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Playgoing in Shakespeare's London

Name: Playgoing in Shakespeare's London
Author: Andrew Gurr
ISBN: 9780521543224

by Andrew Gurr

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Overview

This is a new edition of Andrew Gurr's classic account of the people for whom Shakespeare wrote his plays. Gurr assembles all the evidence from the writings of the time to describe the physical structure of the different types of playhouse, the services provided in the auditorium, the cost of a ticket and a cushion, the size of the crowds, the smells, the pickpockets, and the collective feelings generated by the plays. Since 1987 there have been many new discoveries about Shakespeare's theatres. Gurr introduces fresh evidence about the experience of being at a play in Shakespeare's time, adds more than thirty new entries to his account of the early playgoers and provides a select bibliography.

Synopsis

This is a newly revised edition of Andrew Gurr's classic account of the people for whom Shakespeare wrote his plays. Gurr assembles evidence from the writings of the time to describe the physical, social and mental conditions of playgoing. For this edition, as well as revising and adding new material which has emerged since the second edition, Gurr develops new sections about points of special interest. Fifty new entries have been added to the list of playgoers and there are a dozen fresh quotations about the experience of playgoing.

About the Author, Andrew Gurr

Andrew Gurr is Emeritus Professor, University of Reading. His many books include The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642 (third edition 1993), Writers in Exile, Playgoing in Shakespeare's London (second edition 1996), The Shakespearian Playing Companies (1996), and (with Mariko Ichikawa) Staging in Shakespeare's Theatres (2000).

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Editorials

From the Publisher

"...a staple in Shakespeare studies. Essential." P.D. Nelsen, Marlboro College, CHOICE

"This amusing glimpse into the habits of the London audiences, and the use to which Gurr puts it, are characteristic of his informative study." The Times Literary Supplement