Peter Happe - Böcker

English Drama before Shakespeare surveys the range of dramatic activity in English up to 1590. The book challenges the traditional divisions between Medieval and Renaissance literature by showing that there was much continuity throughout this period, in spite of many innovations. The range of dramatic activity includes well-known features such as mystery cycles and the interludes, as well as comedy and tragedy. Para-dramatic activity such as the liturgical drama, royal entries and localised or parish drama is also covered. Many of the plays considered are anonymous, but a coherent, biographical view can be taken of the work of known dramatists such as John Heywood, John Bale, and Christopher Marlowe.Peter Happé's study is based upon close reading of selected plays, especially from the mystery cycles and such Elizabethan works as Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. It takes account of contemporary research into dramatic form, performance (including some important recent revivals), dramatic sites and early theatre buildings, and the nature of early dramatic texts. Recent changes in outlook generated by the publication of the written records of early drama form part of the book's focus. There is an extensive bibliography covering social and political background, the lives and works of individual authors, and the development of theatrical ideas through the period. The book is aimed at undergraduates, as well as offering an overview for more advanced students and researchers in drama and in related fields of literature and cultural studies.

Provides an overview of and introduction to the Towneley cycle of plays, a 32-play cycle written in c 1500, which begins with the fall of Lucifer and ends with the Last Judgement, and was performed as part of the festival of Corpus Christi in Wakefield. This volume examines the cycle's textual history, and discusses issues of language and style.

This edition of "The Devil is an Ass" (1616) aims to provide an insight into Jonson's life and work, the theatrical qualities of the play, its political background and its textual history. In his introduction, Peter Happe looks at the special place of the play in Jonson's own life, his interest in London, the theatrical setting of the play and its sources and analogues. There are critical and explanatory commentaries and a glossarial index. The play is seen in its historical and political context, by linking it with late medieval and Elizabethan plays, as well as with the Jacobean stage. The text is meticulously and reliably edited, with modernized spelling for today's reader. A commentary is provided to explain difficult or significant passages. The stage history of the play also includes very recent productions.

This is the new paperback edition of the first fully annotated volume of Ben Jonson's 'The Magnetic Lady' written in 1632. It contains textual and explanatory notes and the text is modernised for student use. The introduction places the play in the context of Jonson's later dramatic and poetic works and discusses the political context of the Caroline court. A performance history of the play and fresh material relating to its seventeenth-century reception are also provided. This edition by Peter Happè critically reappraises Jonson's much-neglected play and argues for its recognition as a work of real distinction.

This is the new paperback edition of the first fully annotated volume of Ben Jonson's 'The Magnetic Lady' written in 1632. It contains textual and explanatory notes and the text is modernised for student use. The introduction places the play in the context of Jonson's later dramatic and poetic works and discusses the political context of the Caroline court. A performance history of the play and fresh material relating to its seventeenth-century reception are also provided. This edition by Peter Happè critically reappraises Jonson's much-neglected play and argues for its recognition as a work of real distinction.

This edition of The Trial of Treasure will be a photographic facsimile of one of the five extant copies of this apparently anonymous play which was printed in 1567 by Thomas Purfoote. It will reproduce the copy at the Harry Ransome Library, Austin, Texas which has an anomaly in the printing not found in the other copies. In considering typographical characteristics of the text the Introduction discusses the place of this play in Purfoote’s extensive output. It also addresses the relationship with William Wager’s Enough is as Good as a Feast with which it shares some seventy lines, and considers the possibility of common authorship. The text is rich in stage directions and aspects of performance are discussed including the doubling scheme for five players and the role of the Vice which is exemplified here.

This volume is a photographic facsimile from the copy of the play by George Wapull in the Harry Ransom Centre.It was originally printed in 1576 by Hugh Jackson, and is one of only five extant copies. The introduction discusses the place of this play in Jackson’s output, including two other interludes printed by him shortly afterwards. Besides compositorial practice and some irregularities, it addresses the identity of the author, historical detail about the surviving copies, and the editorial contribution of John Payne Collier. The text is rich in stage directions and aspects of performance are discussed including the doubling scheme for four players and the active role of the Vice. The play was written at a time when interludes designed for small acting troupes were popular and exhibited remarkable theatrical expertise. The intellectual context is considered, and in particular the place of this play among the considerable number of surviving interludes from London which focus upon wealth and its abuses and other matters of economic importance at the time.

