This book provides a comprehensive introduction to Elizabethan, Jacobean and Caroline comedy, covering both public and private theatres, emphasizing the eclectic, experimental nature of this comedy--its departures from the mainstream New Comedy tradition and its searching, witty analysis of social and personal relations in court, city and country. In his close analysis of some of the richest comedies of the period, Alexander Leggatt makes some unexpected connections between them. The reader is given a comprehensive picture of English comedy in one of its most creative periods.

The fifteenth-century discovery of Plautus’s lost comedies brought him, for the first time since antiquity, the status of a major author both on stage and page. It also led to a reinvention of comedy and to new thinking about its art and potential. This book aims to define the unique contribution of Plautus, detached from his fellow Roman dramatist Terence, and seen in the context of that European revival, first as it took shape on the Continent. The heart of the book, with special focus on English comedy ca. 1560 to 1640, analyzes elements of Plautine technique during the period, as differentiated from native and Terentian, considering such points of comparison as dialogue, asides, metadrama, observation scenes, characterization, and atmosphere. This is the first book to cover this ground, raising such questions as: How did comedy rather suddenly progress from the interludes and brief plays of the early sixteenth century to longer, more complex plays? What did “Plautus” mean to playwrights and readers of the time? Plays by Shakespeare, Jonson, and Middleton are foregrounded, but many other comedies provide illustration and support.

Introduces the conclusions of recent scholarship and research into theatrical conditions, conventions and concepts in the time of Shakespeare. The book begins with a discussion of the origins of early modern English drama and of the theatres that were built for it. Attitudes to theatre and to players, and what audiences expected of both, are explored in the contexts of the constraints of the acting space and the political culture. The book then looks at the structure and dynamics of the theatrical companies before concluding with a discussion of the genres of plays and the expectations of them that people (including writers) held. Appendices list brief details of the major dramatists of the time, and summarise the main historical and dramatic events.

This edition of four Renaissance comedies represents the vitality, range and diversity of the English comic drama of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, reflecting both its capacity for escapist fantasy and its concern with the intrigues of everyday city life. Comprehensive textual notes establish the plays in their originating cultural and theatrical circumstances, as well as explaining obscure references and allusions. A general introduction provides a helpful overview of early modern comedy in the context of Renaissance comic theory and practice, together with an assessment of its continuing theatrical appeal.

An accessible, wide-ranging and informed introduction to Shakespeare's comedies, dark comedies and romances, first published in 2001.

In this second volume of Renaissance Comedy, Donald Beecher presents six more of the best-known plays of the period, each with its own introduction, reading notes, and annotations. Beecher's general introduction, though stand-alone, complements and extends the historical and critical essay prefacing the first volume. Together, the eleven plays in both volumes illuminate the range, variety, and development of the Italian comedy. The second volume of Renaissance Comedy raises fascinating questions about the uses of classical literature, the conventions of comedy, the politics of theatrical production, and the representation of contemporary social issues. Though it is clear that comedic plays exercised considerable influence over the development of European drama, these plays are above all remarkable for their sheer wit and invention, and their capacity to generate laughter and admiration in readers nearly half a millennium later.

Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England is an international volume published every year in hardcover, containing essays and studies as well as book reviews of the many significant books and essays dealing with the cultural history of medieval and early modern England as expressed by and realized in its drama exclusive of Shakespeare.