Winter Fruit: English Drama, 1642-1660University Press of Kentucky, 2014 M10 17 - 472 pages Probably the most blighted period in the history of English drama was the time of the Civil Wars, Commonwealth, and Protectorate. With the theaters closed, the country at war, the throne in fatal decline, and the powers of Parliament and Cromwell growing greater, the received wisdom has been that drama in England largely withered and died. Throughout the official hiatus in playing, he shows, dramas continued to be composed, translated, transmuted, published, bought, read, and even covertly acted. Furthermore, the tendency of drama to become interestingly topical and political grew more pronounced. In illuminating one of the least understood periods in English literary history, Randall's study not only encompasses a large amount of dramatic and historical material but also takes into account much of the scholarship published in recent decades. Winter Fruit is a major interpretive work in literary and social history. |
From inside the book
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... 44. Frontispiece of James Shirley's Six New Playes ( 1653 ) 341 45. The crown and the rising sun as medallic images of Charles II 372 46. Cromwell's head on a pole 373 PREFACE ... this Mad , Sad , Cold Winter of X WINTER FRUIT.
... Shirley himself , in an address to readers of the Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher folio ( 1647 ) , offers a wry variation on the venerable comparison of stage and life , then tries to put on a happy face : " And now Reader in this ...
... Shirley , The Imposture ( acted at Blackfriars in 1640 , but not published until 1653 ) , 18 opens in a Mantua that is under siege . A stand - in princess ( the impostor ) provides the focus of interest , and for variety the play is ...
... Shirley ever wrote , one that he himself regarded as " the best of my flock " ( A3r ) , was The Cardinal , performed at Blackfriars in 1641 but unpub- lished until 1653.23 As Charles Forker demonstrated some years ago , this play ...
... Shirley ironically dedicated his Bird in a Cage ( 1633 ) to the theater - hating Prynne on the occasion of Prynne's enforced " happy Retirement " ( A2r ) . The relevance of cage im- agery has still further ramifications in Laud's case ...
Contents
| 1 | |
| 16 | |
| 37 | |
| 51 | |
| 66 | |
6 The Famous Tragedy of Charles I | 95 |
7 AngloTyrannus | 117 |
8 Shows Motions and Drolls | 140 |
12 Fruits of Seasons Gone | 229 |
13 Tragedies | 248 |
14 Comedies | 275 |
15 The Cavendish Phenomenon | 313 |
16 Tragicomedies | 337 |
17 The Rising Sun | 368 |
Appendixes | 381 |
Works Cited | 391 |
9 Mungrell Masques and Their Kin | 157 |
10 The Persistence of Pastoral | 184 |
11 The Craft of Translation | 208 |
Index | 421 |