Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday is one of the most popular of Elizabethan plays--entertaining, racy and vivid in its characterization. Revealing a vital portrait of Elizabethan London and the interaction of social classes within the city, its social commentary is on the whole optimistic, though darker tones are discernible. The play has had a lively history of performance on both the professional and amateur stage.

Bernard Sahlin's new adaptation streamlines the dialogue for contemporary audiences and makes this play extremely playable.

The Shoemakers' Holiday, or the Gentle Craft is an Elizabethan play written by Thomas Dekker. First performed in 1599 by the Admiral's Men, it falls into the subgenre of city comedy. The play was first published in 1600 by the printer Valentine Simmes.

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George Robert Twelves Hewes, a Boston shoemaker who participated in such key events of the American Revolution as the Boston Massacre and the Tea Party, might have been lost to history if not for his longevity and the historical mood of the 1830's. When the Tea Party became a leading symbol of the Revolutionary ear fifty years after the actual event, this 'common man' in his nineties was 'discovered' and celebrated in Boston as a national hero. Young pieces together this extraordinary tale, adding new insights about the role that individual and collective memory play in shaping our understanding of history.