ABSTRACT
By translating Robert Garnier’s Marc Antoine and sponsoring Samuel Daniel’s continuation in Cleopatra, the countess helped to naturalize Continental historical tragedy in England. A dozen works followed the closet drama form of Garnier, but far more significant was the use of historical drama as a privileged genre for political content, the use of ‘times past’ to comment on current affairs. Far from being a retrograde movement against the vibrancy of the popular stage, Garnier’s dramas were at the forefront of the contemporary movement in Continental historical tragedy, the avant-garde of the theater.1
