Focusing on the plays of Shakespeare as well as a range of other playwrights, this title explores the material conditions of performance, the intricate resonances between dramatic performance and religious ceremonies, and the multiple valences of religious references in early modern plays.
Reassessing the relationship between religion and drama in early modern England, this collection explores the commercial theater's reframing of religious culture. Essays foreground the material conditions of performance, the resonances between theatrical and religious rituals, and the multiple valences of religious allusions on the stage. Discussions of both Shakespearean and non-Shakespearean drama reveal the theater's broad interpretation of Christian practice, as well as its engagement with Islam, Judaism and paganism.
'This is a well-crafted and timely book; its editors have rightly recognized that the discussion of religion and early modern drama must reach beyond allusion and citation to consider the materials of the stage. The elegant and thoughtful essays collected here explore in fascinating and variegated ways the objects, artifacts, sensations and figurations that worked to activate religious habits of thought. In the process, they reveal a theater of surprising faith and wonder.' Patricia Badir, University of British Columbia, Canada 'The fourteen intriguing chapters in Religion and Early Modern Drama in England, plus the provocative Introduction by the editors, constitute a timely re-examination of the place of religion and its depiction in the drama of the period.' Theatre Research International 'The editors are right in claiming that the volume does important work toward re-theoriz[ing] what it means for the drama to engage with religious culture (3).' Shakespeare Bulletin 'Degenhardt and Williamson should be credited with composing a volume of great breadth. Scholars of early modern theatre, literature, and history alike will find within it much to inspire and fuel further work.' Notes and Queries
