Dumb Show

First published in English in 1965, this book discusses the roots and development of the dumb show as a device in Elizabethan drama. The work provides not only a useful manual for those who wish to check the occurrence of dumb shows and the uses to which they are put; it also makes a real contribution to a better understanding of the progress of Elizabethan drama, and sheds new light on some of the lesser known plays of the period.

During the first half of the eighteenth century in England the 'forces of progress' became increasingly conservative as their grip on power was confirmed. Hogarth's position as the promoter of an authentically English art was therefore ambiguous, considering his origins, the intellectual milieu in which he moved, and the necessity he was under of defending his endeavours against attacks from all sides. The essays in this volume examine this ambiguity, and draw a composite picture of an exceptionally gifted artist, whose social and artistic involvement engaged him in a permanent search for the 'line of beauty', which he found only in a progressive weaving between centre and margins. In pictorial terms, this ambivalence may well account for the 'dramatic' proliferation which is one of the most remarkable characteristics of Hogarth's art. His 'stage', where his men and women, his 'players', were to 'exhibit a dumb show', was a busy crossroads of ideas and influences. The richness and ambivalence of his pictures result from his boldest artistic originality: his adoption of a polycentric stage, on which the 'dumb show' exhibited by his 'players' offers concomitant areas of meaning. Moreover, they invite the beholder to a serpentine act of deciphering and verbalisation which the essays in this volume both describe and materialise. Each from a different perspective - social, artistic, formal, philosophical - explores the characteristics and raison d'etre of that polycentrism in Hogarth's art. Linked thematically to each other, the essays combine to assess the true nature of Hogarth's variety and show the critical consequences of its essential ambivalent sinuosity.

Every generation reinvents Shakespeare for its own needs, imagining through its particular choices and emphases the Shakespeare that it values. The man himself was deeply involved in his own kind of historical reimagining. This collection of essays examines the playwright's medieval sources and inspiration, and how they shaped his works. With a foreword by Michael Almereyda (director of the Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke) and dramaturge Dakin Matthews, these thirteen essays analyze the ways in which our modern understanding of medieval life has been influenced by our appreciation of Shakespeare's plays.

Volume 3 covers the years 1590-1597 and sees the start of Shakespeare's career as a dramatist.

THE STORY: Courted at the end of his show by bankers John and Jane, TV star Barry believes he is to get the five-star treatment that he deserves. However, urged to provide a candid account of his offstage life and views, the Barry that emerges is t

Every reader is an actor according to Rosenberg. To prepare the actor-reader for insights, Rosenberg draws on major intepretations of the play worldwide, in theatre and in criticism, wherever possible from the first known performances to the present day. The book is rich and provocative on every question about the play.

Originally published in 1992, Music in English Children’s Drama of the Later Renaissance is the first book-length study to examine the Elizabethan and Jacobean children’s drama, not only from a musicological perspective, but also drawing on the histories of literature, culture, and the theater. It gives the children’s companies new historical significance, showing that they were an integral and ultimately influential part of the London theatrical world. These companies originated important features of later drama, such as music before and between acts, and the exploitation of different timbres for specific effects. Those interested in music history, English literature, theater history, and cultural history will find this a comprehensive and fascinating study. Of special note are the appendices, which offer a unique and important reference source by providing the only definitive list of the plays and songs used by the children.