Stage and Social Struggle in Early Modern England

Jean E Howard, PH D (University of Michigan)

• 1 RENAISSANCE THEATER AND THE REPRESENTATION OF THEATRICAL PRACTICE A brief for political criticism 2 "SATHANS SYNAGOGUE" The theater as constructed by its enemies 3 ANTITHEATRICALITY STAGED The workings of ideology in Dekker’s The Whore of Babylon Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing 4 THE MATERIALITY OF IDEOLOGY Women as spectators, spectacles, and paying customers in the English public theatre 5 POWER AND EROS Crossdressing in dramatic representation and theatrical 6 KINGS AND PRETENDERS Monarchical theatricality in the Shakespearean history play.

`It is always a pleasure to read what Jean Howard has written. ... State-of-the-art theoretical concerns and acute historical inquiry are brought to bear with uncommon supplenes. Her arguements are never narrow; ... she fashions analytical ensembles, covering more bases than much critical argumentaion can lay claim to. - Shakespeare Quartaly`Howard's lucid and elegant prose enables her to combine theoretical sophistication with readability, and the book the concealed workings of ideology,' - Gender & History