Romance on the Early Modern Stage : English Expansion Before and After Shakespeare

What is dramatic romance? Scholars have long turned to Shakespeare's biography to answer this question, marking his 'late plays' as the beginning and end of the dramatic romance. This book identifies an earlier history for this genre, revealing how stage romances imaginatively expanded audience interest in England's emerging global economy. In Shakespeare studies, 'Romance' is widely understood to refer to the plays composed and performed in the waning days of the playwright's career. Romance on the Early Modern Stage introduces a new history for the genre, one that dates back to the first years of the commercial theatre in London. These early plays drew on popular stories depicting adventurous travel, imperial conquest, and exploration of new realms. Their staging also altered the practices of the theatre, as playwrights embraced a dramatic poetics to accommodate the extravagant narratives of these stories. Romance on the Early Modern Stage aligns such formal alterations in stagecraft with an array of materials drawn from early modern global exploration to argue that dramatic fantasies both reflected and informed England's overseas ambitions. The book revises how romance is understood within the dramatic canon - from romance enabling empire in Henry V and Milton's Comus, to the 'anti-romance' staged in The Tempest "In Shakespeare studies, 'Romance' is widely understood to refer to the plays composed and performed in the waning days of the playwright's career. Romance on the Early Modern Stage introduces a new history for the genre, one that dates back to the first years of the commercial theater in London. These early plays drew on popular stories depicting adventurous travel, imperial conquest, and exploration of new realms. Their staging also altered the practices of the theater, as playwrights embraced a dramatic poetics to accommodate the extravagant narratives of these stories. Romance on the Early Modern Stage aligns such formal alterations in stagecraft with an array of materials drawn from early modern global exploration to argue that dramatic fantasies both reflected and informed England's overseas ambitions. The book revises how romance is understood within the dramatic canon - from romance enabling empire in Henry V and Milton's Comus, to the 'anti-romance' staged in The Tempest."--Publisher's description Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 3 Copyright 4 Dedication 5 Contents 6 List of Illustrations 7 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction: Romance and the Globe 10 1 Romancing Shakespeare 42 2 "Asia of the one side, and Afric of the other": Sidney's Unities and the Staging of Romance 61 3 Imagined Empires: The Cultural Geography of Stage Romance 87 4 Chronicle History, Cosmopolitan Romance: Henry V and the Generic Boundaries of the Second Tetralogy 117 5 Containing Romance and Plotting Empire in The Tempest and Pericles 152 6 Milton's Imperial Maske: Staging Romance on the Border of Wales 181 Coda: Global Romance after Shakespeare 202 Appendix: Titles and Dates of Stage Romances 209 Notes 213 Bibliography 233 Index 252 Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction: Romance and the Globe....Pages 1-32 Romancing Shakespeare....Pages 33-51 “Asia of the one side, and Afric of the other”: Sidney’s Unities and the Staging of Romance....Pages 52-77 Imagined Empires: The Cultural Geography of Stage Romance....Pages 78-107 Chronicle History, Cosmopolitan Romance: Henry V and the Generic Boundaries of the Second Tetralogy....Pages 108-142 Containing Romance and Plotting Empire in The Tempest and Pericles....Pages 143-171 Milton’s Imperial Maske: Staging Romance on the Border of Wales....Pages 172-192 Coda: Global Romance after Shakespeare....Pages 193-199 Back Matter....Pages 200-251