Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-328) and index.
Contents:
Introduction. -- Physical conditions: The amphitheatre playhouses ; The hall playhouses ; Performing conditions ; Auditorium behavior. -- Social composition: Social classes in England ; Social classes in London ; Who went where ; Different kinds of playgoer. -- Mental composition: The mental range ; Audiences or spectators ; Learned ears ; Levels of awareness ; Playgoer reactions. -- The evolution of tastes: The first playgoers (1567-87) ; Tarlton's followers (1576-88) ; Lyly's special appeal (1580-90) ; Mass emotion and the Armada (1588-99) ; Rule, religion and revenge (1588-99) ; Current affairs (1588-1603) ; Citizen staples and Juliet's rebellion (1588-1605) ; The war of railing (1599-1609) ; City comedy (1599-1614) ; After 1609: the settlement hierarchy ; Beeston's cock and bull (1616-30) ; The Blackfriars in the 1630s ; Citizens in the last years (1630-42). -- Appendix 1: Playgoers 1567-1642. -- Appendix 2: References to playgoing.
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