https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/issue/feed Early Theatre 2024-06-26T18:22:28+00:00 The Editors earlytheatre@mcmaster.ca Open Journal Systems <p><em>Early Theatre</em> publishes original, peer-reviewed research on medieval and early modern drama and theatre history. Please click the <strong>About </strong>tab, above, to find out more about our focus and scope, editorial team, support for authors, copyright and green open access policies, and more.</p> https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5514 Bringing ‘Such Matters Upon the Stage’: Women Exemplars in A Warning for Fair Women (1599) and Golding’s A Briefe Discourse (1573) 2023-07-10T18:32:01+00:00 Ann Christensen achrist@uh.edu <p>This essay argues that the unnamed playwright of the 1599 tragedy <em>A Warning for Fair Women</em> adapts Arthur Golding’s 1573 (rpt 1577) pamphlet to reshape the heroine from a negative example of adultery and the beneficiary of church-induced repentance into a positive model of motherhood and spiritual agency aided by another woman. Missing from Golding’s account, the play’s main source and the fount of subsequent reportage on the murder of George Sanders, is attention to women’s spiritual agency and their friendship. I compare the play and source text to argue that the playwright’s emendations of Golding’s material omit or minimize certain elements, including the moralizing tone, to advance a more positive view of women than critics have recognized.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Ann C. Christensen https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5549 The Queen in Shakespeare’s Q1 Hamlet 2023-07-11T15:50:41+00:00 Joshua Held jheld@se.edu <p>Although long maligned, the 1603 first quarto of Shakespeare’s<em> Hamlet</em> (Q1) portrays a strong queen and mother figure in Gertred, specifically in a scene that is unique to this version of the play. While some grant that Gertred may be a more sympathetic character than her counterpart Gertrard in the second quarto (Q2) or Gertrude in the Folio (F), critics generally neglect the Q1-only scene involving her and Horatio, finding it repetitious and dull. This essay’s close reading of this scene shows that Gertred excels at diplomatic intrigue, building strategic alliances through a distinctive politics of motherhood.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Joshua R. Held https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5001 The Politics of Sport: John Day's The Isle of Gulls 2021-11-18T20:28:48+00:00 Alexandra Finn-Atkins afinnatkins@fordham.edu <p>This article explores three scenes in John Day’s understudied satiric drama <em>The Isle of Gulls</em>, reading the royal hunt, game of bowls, and double jest as examples of a cultural phenomenon that disguises politics as recreation. </p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Alexandra Finn-Atkins https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5421 Chaste, Fair, and Bountiful: Marston, Fletcher, and the Countess of Huntingdon’s Patronage 2023-01-29T23:18:44+00:00 Elizabeth Zeman Kolkovich kolkovich.1@osu.edu <p>This essay uncovers the influences of Elizabeth Stanley Hastings, countess of Huntingdon (1588-1633), on household and commercial drama. John Marston’s Ashby entertainment (1607) and John Fletcher’s <em>The Faithful Shepherdess</em> (ca 1608) show how Huntingdon drew upon family tradition and conventional ideals of beauty to facilitate her rise as a patron. A focus on patronage reveals these plays’ shared emphasis on feminine authority within traditional roles. More broadly, this essay urges scholars to reconceive women patrons as co-makers of plays and value their important contributions to theatrical production.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Elizabeth Zeman Kolkovich https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5677 The Elder Brother, Virgil’s De apibus, and the Chronology of the Plays in the Canon of John Fletcher and His Collaborators, 1617–20 2023-12-13T01:43:19+00:00 Domenico Lovascio lovascio.domenico@gmail.com <p>This article argues that John Brinsley's 1620 translation of Virgil's <em>Georgics</em>, Book IV, is a source for John Fletcher and Philip Massinger's <em>The Elder Brother</em>. This contention results in dating the play to 1620 rather than 1618 as suggested by Martin Wiggins. The re-dating has consequences for the dating of other plays in the canon of Fletcher and his collaborators for the period 1617 to 1620, and I propose a new chronology for the Fletcher plays in this time span.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Domenico Lovascio https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5800 Editorial 2024-04-18T17:59:01+00:00 Erin E. Kelly ekelly@uvic.ca <p>This editorial for issue 27.1 (June 2024) of Early Theatre offers news and information to readers.