Category: Plays/Films/Dramas
The beginning of the English drama dates from a late period in the history of this country. Until the reign of Elizabeth, dramatic literature was really non-existent. During the Middle Ages, the religious drama held complete sway over the populace, producing such an abiding ef...
Unfortunately for lovers of Shakespearean drama no vestige of any early Elizabethan theatre exists; in some instances even the very sites are forgotten; in others, the plots of...
11. PART I.This play is of doubtful parentage. Many would ascribe it either singly or in conjunction to Greene, Peele, Marlowe, Nash, and Shakespeare. It appears in the First Folio amongst...
7. CHAPTER VIIThis word bears quite a respectable age of antiquity in its theatrical sense, being so used in the year 1495 in a note to the Coventry Mysteries. “Payd for copying of the 11 Kni...
4. CHAPTER IVIn the early days of Elizabeth, actors sought refuge under the _aegis_ of some great noblemen, otherwise they were branded as rogues and vagabonds, subject to arrest at any mome...
6. CHAPTER VIDuring the reigns of Elizabeth and James, Court performances were frequently given, especially during the religious holidays. All the well-known London companies appeared at Cou...
12. Scene 1, where Beatrice mentions Benedick as having said: “That IThus endeth the booke of a C mery talys. Empryntyd at London at the sygne of the Merymayd at Powlys gate next to Chepe side. The yere of our Lord M.D.C.XXVI. The XXII day of Nov...
2. CHAPTER IIWhen Shakespeare first arrived in London, which is now generally assigned to the year 1586, there existed in the Metropolis two permanent theatres, called respectively The Theat...
5. CHAPTER VNearly a quarter of a century of Shakespeare’s life was passed in the theatrical world. Under these circumstances we should naturally expect to find scattered through his works...
8. ACT II. SCENE II. Line 447-569.You are welcome, masters! welcome all. I am glad to see thee well: welcome, good friends.--O, my old friends! Why, thy face is valanced since I saw thee last; comest thou to bea...
1. CHAPTER IThe beginning of the English drama dates from a late period in the history of this country. Until the reign of Elizabeth, dramatic literature was really non-existent. During the...
10. PART IIApart from dramatic performances, there existed in Shakespeare’s time several societies, which occasionally presented spectacular shows elaborately prepared, in order to amuse a...
9. PART IIn Europe, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a play extempore was a usual form of entertainment, and was deservedly extremely popular. In this country this nimble a...