Shakespeare and University Drama in Early Modern England

Dramatic performances at the universities in early modern England have usually been regarded as insular events, completely removed from the plays of the London stage. Shakespeare and University Drama in Early Modern England challenges that long-held notion, illuminating how an apparently secluded theatrical culture became a major source of inspiration for Shakespeare and his contemporaries. While many university plays featured classical themes, others reflected upon the academic environments in which they were produced, allowing a window into the universities themselves. This window proved especially fruitful for Shakespeare, who, as this book reveals, had a sustained fascination with the universities and their inhabitants. Daniel Blank provides groundbreaking new readings of plays from throughout Shakespeare's career, illustrating how depictions of academic culture in Love's Labour's Lost, Hamlet, and Macbeth were shaped by university plays.

Shakespeare was not unique, however. This book also discusses the impact of university drama on professional plays by Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene, and Ben Jonson, all of whom in various ways facilitated the connection between the university stage and the London commercial stage. Yet this connection, perhaps counterintuitively, is most significant in the works of a playwright who had no formal attachment to Oxford or Cambridge. Shakespeare, this study shows, was at the center of a rich exchange between two seemingly disparate theatrical worlds.


Author: Daniel Blank
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 06/02/2023
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.60w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780192886095

About the Author

Daniel Blank, Assistant Professor in Early Modern Literature, 1500-1700, Durham University

Daniel Blank is Assistant Professor in Early Modern Literature, 1500-1700 at Durham University. His research and teaching interests include Shakespeare, early modern drama, and theater history, as well as the intellectual culture and classical heritage of the early modern period.