Lord Strange's Men and Their Plays

by Lawrence Manley, Sally-Beth MacLean

Overview

For a brief period in the late Elizabethan Era an innovative company of players dominated the London stage. A fellowship of dedicated thespians, Lord Strange’s Men established their reputation by concentrating on “modern matter” performed in a spectacular style, exploring new modes of impersonation, and deliberately courting controversy. Supported by their equally controversial patron, theater connoisseur and potential claimant to the English throne Ferdinando Stanley, the company included Edward Alleyn, considered the greatest actor of the age, as well as George Bryan, Thomas Pope, Augustine Phillips, William Kemp, and John Hemings, who later joined William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Though their theatrical reign was relatively short lived, Lord Strange’s Men helped to define the dramaturgy of the period, performing the plays of Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, and others with their own distinctive flourish.
 
Lawrence Manley and Sally-Beth MacLean offer the first complete account of the troupe and its enormous influence on Elizabethan theater. Seamlessly blending theater history and literary criticism, the authors paint a lively portrait of a unique community of performing artists, their intellectual ambitions and theatrical innovations, their business practices, and their fearless engagements with the politics and religion of their time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300206890
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	05/28/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Lawrence Manley is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English at Yale University. Sally-Beth MacLean is director of research and general editor of the Records of Early English Drama as well as professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.
 

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction 1

1 Origins of Lord Strange's Men 12

2 Lord Strange's Men in London, 1589-1593 37

3 A Census of the Repertory I: The Rose Plays 64

4 A Census of the Repertory II: Lost Plays and Others 104

5 The Archive: Sources and Genres in the Repertory 157

6 Repertoire: The Plays in Performance 182

7 Politics and Religion in the Repertory 216

8 Travels and Performance Venues 247

9 Shakespeare and Lord Strange's Men 280

10 Endings 321

Appendix A Henslowe's Diary Transcriptions 333

Appendix B Repertory Audit 338

Appendix C Itineraries of Lord Strange's Men, 1576-1593 340

Appendix D Casting Studies 343

Appendix E Actor Comparison Chart 365

Notes 369

Bibliography 427

Index 457

Editorial Reviews

"[A] magisterial work. . . . This book may represent an apex of repertory studies, as its authors have succeeded in producing the definitive work in this area thus far. . . . This stimulating work is therefore necessary reading— all the more so because its many fresh documentary discoveries and provocative claims will be debated for decades to come."—Robert Hornback,Renaissance Quarterly 

Winner the 2015 Phyllis Goodhart Gordan Book Prize given by the Renaissance Society of America.

“Triumphantly demonstrates once more the value of concentrating on a single company. Patronage, repertory, staging and critical studies blend to bring into sharp focus this exceptional troupe, its enigmatic patron, and its likely place in the career of William Shakespeare.”—Richard Dutton, Humanities Distinguished Professor of English, Ohio State University


“Combining literary and archival evidence, this meticulously researched book shows how and why Lord Strange’s Men—which owned the major plays, players and playwrights of the 1590s—shaped all subsequent early modern drama.”—Tiffany Stern, author of Rehearsal from Shakespeare to Sheridan, Professor of Early Modern Drama, Oxford University


“An original work of sound and exciting scholarship.”—Grace Ioppolo, Director of the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project


“Lord Strange’s Men and Their Plays is without rival: nothing like it has been attempted before.”—John H. Astington, author of Actors and Acting in Shakespeare's Time


"[R]ich and engrossing company biography. . ."—Roland Greene, Studies in English Literature 

From the Publisher

"[R]ich and engrossing company biography. . ."—Roland Greene, Studies in English Literature 

Studies in English Literature - Roland Greene

Winner the 2015 Phyllis Goodhart Gordan Book Prize given by the Renaissance Society of America.

Renaissance Society of America - Phyllis Goodhart Gordan

Lord Strange’s Men and Their Plays is without rival: nothing like it has been attempted before.”—John H. Astington, author of Actors and Acting in Shakespeare's Time

John H. Astington

An original work of sound and exciting scholarship.”—Grace Ioppolo, Director of the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project

Grace Ioppolo

Combining literary and archival evidence, this meticulously researched book shows how and why Lord Strange’s Men—which owned the major plays, players and playwrights of the 1590s—shaped all subsequent early modern drama.”—Tiffany Stern, author of Rehearsal from Shakespeare to Sheridan, Professor of Early Modern Drama, Oxford University

Tiffany Stern

Triumphantly demonstrates once more the value of concentrating on a single company. Patronage, repertory, staging and critical studies blend to bring into sharp focus this exceptional troupe, its enigmatic patron, and its likely place in the career of William Shakespeare.”—Richard Dutton, Humanities Distinguished Professor of English, Ohio State University

Richard Dutton

‘This is a thorough and important book for those interested in the pioneering years of the commercial theatre.’—Peter J Smith, THES

THES - Peter J Smith