The Shoemaker's Holiday: by Thomas Dekker

by Robert Smallwood (Editor), Stanley Wells (Editor)

Overview

Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday is one of the most popular of Elizabethan plays, entertaining, racy and vivid in its characterisation. Revealing a vital portrait of Elizabethan London and the interaction of social classes within the city, its social commentary is on the whole optimistic, though darker tones are discernible. The play has the whole optimistic, though darker tones are discernible. The play has had a lively history of performance on both the professional and amateur stage; the roles of Simon and Madgy Eyre in particular have proved worthy vehicles for the talents of such performers as Sir Donald Wolfit and Dame Edith Evans, and a notable production was directed by Orson Wells.

The editors offer a study of the text; a historical and critical introduction, which includes a study of the play's relationship with contemporary life and drama and of its place in Dekker's work; a stage history' a detailed commentary and a reprint of source materials.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780719030994
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	07/15/1999
Series:	The Revels Plays
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

R. L. Smallwood is Director of Courses at the Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham. Stanley Wells is General Editor of the Oxford Shakespeare

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Dekker's career: the play in its biographical context
2. Date: the play in its historical and literary context
3. The use of source material
4. The play
5. The play on the stage
6. The text
The Shoe Maker's Holiday

Editorial Reviews

Dekker's is one of the most popular Elizabethan plays. It reveals a vital portrait of Elizabethan London and the interaction of social classes within the city. In addition to the complete text of the play, the editors offer a study of the text, a historical and critical introduction on the play's relationship with contemporary life and drama and its place in Dekker's work, a stage history, a detailed commentary, and a reprint of source materials. Smallwood is deputy director and head of the education department at The Shakespeare Center at Stratford-Upon-Avon. Wells is general editor of . This is a reprint of an edition first published by Manchester University Press in 1979. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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