Overview

Unruly Audiences and the Theater of Control in Early Modern London explores the effects of audience riots on the dramaturgy of early modern playwrights, arguing that playwrights from Marlowe to Brome often used their plays to control the physical reactions of their audience. This study analyses how, out of anxiety that unruly audiences would destroy the nascent industry of professional drama in England, playwrights sought to limit the effect that their plays could have on the audience. They tried to construct playgoing through their drama in the hopes of creating a less-reactive, more pensive, and controlled playgoer. The result was the radical experimentation in dramaturgy that, in part, defines Renaissance drama. Written for scholars of Early Modern and Renaissance Drama and Theatre, Theatre History, and Early Modern and Renaissance History, this book calls for a new focus on the local economic concerns of the theatre companies as a way to understand the motivation behind the drama of early modern London.

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9781032177205

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Reviews

'Eric Dunnum's Unruly Audiences and the Theater of Control in Early Modern London is an interesting and informative read. [...] his dissenting voice is worth being noted, while several of his close readings contribute to present-day scholarly discussions of early modern drama in a meaningful way.' Natalia Pikli, Eoetvoes Lorand University, Budapest, Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies

Author Information

Eric Dunnum is an Assistant Professor of English at Campbell University.

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