ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses exclusively on the theatricality of Jonson’s dramatic output, interrogating that theatricality by relating it to a variety of contexts across the years between the first production of the plays. It examines the term ‘Jonsonian’ by asking how five of Jonson’s own plays might themselves be considered Jonsonian. The book investigates and problematises relationships between Jonson’s theatre and the work of Nathan Field, Richard Brome, Aphra Behn and some of the significant number of women working in the theatre in the post-Restoration period. It explores the relationship of Jonson’s theatre to twentieth- and twenty-first-century traditions of performance. The book also focuses on the theatre of John Arden, Joe Orton, Peter Barnes, Caryl Churchill and Alan Ayckbourn was made to exemplify the different ways in which these playwrights and their plays can be thought of as Jonsonian.
