Stage Images and Traditions

This book looks at the traditions behind some of the common images that appeared on stage in the early seventeenth century. The years 1607–14 are particularly important, not only because of developments taking place in the playhouses, but also for the variety of drama on offer. The discussion includes Macbeth, Pericles, Cymbeline and The Duchess of Malfi at the Globe and Blackfriars, The White Devil at the Red Bull, a court masque and later plays by Middleton and Ford. Dr Bolam explores contemporary performances in relation to each other and analyses the ways different dramatists handled the traditions they inherited. The book looks back to Kyd's Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare's early plays and forward to the time when allusions to Shakespeare's plays became part of the pattern of traditions. Some modern revivals are described and illustrated with photographs showing how metaphors have been staged.