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For both producers and consumers of theatre in the early modern era, art was viewed as a social rather than an individual activity. Emerging in the context of new capitalistic modes of production, the birth of the nation state and the rise of absolute monarchies, theatre also proved a highly mobile medium across geolinguistic boundaries. This volume provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of the cultural history of theatre from 1400 to 1650, and examines the socioeconomically heterodox nature of theatre and performance during this period.
Highly illustrated with 48 images, the ten chapters each take a different theme as their focus: institutional frameworks; social functions; sexuality and gender; the environment of theatre; circulation; interpretations; communities of production; repertoire and genres; technologies of performance; and knowledge transmission.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Series Preface
Editor's Acknowledgements
Introduction: Culture, Cultural History and Early Modern Theatre
Robert Henke, Washington University, USA1 Institutional Frameworks: Mapping Theatrical Resources
Tom Bishop,University of Auckland, New Zealand and Robert Henke, Washington University, USA2. Social Functions: Audience Participation, Efficacious Entertainment
Erika T. Lin, The City University of New York, USA3. Sexuality and Gender: The Early Modern Theatrical Body
Eric Nicholson, Syracuse University in Florence, Italy4. The Environment of Theatre: Urbanization and Theatre Building in Early Modern Europe
Karen Newman, Brown University, USA5. Circulation: Aristocratic, Commercial, Religious and Artistic Networks
Pavel Drábek, University of Hull, UK6. Interpretations: Antitheatrical Thinking and the Rise of 'Theatre'
Stefan Hulfeld, University of Vienna, Austria 7. Communities of Production: Lives in and out of the Theatre
William N. West, Northwestern University, USA8. Repertoire and Genre: Culture and Society
Friedemann Kreuder, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany9. Technologies of Performance: From Mystery Plays to the Italian Order
Blair Hoxby, Stanford, USA10 Knowledge Transmission: Theatre at the Crossroads of Concept, Medium and Practice
Ellen MacKay, Indidana University, USANotes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Robert Henke is Professor of Drama and Comparative Literature, and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Washington University, St. Louis, USA.
Summary
For both producers and consumers of theatre in the early modern era, art was viewed as a social rather than an individual activity. Emerging in the context of new capitalistic modes of production, the birth of the nation state and the rise of absolute monarchies, theatre also proved a highly mobile medium across geolinguistic boundaries. This volume provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of the cultural history of theatre from 1400 to 1650, and examines the socioeconomically heterodox nature of theatre and performance during this period.
Highly illustrated with 48 images, the ten chapters each take a different theme as their focus: institutional frameworks; social functions; sexuality and gender; the environment of theatre; circulation; interpretations; communities of production; repertoire and genres; technologies of performance; and knowledge transmission.
Foreword
The definitive overview of the cultural history of theatre in the early modern world.
Additional text
All six volumes are aesthetically attractive, with well-chosen cover illustrations in color and numerous halftones throughout. Page layouts with wide margins, good paper, subtitles, generous bibliographies, notes, and index all add to the appeal. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.
