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Based on the true story of the murder of Thomas Arden by his wife, her lover and accomplices in 1551,
Arden of Faversham is one of the earliest domestic tragedies and a play which has continued to thrill audiences since its first staging. This comprehensive edition situates the play in its social, cultural and political context while exploring its performance and critical history through a range of historical and contemporary productions, including William Poel's
Lilies That Fester (1897) and the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2014 production. Throughout, the edition aims to reanimate the play's engagement with the material culture of domestic life, using little-known evidence for the objects and spaces implicated in the murder. The introduction also accounts for recent new thinking about the play's likely authorship, including claims that Shakespeare was a key co-author. The comprehensive, illustrated introduction combined with detailed on-page commentary notes and glosses make this an ideal edition for students and teachers.
List of contents
Series Preface
Introduction
Arden of Faversham
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Catherine Richardson is Professor of Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent, UK. She is author of Domestic Life and Domestic Tragedy in Early Modern England: The material life of the household (Manchester, 2006), Shakespeare and Material Culture (OUP, 2011), and A Day at Home in Early Modern England: Material Culture and Domestic Life 1500-1700, and editor of Clothing Culture 1350-1650 (Ashgate, 2004), with Tara Hamling, Everyday Objects: Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture and its Meanings (Ashgate, 2010) and with Hamling and David Gaimster, The Routledge Handbook of Material Culture in Early Modern Europe (2016).
Summary
Based on the true story of the murder of Thomas Arden by his wife, her lover and accomplices in 1551, Arden of Faversham is one of the earliest domestic tragedies and a play which has continued to thrill audiences since its first staging. This comprehensive edition situates the play in its social, cultural and political context while exploring its performance and critical history through a range of historical and contemporary productions, including William Poel’s Lilies That Fester (1897) and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2014 production. Throughout, the edition aims to reanimate the play’s engagement with the material culture of domestic life, using little-known evidence for the objects and spaces implicated in the murder. The introduction also accounts for recent new thinking about the play’s likely authorship, including claims that Shakespeare was a key co-author. The comprehensive, illustrated introduction combined with detailed on-page commentary notes and glosses make this an ideal edition for students and teachers.
Foreword
A fully annotated student edition of a canonical early modern tragedy with a critical introduction exploring issues of authorship, genre and staging.
Additional text
Richardson’s is a valuable edition of Arden for students, teachers, and scholars, making important contributions to our understanding of the play and no doubt occupying a significant place in editorial history.
