Children of the Queen's Revels
A Jacobean Theatre Repertory

This book provides a study of the enduring and influential Jacobean children's company, the Children of the Queen's Revels.

Lucy Munro (Author)

9781107402492, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 July 2011

282 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.42 kg

"This is a valuable resource book. It is very well written and not overwrought with precious vocabulary. Theater historians will find the scholarly apparatus, by itself, worth the price of the book...it is easy to say that probably anyone interested in Renaissance drama of the Elizabethan and Jacobean period will need this book."
-Ben Jonson Journal

This book provides a detailed study of the Children of the Queen's Revels, the most enduring and influential of the Jacobean children's companies. Between 1603 and 1613 the Queen's Revels staged plays by Francis Beaumont, George Chapman, John Fletcher, Ben Jonson, John Marston and Thomas Middleton, all of whom were at their most innovative when writing for this company. Combining theatre history and critical analysis, this study provides a history of the Children of the Queen's Revels, and an account of their repertory. It examines the 'biography' of the company - demonstrating the involvement in dramatic production of dramatists, shareholders, patrons, audiences and actors alike, and reappraising issues such as management, performance style and audience composition - before exploring their groundbreaking practices in comedy, tragicomedy and tragedy. The book also includes five documentary appendices detailing the plays, people and performances of the Queen's Revels Company.

Introduction
1. Raiding the nest: the children of the Queen's Revels and their plays
2. 'Proper Gallants Words': comedy and the theatre audience
3. 'Grief and Joy so Suddenly Commixt': company politics and the development of tragicomedy
4. 'Ieronimo in Decimosexto': tragedy and the text
Conclusion
Appendix A. The repertory (summary)
Appendix B. The Repertory (data and analysis)
Appendix C. Biographical summary
Appendix D. Actor lists
Appendix E. Court and touring performances.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]