Women and Dramatic Production 1550 - 1700 (Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library) - Softcover

Findlay, Alison; Williams, Gweno; Wright, Stephanie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0582319838 ISBN 13: 9780582319837

Publisher: Longman, 2000

Synopsis

This volume is an accessible introduction to the work of early women dramatists in the early modern period. It is a course handbook covering not only writing and translation of plays but also female performance in official forms e.g. 'court' masque and in alternative dramatic spaces created by public protest, prophecy or preaching. The structure charts the development of women's active involvement in drama.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library
Series Editors- Charlotte Brewer, Hertford College, Oxford
and N.H. Keeble, University of Stirling
Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library is a major series of critical introductions to key literary and cultural topics from Old English to the late seventeenth century. Volumes in the series draw on original research and are sensitive to current critical concerns. They are also designed to meet the needs of students and the general reader. A key feature of the series is the breadth and variety of coverage, providing authoritative studies on a wide range of subjects from individual authors and works to genres, periods and contexts.

There is a traditional view that women were absent from the field of dramatic production in the early modern period because of their exclusion from professional theatre. Women and Dramatic Production 1550-1700 challenges this view and breaks new ground in arguing that, far from writing in closeted retreat, a select number of women took an active part in directing and controlling dramatic self-representations.
Examining texts from the mid-sixteenth century through to the end of the seventeenth, the chapters trace the development of a women-centred aesthetic in a variety of dramatic forms. Plays by noblewomen such as Mary Sidney, Elizabeth Cary, Mary Wroth, Rachel Fane and the women of the Cavendish family, form an alternative dramatic tradition centred on the household. The powerful directorial and performative roles played by queens in royal progresses and masques are explored as examples of women's dramatic production in the royal court.
The book also highlights women's performances in alternative venues, such as the courtroom and the pulpit, arguing that the practices of martyrs like Margaret Clitherow or visionaries like Anna Trapnel call into question traditional definitions of theatre. The challenges faced by women who were admitted to the professional theatre companies after 1660 are explored in two chapters which deal with the plays of Katherine Philips, Elizabeth Polwhele, Aphra Behn, and Mary Pix, among others.
By considering the theatrical dimensions of a wide range of early modern women's writing, this book reveals the breathtaking panorama of women's dramatic production and will be essential reading for students of women's writing and renaissance drama.
Alison Findlay is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, Lancaster University. Stephanie Hodgson-Wright is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sunderland. Gweno Williams is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Literature Studies, University College of Ripon and York St. John.

About the Author:

Alison Findlay is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, Lancaster University.

Stephanie Hodgson-Wright is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sunderland.

Gweno Williams is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Literature Studies, University College of Ripon and York St. John.

About this edition

• Publisher: Longman
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0582319838
• ISBN 13: 9780582319837
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240