Overview

This work explores Restoration theatre practice and staging. It covers questions of contemporary playhouse design, verse and language, staging and rehearsal practices, and acting styles. The author relates the characteristics of Restoration theatre to the issues involved in staging the plays today and examines the history of the plays on the English stage from the 17th century to the present day. The book explores questions arising from reconstructions, with particular reference to the new Globe theatre, and includes discussion of plays such as ""The Duchess of Malfi"" and ""Tis Pity She's a Whore"" as well as lesser known play-texts. It includes interviews with, and draws on the work and experience of, modern theatre practitioners including Harriet Walter, Matthew Warchus, Trevor Nunn, Stephen Jeffreys, Adrian Noble and Helen Mirren.

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9780415067386

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Reviews

'The book is a remarkably successful attempt to bridge the ever widening gap between the scholarly tome and the student textbook.' - Speech and Drama 'This is an excellent book, and is well worth recommending to students of drama of the Renaissance period.' - New Theatre Quartely '[An] excellent introduction to Renaissance dramatic texts in performance ... a rich and varied collection.' - Early Modern Literary Studies

Martin White's Renaissance Drama in Action draws together an extraordinary array of critical voices, literary and theatrical traditions, and dramatic texts in a book that will be of value to undergraduate students and theater professionals alike. With the recent spate of interest in reanimating textual and spatial architectures of the past (from the reconstructed Globe to the many current productions of neglected early modern plays), this book is timely indeed and should prove inspiring to students of performance. Any reader who works through this book will likely be convinced (or reminded) that performance studies is one of the most powerful approaches available for encouraging students to inhabit, revitalize, and transform the way we see that brave old world of early modern drama. <br>-Carla Mazzio, Shakespeare Quarterly <br> [O]verall the book offers an exciting and intellectual way to engage an audience, in this case the reader, in modern theatrical performance, demonstratingthat whether seated in a theater or locked in a study, the audience of a Renaissance play can be informed and entertained by a master writer. <br>- Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England <br>

Author Information

Martin White is Professor of Theatre at the University of Bristol, and has taught and directed for 25 years. He is editor of Arden of Faversham and author of Middleton and Tourneur.

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