Producing early modern London : a comedy of urban space, 1598-1616

Resource Information

The work Producing early modern London : a comedy of urban space, 1598-1616 represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Producing early modern London : a comedy of urban space, 1598-1616

Title remainder

a comedy of urban space, 1598-1616

Statement of responsibility

Kelly J. Stage

Creator

• Stage, Kelly J., 1978-

Author

• Stage, Kelly J., 1978-

Subject

• Cities and towns in literature
• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• England
• England -- London
• English drama
• English drama (Comedy)
• English drama (Comedy) -- History and criticism
• English drama -- 17th century -- History and criticism
• History
• LITERARY CRITICISM -- European | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
• Literature
• Literature and society
• Literature and society -- England | London -- History -- 17th century
• London (England) -- In literature
• Public spaces in literature
• Public spaces in literature
• Theater
• Theater -- England -- History -- 17th century
• 1600-1699
• Cities and towns in literature

Genre

• History
• Criticism, interpretation, etc

Language

eng

Summary

• "Early seventeenth-century London playwrights used actual locations in their comedies while simultaneously exploring London as an imagined, ephemeral, urban space. Producing Early Modern London examines this tension between representing place and producing urban space. In analyzing the theater's use of city spaces and places, Kelly J. Stage shows how the satirical comedies of the early seventeenth century came to embody the city as the city embodied the plays. Stage focuses on city plays by George Chapman, Thomas Dekker, William Haughton, Ben Jonson, John Marston, Thomas Middleton, and John Webster. While the conventional labels of "city comedy" or "citizen comedy" have often been applied to these plays, she argues that London comedies defy these genre categorizations because the ruptures, expansions, conflicts, and imperfections of the expanding city became a part of their form. Rather than defining the "city comedy," comedy in this period proved to be the genre of London. As the expansion of London's social space exceeded the strict confines of the "square mile," the city burgeoned into a new metropolis. The satiric comedies of this period became, in effect, playgrounds for urban experimentation. Early seventeenth-century playwrights seized the opportunity to explore the myriad ways in which London worked, taking the expected--a romance plot, a typical father-son conflict, a cross-dressing intrigue--and turning it into a multifaceted, complex story of interaction and proximity."--
• "Producing Early Modern London analyzes theater's use of city spaces and places, showing how the satirical comedies of the early seventeenth century came to embody the city as the city embodied the plays"--

Member of

• Early modern cultural studies (Lincoln, Neb.)

Assigning source

• Provided by publisher
• Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

822/.309358421

Government publication

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps

Index

index present

LC call number

PR678.L58

LC item number

S73 2018

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

Early modern cultural studies