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Erin E. Kelly https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5790 Noémie Ndiaye. Scripts of Blackness: Early Modern Performance Culture and the Making of Race. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022, and Emily Weissbourd. Bad Blood: Staging Race Between Early Modern England and Spain. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023. 2024-04-09T02:01:10+00:00 Bernadette Andrea bernadette.andrea@ucsb.edu <p>This review considers Noémie Ndiaye, Scripts of Blackness: <em>Early Modern Performance Culture and the Making of Race</em>, and Emily Weissbourd, <em>Bad Blood: Staging Race Between Early Modern England and Spain</em>. </p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Bernadette Andrea https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5787 Vanessa I. Corredera. Reanimating Shakespeare’s Othello in Post-Racial America. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 2024-04-08T02:25:10+00:00 Alexa Alice Joubin ajoubin@gwu.edu <p>This review considers Vanessa I Corredera's <em>Reanimating Shakespeare’s Othello in Post-Racial America.</em></p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Alexa Alice Joubin https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5795 Cristina Paravano. Massinger’s Italy: Re-Imagining Italian Culture in the Plays of Philip Massinger. New York: Routledge, 2023. 2024-04-11T05:23:28+00:00 Domenico Lovascio lovascio.domenico@gmail.com <p>This review considers Cristina Paravano's <em>Massinger’s Italy: Re-Imagining Italian Culture in the Plays of Philip Massinger</em>.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Domenico Lovascio https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5792 Chris Laoutaris. Shakespeare’s Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio. London: William Collins, 2023. 2024-04-09T08:25:09+00:00 Lucy Munro lucy.munro@kcl.ac.uk <p>This review considers <span lang="EN-CA">Chris Laoutaris's <em>Shakespeare’s Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio</em></span><span lang="EN-CA">.</span></p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Lucy Munro https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5794 Hannah August. Playbooks and Their Readers in Early Modern England. New York and London: Routledge, 2022. 2024-04-09T17:27:54+00:00 Laura Estill lestill@stfx.ca <p>This review considers Hannah August's <em>Playbooks and their Readers in Early Modern England</em>.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Laura Estill https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5788 Callan Davies. What Is a Playhouse? England at Play, 1520-1620. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2023. 2024-04-08T15:02:48+00:00 Christopher Highley highley.1@osu.edu <p>This review considers Callan Davies's <em>What Is a Playhouse? England at Play, 1520-1620.</em></p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Christopher Highley https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5798 Harry R. McCarthy. Performing Early Modern Drama Beyond Shakespeare: Edward’s Boys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 2024-04-12T23:52:21+00:00 Roberta Barker barkerr@dal.ca <p>This review considers Harry R. McCarthy's <em>Performing Early Modern Drama Beyond Shakespeare: Edward’s Boys</em>.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Roberta Barker https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5791 Simon Smith and Emma Whipday, eds. Playing and Playgoing in Early Modern England: Actor, Audience and Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. 2024-04-09T05:03:19+00:00 David McInnis mcinnisd@unimelb.edu.au <p>This review considers Simon Smith and Emma Whipday's <em>Playing and Playgoing in Early Modern England: Actor, Audience and Performance</em>.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 David McInnis https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5796 Sophie Tomlinson, ed. The Family of Love by Lording Barry. Manchester: Manchester University Press, The Revels Plays, 2022. 2024-04-12T11:17:13+00:00 William Green Will.Green@nottingham.ac.uk <p>This review considers Sophie Tolimlinson's edition of <em>The Family of Love</em> by Lording Barry.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 William David Green https://earlytheatre.org/earlytheatre/article/view/5797 Katherine Gillen, Adrianna M. Santos, and Kathryn Vomero Santos, eds. The Bard in the Borderlands: An Anthology of Shakespeare Appropriations of Shakespeare / Appropriations en La Frontera. Vol. 1. ACMRS Press. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2023. 2024-04-12T11:22:13+00:00 Carol Mejia LaPerle cmejia.laperle@gmail.com <p>This review considers <em>The Bard in the Borderlands: An Anthology of Shakespeare Appropriations of Shakespeare / Appropriations en La Frontera </em>edited by Katherine Gillen, Adrianna M. Santos, and Kathryn Vomero Santos.</p> 2024-06-26T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2024 Carol Mejia LaPerle