Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments

By Arthur F. Kinney

Book Overview

This pioneering collection of non-Shakespearean Renaissance drama has now been updated to include more early material, plus Mary Sidney's The Tragedy of Antony , John Marston's The Malcontent and Ben Jonson's Masque of Queens . Second edition of this pioneering collection of works of non-Shakespearean Renaissance drama. Covers the full sweep of dramatic performances, including State progresses and Court masques. Contains material useful for courses on women playwrights or women in Renaissance drama, including Middleton's Chaste Maid in Cheapside , Webster's The Duchess of Malfi and Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's The Changeling . Includes plays and pageants not anthologised elsewhere, such as the coronation entries of Elizabeth I and Queen Anne, and Thomas Heywood's 'A Woman Killed with Kindness'. For the second edition more early material has been added, such as Noah and The Second Shepherd's Play . The anthology now also includes Mary Sidney's The Tragedy of Antony , John Marston's The Malcontent and Ben Jonson's The Masque of Queens .

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1405119675
• ISBN13: 9781405119672
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 928 Pages
• Weight: 3.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.8" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

A must have

A must have for any fan of the theater in general or of Elizabethan and Jacobian drama in particular. I've now used this book for two classes at two different universities, so it seems it's not only my opinion that the book is superb. The selection of plays is nice, the editing excellent, and the introductions to each play masterful. Highly useful. My sole criticism is that Kinney doesn't include "The Revenger's Tragedy," a terrific play from the period. But what a period for theater Kinney presents! If you think Shakespeare is the only dramatist of his time, or even one of three (the others being Jonson and Marlow), get this book and be amazed. Shakespeare still remains the best in my judgement, but he didn't spring from nothing; the topsoil was terrific. With great scholarship and lucid writing, Kinney describes the many fine writers and the magnificently troubled time in which they worked and lived.