Play Comp Commerce Shakespeare - Softcover

Knutson, Roslyn Lander

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521031168 ISBN 13: 9780521031165

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Playing Companies and Commerce in Shakespeare's Time, first published in 2011, examines the nature of commercial relations among the theatre companies in London during the time of Shakespeare. Roslyn Knutson argues that the playing companies cooperated in the adoption of business practices that would enable the theatrical enterprise to flourish. Suggesting the guild as a model of economic cooperation, Knutson considers the networks of fellowship among players, the marketing strategies of the repertory, and company relationships with playwrights and members of the book trade. The book challenges two entrenched views about theatrical commerce: that companies engaged in cut-throat rivalry to drive one another out of business and that companies based business decisions on the personal and professional quarrels of the players and dramatists with whom they worked. This important contribution to theatre history will be of interest to scholars as well as historians.

About this title

About the Author

Roslyn Knutson is Professor of English at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521031168
• ISBN 13: 9780521031165
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 212