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The London theatre business in the late sixteenth century
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Holden, Michael Derrick (2020) The London theatre business in the late sixteenth century. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3491691~S15
Abstract
This thesis explores the nature of the businesses that created the professional London theatre managements in the latter part of the sixteenth century. It explores the cultural, social and economic circumstances of London that encouraged the formation of the new theatre buildings and businesses and the range of managements and methodologies in their different enterprises. It follows the development of four managements until they become firmly established, or failed. The thesis considers both indoor and outdoor theatres until 1600, when the building of the first Fortune theatre and the Globe brought the development of the outdoor playhouse to its apogee and the indoor theatres began to develop in scale to accommodate the men’s companies and their repertoires.
In this much explored area of research a re-evaluation of well-established evidence is offered from the standpoint of the author, who has considerable practical experience in twentieth-century theatre design and management, the most relevant being the creation and management of the Globe reconstruction in Southwark, London. A number of common assumptions are re-examined and alternative explanations proposed in the expectation of giving a soundly based commercial understanding of the nascent theatre industry. The thesis adds an understanding of the nature of a theatre management and acting companies to the literature that so often considers textual analysis alone, perhaps unaware of the natural tensions and fluidity of performing companies in practice. There is a necessary separation in approach between the management of a building, and an acting company and its programme, too often ignored in studies of theatre enterprises.
The thesis examines the management and physical circumstances of the small indoor theatres of the Children of St Paul’s Cathedral and the Children of the Chapels Royal and the larger outdoor theatres owned and operated by Henslowe and the Burbage family for men’s companies. The study stops in 1600 in anticipation of companion works on the changes in management style and audience composition in the early seventeenth century together with a study of the theatre buildings of the period as interpreted by a practising Theatre Consultant.
Observations are made on the similarity of many aspects of the theatre audience, and management patterns, established early, and still to be found, in modern theatre practice.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Burbage, James, -1597, Henslowe, Philip, -1616, Theaters -- England -- London -- History -- 16th century, Rose Theatre (London, England), Shoreditch (London, England) -- History | ||||
Official Date: | January 2020 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | School of Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Shewring, Margaret | ||||
Format of File: | |||||
Extent: | various pagings : illustrations (some colour), maps | ||||
Language: | eng |
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