Keenan, Siobhan (1999) Provincial playing places and performances in early modern England, 1559-1625. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Most studies of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre focus upon the drama and playhouses of
London. However, if we are to have a fuller understanding of English Renaissance theatre
and its place in early modem English culture, the wider world of regional English drama must
also be taken into account. Playing places and vernacular play performances outside early
modern London and its liberties are therefore made the subject of this thesis. The dissertation
offers the first detailed account of regional playing spaces and their use for play
performances in English in the Elizabethan and Jacobean period.
The thesis opens with an introduction in which provincial playing and staging conventions
are discussed in general. Each subsequent chapter concentrates upon playing practices and
performances in a representative space, focusing upon buildings (and the grounds of
buildings) used for regional dramatic performances (e. g. town halls, schools and colleges,
country houses). The chapters are illustrated with transcriptions from primary records and
case-studies of known performances in specific spaces. I have supplemented study of
published and unpublished dramatic records transcribed for the Records of Early English
Drama Project (based at Toronto University) and the Malone Society with extensive primary
research amongst those Elizabethan and Jacobean records yet to be transcribed or printed.
Visual evidence is also included, furnishing a visual archive for scholars of early modem
theatre spaces in England.
Research in many archives remains to be done. The survey of early modern English
provincial theatre offered in this dissertation is therefore introductory. The aim has been to
provide a starting point for those studying this rich and under-researched aspect of English
Renaissance dramatic culture in the future.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Theater -- England -- History -- 16th century, Theater -- England -- History -- 17th century
Official Date:	September 1999
Dates:	Date Event September 1999 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for the Study of the Renaissance
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Mulryne, J. R. ; Davidson, Peter, 1957-
Sponsors:	University of Warwick ; Arts and Humanities Research Board (Great Britain) (AHRB)
Extent:	ix, 457 p.
Language:	eng

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