ABSTRACT

The Routledge Anthology of Early Modern Drama is the first new collection of the drama of Shakespeare’s contemporaries in over a century.

This volume comprises seventeen accessible, thoroughly glossed, modernized play-texts, intermingling a wide range of unfamiliar works—including the anonymous Look About You, Massinger’s The Picture, Heminge’s The Fatal Contract, Heywood’s The Four Prentices of London, and Greene’s James IV—with more familiar works such as Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, and Middleton’s Women Beware Women. Each play is edited by a different leading scholar in the field of early modern studies, bringing specific expertise and context to the chosen play-text.

With an unprecedented variety of plays, and critical introductions that focus on the diversity and strangeness of different early modern approaches to the artistic and commercial enterprise of play-making, The Routledge Anthology of Early Modern Drama will offer vital new perspectives on early modern drama for scholars, students, and performers alike.

chapter |3 pages

General introduction

chapter 1|4 pages

Thomas Preston, Cambises

First performed 1560–61?: First printed 1570

entry |40 pages

Cambises (1560–61?)

chapter 2|4 pages

Ben Jonson, Poetaster

First performed 1601: First printed 1602

entry |83 pages

Poetaster, or His Arraignment (1601)

chapter 3|3 pages

William Heminge, The Fatal Contract

First performed 1638–39: First printed 1653

entry |56 pages

The Fatal Contract (1638–39)

chapter 4|3 pages

Thomas Heywood, The Four Prentices of London

First performed c. 1594: First printed 1615

entry |69 pages

True and Strange, or The Four Prentices of London (c. 1594)

chapter 5|3 pages

Anonymous, Look About You

First performed c. 1595–99: First printed 1600

entry |80 pages

Look About You (c. 1595–99)

chapter 6|3 pages

Anonymous, The Famous Victories of Henry V

First performed c. 1588: First printed 1598

entry |29 pages

The Famous Victories of Henry V (c. 1588)

chapter 7|3 pages

Philip Massinger, The Picture

First performed 1629: First printed 1630

entry |84 pages

The Picture (1629)

chapter 8|3 pages

Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

First performed c.1588: First printed 1604

entry |36 pages

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (c. 1588)

chapter 9|3 pages

Robert Greene, The Scottish History of James the Fourth

First performed 1588–92: First printed 1598

entry |64 pages

The Scottish History of James IV (1588–92)

chapter 10|2 pages

John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi

First performed 1614: First printed 1623

entry |82 pages

The Duchess of Malfi (1614)

chapter 11|3 pages

Thomas Middleton, Women Beware Women

First performed c. 1613–21: First printed 1657

entry |81 pages

Women Beware Women (c. 1613–21)

chapter 12|3 pages

Robert Armin, The History of the Two Maids of More-clacke

First performed 1607–08 (?): First printed 1609

entry |70 pages

The History of the Two Maids of More-clacke (1609)

chapter 13|3 pages

Anonymous, The Fair Maid of the Exchange

First performed c. 1601–02 (?): First printed 1607

entry |63 pages

The Fair Maid of the Exchange (c. 1601–2)

chapter 14|4 pages

George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and John Marston, Eastward Ho

First performed 1605: First printed 1605

entry |58 pages

Eastward Ho (1605)

chapter 15|3 pages

Thomas Dekker, If This Be Not a Good Play, The Devil Is In It

First performed 1611–12: First printed 1612

entry |70 pages

If This Be Not a Good Play, the Devil is In It (1611–12)

chapter 16|4 pages

John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, The Sea Voyage

First performed 1622: First printed 1647

entry |58 pages

The Sea Voyage (1622)

chapter 17|3 pages

James Shirley, The Bird in a Cage

First performed 1633: First printed 1633

entry |57 pages

The Bird in a Cage (1633)