The Queen's Men and their Plays

The first book devoted to the Queen's Men, one of the major acting companies of the age of Shakespeare.

Scott McMillin (Author), Sally-Beth MacLean (Author)

9780521025393, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 March 2006

272 pages, 16 b/w illus. 4 maps
23.5 x 15.5 x 1.6 cm, 0.39 kg

'… they present a revised view of the importance of provincial tours in the life of a company of players, and suggest a degree of state control and use for political purposes of the actors greater than has previously been accepted.' History Today

This is the first book devoted to the Queen's Men, one of the major acting companies of the age of Shakespeare. In describing the troupe's position in the general political situation and the London theatre scene of the 1580s, the authors break new ground by showing how Elizabethan theatre history can be refocused by concentrating on the company which produced the plays rather than on the authors who wrote them. The book combines a thorough examination of documentary evidence with textual and critical analysis, to provide a full account of the characteristics which gave the company its identity: its acting style, staging methods, touring patterns and repertoire. The conclusions will interest Elizabethan historians as well as students and scholars of early modern theatre.

1. The London theatre of 1583
2. Protestant politics: Leicester and Walsingham
3. The career of the Queen's Men
4. The Queen's Men in print
5. Casting and the nature of the text
6. Dramaturgy
7. Marlowe and Shakespeare
Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]