Introduction -- Part One: Documents Before Performance. 1. Writing a Play with Robert Daborne: Lucy Munro. 2. A Sharers' Repertory: Holger Syme. 3. Parts and the Playscript: Seven Questions: James J. Marino. 4. Undocumented: Improvisation, Rehearsal and the Clown: Richard Preiss -- Part Two: Documents of Performance. 5. 'Rethinking Prologues on Page and Stage': Sonia Massai and Heidi Craig. 6. Title-and Scene-Boards: The Largest, Shortest Documents: Matt Steggle. 7. 'What is a staged book? Books as 'Actors' in the Early Modern English Theatre' -- Part Three: Documents After Performance. 8. Flowers for English Speaking: Play Extracts and Conversation: Andras Kisery. 9. Shakespearean Extracts and the Misrepresentation of the Archive: Laura Estill. 10. Typography After Performance: Claire M. L. Bourne. 11. Shakespeare the Balladmonger: Tiffany Stern -- Part Four: Documents Beyond Performance. 12. Lost Documents, Absent Documents, Forged Documents: Roslyn Knutson and David McInnis. 13. Afterward: Peter Holland.
Summary:
Rethinking Theatrical Documents brings together fifteen major scholars to analyse and theorise the documents, lost and found, that produced a play in Shakespeare's England. Showing how the playhouse frantically generated paratexts, it explores a rich variety of entangled documents, some known and some unknown: from before the play (drafts, casting lists, actors' parts); during the play (prologues, epilogues, title-boards); and after the play (playbooks, commonplace snippets, ballads) - though 'before', 'during' and 'after' intertwine in fascinating ways. By using collective intervention to rethink both theatre history and book history, it provides new ways of understanding plays critically, interpretatively, editorially, practically and textually.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.