Shakespeare, Court Dramatist centres around the contention that the courts of both Elizabeth I and James I loomed much larger in Shakespeare's creative life than is usually appreciated. Richard Dutton argues that many, perhaps most, of Shakespeare's plays have survived in versions adapted for court presentation, where length was no object (and indeed encouraged) and rhetorical virtuosity was appreciated. The first half of the study examines the court's patronage of the theatre during Shakespeare's lifetime and the crucial role of its Masters of the Revels, who supervised all performances there (as well as censoring plays for public performance). Dutton examines the emergence of the Lord Chamberlain's Men and the King's Men, to whom Shakespeare was attached as their 'ordinary poet', and reviews what is known about the revision of plays in the early modern period. The second half of the study focuses in detail on six of Shakespeare's plays which exist in shorter, less polished texts as well as longer, more familiar ones: Henry VI Part II and III, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Hamlet, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Dutton argues that they are not cut down from those familiar versions, but poorly reported originals which Shakespeare revised for court performance into what we know best today. More localized revisions in such plays as Titus Andronicus, Richard II, and Henry IV Part II can also best be explained in this context. The court, Richard Dutton argues, is what made Shakespeare Shakespeare.

Shakespeare, Court Dramatist

Literature & Fiction

Dutton, Richard

Dramas & Plays

Oxford University Press

Mastering the Revels traces the measures taken by the governments of Elizabeth I, James I, and Charles I to regulate the new phenomenon of fixed playhouses and resident playing companies in London, and to censor their plays. It focuses on the Masters of the Revels, whose primary function was to seek out theatrical entertainment for the court but whose role expanded to include oversight of the players and their playhouses.\nThe book proceeds chronologically, tracking each of the Masters in the period--Edmund Tilney (served 1579-1610), Sir George Buc (1610-22), Sir John Astley (1622-3), and Sir Henry Herbert (1623-1642). Tilney was the first to receive a Special Commission giving him wide-ranging powers over the players. When Buc first became involved is examined here in detail, as is the parallel history of the Children of the Queen's Revels who between 1604 and 1608 staged some of the most scandalous plays of the era. Astley succeeded Buc, but soon sold the office to Herbert, who then served to the closing of the theatres.\nManuscripts of plays censored by Tilney, Buc, and Herbert have survived and are examined in detail to assess their concerns. Large parts of Herbert's office-book have also survived, giving detailed insights into his professional life, including interactions with both the court and the players. It reveals the difficulties he faced negotiating recurrent popular pressure for war against Spain, resistance to Archbishop Laud's reforms of the church, and Henrietta Maria's problematic presence as a Catholic queen to Charles I.

Mastering the Revels: The Regulation and Censorship of Early Modern Drama

History & Criticism

There was no single 'Elizabethan stage'. Early modern actors exploited various opportunities for patronage and profit between the 1570s and 1642, whether touring, or performing at inns, in country houses, in purpose-built theatres, at court, at the universities, or at the inns of court. This authoritative and comprehensive collection of new essays explores the social, political, and economic pressures under which the playing companies of Shakespeare and his contemporaries operated. It shows how they evolved over time to meet new challenges such as the opposition of City of London authorities, the possibility of permanent location in London, the re-emergence of boy companies c. 1600, and the great increase in court performance which began under James I. Essays also explore the practical everyday business of playing: acquiring scripts and playhouses, dramatic authorship, the contribution of financiers and entrepreneurs, rehearsing, lighting, music, props, styles of acting, boy actors, and the role of women in an 'all-male' world. A number of contributors address the methodologies of theatre history itself, questioning its philosophical premises and evaluating the nature of the evidence we have, such as that from stage directions in play-books or from the visual records. The collection as a whole offers a challenging account of the world of the players in Tudor-Stuart England, revising old assumptions and so inviting us to explore anew the plays which were written for them and which are their greatest living legacy.

The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theatre (Oxford Handbooks)

British & Irish

There was no single 'Elizabethan stage'. Early modern actors exploited various opportunities for patronage and profit between the 1570s and 1642, whether touring, or performing at inns, in country houses, in purpose-built theatres, at court, at the universities, or at the inns of court. This authoritative and comprehensive collection of new essays explores the social, political, and economic pressures under which the playing companies of Shakespeare and his contemporaries operated. It shows how they evolved over time to meet new challenges such as the opposition of City of London authorities, the possibility of permanent location in London, the re-emergence of boy companies c. 1600, and the great increase in court performance which began under James I. Essays also explore the practical everyday business of playing: acquiring scripts and playhouses, dramatic authorship, the contribution of financiers and entrepreneurs, rehearsing, lighting, music, props, styles of acting, boy actors, and the role of women in an 'all-male' world. A number of contributors address the methodologies of theatre history itself, questioning its philosophical premises and evaluating the nature of the evidence we have, such as that from stage directions in play-books or from the visual records. The collection as a whole offers a challenging account of the world of the players in Tudor-Stuart England, revising old assumptions and so inviting us to explore anew the plays which were written for them and which are their greatest living legacy.

