Theatre and Crisis 1632-1642

This is a thorough re-evaluation of the drama written and performed in the decade leading up to the Civil War, the most seriously neglected period of English theatre. Martin Butler overturns long-held assumptions about the nature of Caroline theatre, its playwrights, plays and audiences. The theatrical tradition that was cut short in September 1642 was neither exhausted nor in retreat. Far from being subservient to or dependent on the court, the theatres were expressing sharply critical poi...