To Chester and Beyond: Meaning, Text and Context in Early English Drama

David Mills (1938-2013) was Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Liverpool, UK; Philip Butterworth is Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds, UK

• Introduction, Philip Butterworth. Section 1 Editors and Editing: Modern editions of medieval English plays; Theories and practices in the editing of the Chester cycle play manuscripts; Medievalism and revival: editors and editions. Section 2 Cultural Contexts: Approaches to medieval drama; Music and musicians in Chester: a summary account; Chester's midsummer show: creation and adaptation; 'A tale of two cities: Chester and Coventry in the 1490s. Section 3 Staging and Performance: The theatres of Everyman; The ‘behold and see’ convention in medieval drama; Characterisation in the English mystery cycles; ‘None had the like nor the like darste set out’: the city of Chester and its mystery cycle. Section 4 Criticism and Evaluation: The ‘now’ of ‘then’; I know my place: some thoughts on status and station in the English mystery plays; No place like home: the Northampton 'Abraham and Isaac' play, a re-appraisal; 'The Towneley plays' or 'the Towneley cycle'?. Section 5 Audience - Defenders and Opponents: Who are our customers? The audience for Chester's plays; Where have all the players gone? A Chester problem; Chester's covenant theology; ‘Some precise cittizins’: puritan objections to Chester's plays; Some theological issues in Chester's plays. Section 6 Views on the Antiquarians: Netta Syrett and the old miracle plays of England; Replaying the medieval past: revivals of Chester's mystery plays; The antiquarians and the critics: the Chester plays and the criticism of early English drama; ‘The 1951 revival’ and ‘The new tradition’. Index.