Two-volume collection providing the first opportunity to consider Bale's surviving dramatic work as a whole in the original language. His plays explore the theological and political implications of the English Reformation and offers a Protestant counterblast to the English mystery cycles.

Two-volume collection providing the first opportunity to consider Bale's surviving dramatic work as a whole in the original language. His plays explore the theological and political implications of the English Reformation and offers a Protestant counterblast to the English mystery cycles.

The series is performing an important service by providing fully annotated editions of Tudor humanists and playwrights in the original Tudor English, with glossaries and listing of textual variants and doubtful readings. COMPARATIVE DRAMA`A first-rate edition that substantially advances the cause of scholarship.' COMPARATIVE DRAMAFirst complete and fully annotated collection of John Heywood's plays in the original language. It makes possible a reevaluation ofhis remarkable achievement as actor-playwright and an appreciation of his lively contribution to the English language. In all their experimental variety the comedies are seen to have the stamp of an idiosyncratic, theatricalintelligence coupled with a surprising seriousness and Heywood emerges as a resourceful apologist for traditional Catholic doctrine in a time of Reformation. In arguing for a new chronology, the editors suggest that Henry VIII'sservant and entertainer was capable of refreshing irreverence and political daring.Contents: Witty and Witles, Johan Johan, The Pardoner and theFrere, The Foure PP, A Play of Love, The Play of the Wether. Notes.Appendices: Verses from a lost Play of Reason, Translation of .RICHARD AXTON is a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, and University lecturer in English. PETER HAPPÉis the former Principal of Barton PeverilSixth-Form College.

English Drama before Shakespeare surveys the range of dramatic activity in English up to 1590. The book challenges the traditional divisions between Medieval and Renaissance literature by showing that there was much continuity throughout this period, in spite of many innovations. The range of dramatic activity includes well-known features such as mystery cycles and the interludes, as well as comedy and tragedy. Para-dramatic activity such as the liturgical drama, royal entries and localised or parish drama is also covered. Many of the plays considered are anonymous, but a coherent, biographical view can be taken of the work of known dramatists such as John Heywood, John Bale, and Christopher Marlowe.Peter Happé's study is based upon close reading of selected plays, especially from the mystery cycles and such Elizabethan works as Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. It takes account of contemporary research into dramatic form, performance (including some important recent revivals), dramatic sites and early theatre buildings, and the nature of early dramatic texts. Recent changes in outlook generated by the publication of the written records of early drama form part of the book's focus. There is an extensive bibliography covering social and political background, the lives and works of individual authors, and the development of theatrical ideas through the period. The book is aimed at undergraduates, as well as offering an overview for more advanced students and researchers in drama and in related fields of literature and cultural studies.

The Worlde and the Chylde, issued by the press of Wynkyn de Worde in 1521, is one of the very earliest plays published in England. It also has very considerable interest for its adaptation of the Ages of Man iconography, which is extensively treated in the introduction, notes, and illustrations.

Against a background which included revolutionary changes in religious belief, extensive enlargement of dramatic styles and the technological innovation of printing, this collection of essays about biblical drama offers innovative approaches to text and performance, while reviewing some well-established critical issues. The Bible in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries appears in a complex of roles in relation to the drama: as an authority and centre of belief, a place of controversy, an emotional experience and, at times, a weapon. This collection brings into focus the new biblical learning, including the re-editing of biblical texts, as well as classical influences, and it gives a unique view of the relationship between the Bible and the drama at a critical time for both.Contributors are: Stephanie Allen, David Bevington, Philip Butterworth, Sarah Carpenter, Philip Crispin, Clifford Davidson, Elisabeth Dutton, Garrett P. J. Epp, Bob Godfrey, Peter Happé, James McBain, Roberta Mullini, Katie Normington, Margaret Rogerson, Charlotte Steenbrugge, Greg Walker, and Diana Wyatt.

Staging History unites essays by nine specialists in the field of late medieval and early Renaissance drama. Their focus is on English, Dutch and Humanist German drama, as well as on a modern Swiss adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V. Featuring prominently in this book are plays by, among others, John Bale, Jacob Schoepper, Johannes Agricola and Jacob Duym. Special attention is also paid to the Croxton Play of the Sacrament and the Dutch abele spelen.So far this topic has not received wide attention within the world of medieval and early Renaissance studies. This exploration aims at arousing more interest in this field by scholars working on European drama from the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance.