Shakespeare's Theater: A Source Book

386 Pages·2003·2.32 MB·English

Shakespeare’s Theater
Also available from Blackwell Publishing
Shakespeare
David Bevington
Shakespeare by Stages: An Historical Introduction
Arthur F. Kinney
Shakespeare: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1945–2000
Edited by Russ McDonald
A Companion to Shakespeare
Edited by David Scott Kastan
A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare
Edited by Dympna Callaghan
A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works, Volume I: The Tragedies
Edited by Richard Dutton and Jean E. Howard
A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works, Volume II: The Histories
Edited by Richard Dutton and Jean E. Howard
A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works, Volume III: The Comedies
Edited by Richard Dutton and Jean E. Howard
A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works, Volume IV: The Poems, Problem
Comedies, Late Plays
Edited by Richard Dutton and Jean E. Howard
Shakespeare’s Comedies
Edited by Emma Smith
Shakespeare’s Histories
Edited by Emma Smith
Shakespeare’s Tragedies
Edited by Emma Smith
For further details about these titles, visit the Blackwell Publishing
website at: www.blackwellpublishing.com
To receive regular e-mail updates on new publications in your field, register
for Blackwell E-mail Alerts at: www.blackwellpublishing.com/ealerts
Shakespeare’s Theater
A S o u rce b o o k
Edited by Tanya Pollard
Editorial material and organization © 2004 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA
108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK
550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia
The right of Tanya Pollard to be identified as the Author of the Editorial
Material in this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright,
Designs, and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the
UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission
of the publisher.
First published 2004 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shakespeare’s theater : a sourcebook / edited by Tanya Pollard.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-4051-1193-3 (alk. paper) – ISBN 1-4051-1194-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616–Stage history–To 1625–Sources.
2. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616–Stage history–England–London–Sources.
3. Theater–England–History–16th century–Sources.
4. Theater–England–History–17th century–Sources.
PR3095.S523 2004
822.3′3–dc21
2003011037
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
Set in 101/2/13pt Minion
by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom
by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall
For further information on
Blackwell Publishing, visit our website:
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com
Contents
Plates viii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction x
Select Bibliography xxvi
Timeline of Theater History and Writings xxviii
On Works Cited xxxi
1 A Treatise Against Dicing, Dancing, Plays, and Interludes,
with Other Idle Pastimes (1577) 1
John Northbrooke
2 The School of Abuse (1579) 19
Stephen Gosson
3 An Apology of the School of Abuse (1579) 34
Stephen Gosson
4 A Reply to Stephen Gosson’s School of Abuse, in Defence
of Poetry, Music, and Stage Plays (1579) 37
Thomas Lodge
5 A Second and Third Blast of Retreat from Plays and
Theaters (1580) 62
Anthony Munday
vi Contents
6 Plays Confuted in Five Actions (1582) 84
Stephen Gosson
7 Anatomy of Abuses (1583) 115
Philip Stubbes
8 A Mirror of Monsters (1587) 124
William Rankins
9 The Art of English Poesy (1589) 135
George Puttenham
10 An Apology for Poetry (1595) 146
Philip Sidney
11 The Theatre of God’s Judgments (1597) 166
Thomas Beard
12 The Overthrow of Stage-Plays (1599) 170
John Rainolds
13 Letter to Dr. John Rainolds (1592) 179
William Gager
14 Virtue’s Commonwealth (1603) 188
Henry Crosse
15 Preface to Volpone (1607) 198
Ben Jonson
16 The Gull’s Horn Book (1609) 206
Thomas Dekker
17 An Apology for Actors (1612) 213
Thomas Heywood
18 A Refutation of the Apology for Actors (1615) 255
I. G. [John Greene]
19 Letter to Revd. Mr. Sutton (1616) 274
Nathan Field
Contents vii
20 Histriomastix: The Player’s Scourge (1633) 279
William Prynne
21 Discoveries (1641) 297
Ben Jonson
22 Legal Acts and Correspondence Pertaining to the Theater 301
Index 337
Plates
1 A Second and Third Blast of Retreat from Plays and Theaters 64
2 Plays Confuted in Five Actions 85
3 The Art of English Poesy 137
4 An Apology for Poetry 148
5 An Apology for Actors 215
6 Histriomastix 282
Acknowledgments
In researching and editing this volume, I have benefited from the generos-
ity of a number of individuals and institutions. A Keck Grant and Wallace
Travel Grant from Macalester College provided support for research in
London, where Emily Ames, my research assistant, worked diligently with
me in locating and transcribing texts. Kathleen Gohlke provided able
assistance with research at an earlier stage. I am grateful to Andrew
McNeillie, whose interest in the project propelled it into taking shape, and
to the editorial staff at Blackwell Publishing for their hard work in turning
it into a book. David Quint supported the idea from its beginning, and
gave advice in the early stages of planning the volume. Katharine Maus
encouraged the project, and graciously read and commented on the pro-
posal and introduction. Matthew Greenfield read the introduction and
provided characteristically thoughtful suggestions and support. Lucy Munro
read and commented on the introduction, provided crucial texts and
information, and has been unstintingly generous with her knowledge of
theater history. Melissa Waters provided crucial expertise and informa-
tion on biblical references. I am grateful to the staff at the British Library,
the Bodleian Library, and the New York Public Library, where theresearch
for this book was carried out, and to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manu-
script Library of Yale University and the Folger Shakespeare Library, which
provided photographs of title pages. As ever, my family has been a source
of support throughout the book’s compilation. Most of all, I am grateful
to my husband, Will Stenhouse, for his limitless intellectual and personal
generosity.
Introduction
Debating the Theater in Shakespeare’s England
Contemporary students and audiences of Shakespeare’s plays often imag-
ine the historical setting that produced them as a paradise for playwrights.
The period saw the birth and meteoric growth of England’s commercial
theaters: an entirely new market that quickly grew into a vast and highly
profitable enterprise. Beyond Shakespeare himself, with his now near-
mythic literary status, the period gave rise to prominent dramatic authors
such as Jonson, Marlowe, Kyd, Webster, Dekker, Beaumont, and Fletcher,
just to name a few of the better known figures. More broadly, the period
we know now as the English Renaissance, or early modern period, span-
ning the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, is firmly identified
in the cultural imagination with a flourishing outpouring of arts, sciences,
and intellectual exploration.
Yet the same historical moment that saw the explosive rise of the theater
– the age that we now remember first and foremost through its most
celebrated playwright – also saw some of history’s most furious attacks on
the theater.1 Alongside condemnations in sermons and treatises, politi-
cians banished playhouses to the outskirts of the city of London, and
eventually closed them altogether in 1642. Despite a popular conception
of the Elizabethan period as a golden age of theater, plays at the time were
the subject of savage debates. These debates were by no means merely the
province of learned intellectuals; rather, they took place in many arenas,
to many audiences – in the pulpit and the playhouse as well as in print –
and produced firm and sweeping changes in public policy.
At first glance, the ferocity of the debates surrounding theater may
strike many as antiquated, a symptom of the censorious conservatism of a
society less enlightened and tolerant than our own. It is certainly true that