To Chester and Beyond: Meaning, Text and Context in Early English Drama: Shifting Paradigms in Early English Drama Studies (Variorum Collected Studies)

This volume brings together a selection of the major articles of David Mills (1938-2013), which along with similar volumes by Alexandra F. Johnston, Peter Meredith and Meg Twycross makes up a set of "Shifting Paradigms in Early English Drama Studies". Mills was one of these four key scholars whose work has changed what is known about English medieval drama and theatre. He made major contributions to understanding English medieval theatre in the widest sense but more specifically to the nature and development of medieval plays and their performance at Chester. The scope of his work from manuscript to performance has created new knowledge and insights brought about by his remarkable technical skill as an editor and researcher. His texts of the Chester Cycle of Mystery Plays have become the standard works. In the light of this outstanding research the volume is comprised of four sections: 1. Editors and Editing; 2. Cultural Contexts; 3. Staging and Performance; 4. Criticism and Evaluation. An editorial introduction opens the work. "This volume presents selected works of David Mills. ... Mills was one of the outstanding English scholars of his generation. His prodigious scholarly output enabled him to become one of the leading scholars in the investigation and understanding of medieval English theatre. In particular, it was his examination of medieval plays and their texts and contexts in the city of Chester that propelled him and his work towards the pinnacle of achievement in the study of English medieval texts."--introduction