Description: The drama of the English Middle Ages is perennially popular with students and theatre audiences alike, and this is an updated edition of a book which has established itself as a standard guide to the field. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre, second edition continues to provide an authoritative introduction and an up-to-date, illustrated guide to the mystery cycles, morality drama and saints' plays which flourished from the late fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries. The book emphasises regional diversity in the period and engages with the literary and particularly the theatrical values of the plays. Existing chapters have been revised and updated where necessary, and there are three entirely new chapters, including one on the cultural significance of early drama. A thoroughly revised reference section includes a guide to scholarship and criticism, an enlarged classified bibliography and a chronological table.
Brief description: Dr Richard Beadle is Reader in Medieval English Literature and Historical Bibliography in the English Faculty, St John's College, Cambridge.
Review Quotes: "Each essay on the plays presents a richly detailed discussion of manuscript and sources, literary interpretation, staging and audience....The collection benefits from research into both medieval theatrical practice and modern productions....the Companion makes impressive use of manuscript and staging studies." Times Literary Supplement