Susan J. Owen teaches in the Department of English Literature at the University of Sheffield. She is the author of Restoration Theatre and Crisis (1996) and Perspectives on Restoration Drama (forthcoming), as well as numerous articles and essays on Restoration drama, a piece on Andrew Marvell and a theoretical article, ‘Chaos Theory, Marxism and Literature; (new formations, 1996). She has also edited A Babel of Bottles: Drink, Drinkers and Drinking Places in Literature (2000).

"The book will serve its audience very well, and those needing further guidance will profit from the list of further reading at the end of each essay. Highly recommended for academic libraries, the volume will be especially helpful to upper-division undergraduate and graduate students." Choice "[...] the riches of Susan Owen's book are sufficient to ensure it a place on anyone's list of essential reading on Restoration Drama."Notes and Queries

• About the Contributors viiiPreface and Acknowledgements xiiPART I The Drama in Context 11 The Post-1660 Theatres as Performance Spaces 3Edward A.. Langhans2 Restoration Dramatic Theory and Criticism 19Paul D. Cannan3 Theatrical Regulation during the Restoration Period 36Matthew J. Kinservik4 Libertinism and Sexuality 53Maximillian E. Novak5 The Restoration Actress 69Deborah Payne Fisk6 Masculinity in Restoration Drama 92Laura J. Rosenthal7 Images of Monarchy on the Restoration Stage 109Jessica Munns8 Restoration Drama and Politics: An Overview 126Susan J. Owen9 Restoration Drama and Social Class 140Aparna Dharwadker10 Race, Performance and the Silenced Prince of Angola 161Mita Choudhury11 Restoration Drama after the Restoration: The Critics, the Repertory and the Canon 177Brian CormanPART II Kinds of Drama 19312 Heroic Drama and Tragicomedy 195Derek Hughes13 Restoration Comedy 211J. Douglas Canfield14 Tragedy and Varieties of Serious Drama 228Jean I. Marsden15 London Theatre Music, 1660-1719 243Todd S. Gilman16 Shakespeare and Other Adaptations 274Sandra Clark17 Rakes, Wives and Merchants: Shifts from the Satirical to the Sentimental 291Kirk CombePART III Dramatists 30918 William Davenant and John Dryden 311Richard Kroll19 'Still on the Criminal's Side, against the Innocent': Etherege, Wycherley and the Ironies of Wit 326Robert Markley20 'Who Vices Dare Explode': Thomas Shadwell, Thomas Durfey and Didactic Drama of the Restoration 340Christopher J. Wheatley21 Otway, Lee and the Restoration History Play 355Paulina Kewes22 Elkanah Settle, John Crowne and Nahum Täte 378Don-John Dugas23 Two Female Playwrights of the Restoration: Aphra Behn and Susanna Centlivre 396Cynthia Lowenthal24 William Congreve and Thomas Southerne 412Miriam Handley25 Sir John Vanbrugh and George Farquhar in the Post-Restoration Age 429John BullIndex 446