Shakespeare the Player: A Life in the TheatreMan of the Millennium' he may be but William Shakespeare is a shadowy historical figures. His writings have been analysed exhaustively but much of his life remains a mystery. This controversial biography aims to redress the balance. To his contemporaries, Shakespeare was known not as a playwright but as an actor, yet this has been largely ignored or marginalised by most modern writers. here John Southworth overturns traditional images of the Bard and his work, arguing that Shakespeare cannot be separated from his profession as a player any more than he can be separated from his works. Only by approaching Shakespeare's life from this new angle can we hope to learn or understand anything new about him. Following Shakespeare's life as an actor as he learns his craft and begins work on his own plays, Southworth presents the Bard and his plays in their proper context for the first time. Groundbreaking, contentious and a work of deep scholarship and understanding, 'Shakespeare the Player' should change the way we think about the English language's greatest artist. |
Contents
The Rose 1592 | |
The Player Poet | |
Chamberlains | |
He that Plays the King | |
The Globe 15991601 | |
Travelling | |
Kings | |
Blackfriars | |
The Man Shakespeare Appendices A Recollections of Marlowe Kyd and Peele in Shakespeares early plays | |
B Conjectural programme of performances of harey the vi at the Rose in 15923 | |
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