A history of Shakespeare's literary career rather than a biography. Dutton (English, U. of Lancaster) is an expert on Ben Jonson, and one of the approaches of his study is asking why Shakespeare wrote differently from Jonson and other contemporary playwrights. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

William Shakespeare: A Literary Life (Literary Lives)

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

Advances in Anesthesia highlights the year's significant medical advances, providing one source to review the essential information updates for the Anesthesiologist in that year. The distinguished editorial board, led by Dr. Thomas McLoughlin, includes Drs. Richard Dutton, Laurence Torsher, and Francis Salinas. The board has assembled a first-rate volume for 2018, with topics including care of the severely injured orthopedic patient, patient satisfaction, emergency preparedness and mass casualty considerations, anticoagulant reversal agents, perioperative blood pressure management, postoperative management of nausea and vomiting, anesthesia for noncardiac surgery in patients with implanted LVAD, neurocognitive impact of anesthesia in children, modalities and techniques for labor epidural analgesia and anesthesia, PECS and Serratus Plane Blocks, Transversus Abdominus Plane (TAP) Blocks, cardiac dysrhythmias, right heart failure and pulmonary hypertension, and risks of "non-rate based harms."

Advances in Anesthesia, 2018 (Volume 36-1) (Advances, Volume 36-1)

Medical Books

McLoughlin MD, Thomas M.

Torsher MD, Laurence

Salina, Francis

Medicine

Elsevier

William Shakespeare is the best-known writer in the English-speaking world. Contrary to popular myth, we actually know more about him and his career than we do about most dramatists of his era - the fruits of three hundred years of fascinated research. Whilst we know less than we would like about Shakespeare's private life, we do have a far clearer picture of his professional career, and of the theatres and social structures with which he was involved. And yet the significance of what we know is fiercely contested and we are challenged by a host of contradictions. Elizabethan actors were often classed as vagabonds yet some were also servants to royalty who performed at court. All the roles in Shakespeare's plays were acted by men, yet he wrote strong roles for women from Lady Macbeth to Rosalind. So was Shakespeare a feminist before his time? Richard Dutton tackles these and other issues which keep Shakespeare, the most influential literary life in literary history, at the centre of our cultural life today.

Biographies & Memoirs

This book offers a critical assessment of the career of one of the most formidable figures of English literature, the most influential poet and dramatist of the early seventeenth century. Richard Dutton focuses on the greatest landmark of Jonson's career, the 1616 folio collection of his works with which he crowned his growing reputation as a man of letters, collecting together the majority of his most enduring works - including Every Man in his Humour, Volpone, The Alchemist; the tragedies Sejanus and Catiline; and the major masques and poems. The book relates these works (and another masterpiece, Bartholomew Fair, which belongs to the same period) to Jonson's tempestuous life and times, touching on such issues as his involvement with the Gunpowder Plot, his frequent confrontations with the political authorities, his emergence as Poet Laureate at Court and his often touchy relations with fellow authors like Shakespeare and Donne. But the principal aim throughout is to offer detailed critical analyses of Jonson's major works showing how, for all that they are rooted in the concerns of his own age, they are far more accessible and relevant to modern readers than is often assumed.

Ben Jonson: To the First Folio (British and Irish Authors)

Community & Culture

Cambridge University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dutton, Richard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dutton, Richard

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dutton, Richard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Shakespeare, Court Dramatist

Mastering the Revels: The Regulation and Censorship of Early Modern Drama

Shakespeare, Court Dramatist

The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theatre (Oxford Handbooks)

The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theatre (Oxford Handbooks)

William Shakespeare: A Literary Life (Literary Lives)

Advances in Anesthesia, 2018 (Volume 36-1) (Advances, Volume 36-1)

William Shakespeare: A Literary Life (Literary Lives)

Ben Jonson: To the First Folio (British and Irish Authors)

Ben Jonson: To the First Folio (British and Irish Authors)