: The Implications of Delivery's 'Places' in the British Renaissance Paideia". S2CID 170122602.
- Cook, Ann Jennalie (2014). The Privileged Playgoers of Shakespeare's London, 1576-1642. Princeton: ISBN 9780691614953.
- Cunningham, Karen J. (2007). "'So Many Books, So Many Rolls of Ancient Time': The Inns of Court and Gorboduc". In Kezar, Dennis (ed.). Solon and Thespis: Law and Theater in the English Renaissance. Notre Dame, Indiana: ISBN 978-0-268-03313-2.
- Dawson, Anthony B. (2002). "International Shakespeare". In Cambridge Core.
- Farmer, Alan B.; Lesser, Zachary (2005). "The Popularity of Playbooks Revisited". S2CID 59134858.
- Firth, C.H.; Rait, R.S., eds. (1911). "September 1642: Order for Stage-plays to cease". Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660. Laws, etc. London: OL 6559925M.
- Cambridge Core.
- OL 5906173M.
- Hattaway, Michael (2008). Elizabethan Popular Theatre: Plays in Performance. London: ISBN 9780415489010.
- Ingram, William (1992). The Business of Playing: The Beginnings of The Adult Professional Theater in Elizabethan London. ISBN 978-0-8014-2671-1.
- Ichikawa, Mariko (2012). The Shakespearean Stage Space. Cambridge: Cambridge Core.
- Keenan, Siobhan (2002). Travelling Players in Shakespeare's England. Basingstoke: ISBN 978-0-333-96820-8.
- Keenan, Siobhan (2014). Acting Companies and their Plays in Shakespeare's London. London: ISBN 9781408146637.
- Kregor, Karl H. (1993). "Doubled Roles in English Renaissance Drama: Problems, Possibilities and Marlowe's Edward II". ISSN 0733-2033.
- MacIntyre, Jean (1992). Costumes and Scripts in the Elizabethan Theatres. Edmonton: ISBN 978-0-88864-226-4.
- Maclennan, Ian Burns (1994). "If I were a woman": A study of the boy player in the Elizabethan public theatre (PhD thesis).
- Mann, David Albert (1991). The Elizabethan Player: Contemporary Stage Representation. ISBN 9781138235656.
- Montrose, Louis (1996). The Purpose of Playing: Shakespeare and the Cultural Politics of the Elizabethan Theatre. ISBN 9780226534831.
- Ordish, T. Fairman (1899). Early London Theatres: In the Fields. Antiquary's library. London: OL 16796098M.
- Triesault, Jon Lloyd (1970). Elizabethan public playhouse acting: Its development and complex style (MA thesis). University of Southern California.
- Wickham, Glynne; Berry, Herbert; Ingram, William (2000). English professional theatre, 1530-1660. Cambridge: ISBN 978-0-521-23012-4.
External links
- Early Modern Drama database
- Shakespeare and the Globe from Encyclopædia Britannica; a more comprehensive resource on the theatre of this period than its name suggests.
- A Lecture on Elizabethan Theatre by Thomas Larque
- A site discussing the influence of Ancient Rome on English Renaissance Theatre
- Richard Southern archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol
- Roy, Pinaki. "All the World's a Stage: Remembering the Prominent Renaissance London Playhouses". Yearly Shakespeare (ISSN 0976-9536), 11 (April 2013): 24–32.
- Roy, Pinaki. " If we ever meet again: The Three Groups of English Renaissance Playwrights". Yearly Shakespeare (ISSN 0976-9536), 17 (April 2019): 31–38.
- The Francis Longe Collection at the Library of Congress contains some early editions of theatrical works published in English between 1607 and 1812.
- [1][permanent dead link]