The Shakespearean Stage 1574–1642 FOURTH EDITION

4th edition. Packed with quotes and illustrations, providing undergraduates with info on staging conditions in Shakespeare's day.

For almost forty years The Shakespearean Stage has been considered the liveliest, most reliable and most entertaining overview of Shakespearean theatre in its own time. It is the only authoritative book that describes all the main features of the original staging of Shakespearean drama in one volume: the acting companies and their practices, the playhouses, the staging and the audiences. Thoroughly revised and updated, this fourth edition contains fresh materials about how specific plays by Shakespeare were first staged, and provides new information about the companies that staged them and their playhouses. The book incorporates everything that has been discovered in recent years about the early modern stage, including the archaeology of the Rose and the Globe. Also included is an invaluable appendix, listing all the plays known to have been performed at particular playhouses and by specific companies.

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. The companies; 3. The players; 4. The playhouses; 5. The staging; 6. The audiences; Appendix: a select list of plays and their playhouses.

For almost forty years The Shakespearean Stage has been considered the liveliest, most reliable and most entertaining overview of Shakespearean theatre in its own time. This thoroughly revised 2009 fourth edition incorporates fresh material on all the discoveries in recent years about the early modern stage, its plays and their staging.

Andrew Gurr is Professor Emeritus at the School of English and American Studies, University of Reading.