Stages of Power
Marlowe and Shakespeare, 1592
Eric S. Mallin
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: Reacting Consortium Press
Published: 10/2016
Pages: 86
Subject: Performing Arts, History, Literary Criticism
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9780000000000
eBook ISBN: 9781469631462
DESCRIPTION
It is October 1592. Christopher Marlowe, the most accomplished
playwright in London, has written The Massacre at Paris for
his company, the Lord Admiral's Men. Bubonic plague has hit
outlying parishes, forcing theaters to close and postponing the
season. Ordinarily, the Rose Theatre would debut Marlowe's work,
but its subject—the St. Bartholomew Day's Massacre—is
unpleasant and might inflame hostilities against Catholics and
their sympathizers, such as merchants on whom trade depends. A new
company, the Lord Strange's Men, boasts a young writer, William
Shakespeare, who is said to have several barnburners in the queue.
A competition is called to decide which company will reopen the
theaters. Who will most effectively represent the nation's ideals
and energies, its humor and grandeur? One troupe will gain
supremacy, primarily for literary but also for cultural, religious,
and political reasons.
Free supplementary materials for this textbook are available at the
Reacting to the Past website. Visit https://reacting.barnard.edu/instructor-resources,
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