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  • Textbook
  • © 2004

Four Renaissance Comedies

  • Contains four plays which reflect the range and diversity of English Renaissance comic drama
    Supplies comprehensive textual notes which establish the plays in their originating cultural and theatrical contexts and explain obscure references and allusions
    Provides a useful general introduction which gives an overview of early modern comedy in the context of Renaissance comic theory and practice
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Table of contents (4 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxviii
  2. The Old Wives Tale

    • George Peele
    Pages 1-32
  3. The Shoemakers Holiday or The Gentle Craft

    • Thomas Dekker
    Pages 33-104
  4. The Alchemist A Comedy

    • Ben Jonson
    Pages 105-230
  5. A New Way to Pay Old Debts A Comedy

    • Philip Massinger
    Pages 231-312
  6. Back Matter

    Pages 313-314

About this book

This edition of four Renaissance comedies represents the vitality, range and diversity of the English comic drama of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, reflecting both its capacity for escapist fantasy and its concern with the intrigues of everyday city life. Comprehensive textual notes establish the plays in their originating cultural and theatrical circumstances, as well as explaining obscure references and allusions. A general introduction provides a helpful overview of early modern comedy in the context of Renaissance comic theory and practice, together with an assessment of its continuing theatrical appeal.

About the authors

ROBERT SHAUGHNESSY is Professor of Theatre at the University of Surrey Roehampton.

Bibliographic Information