The social setting of theatre in Shakespeare’s London is addressed by Steven Mullaney, The Place of the Stage: License, Play, and Power in Renaissance England (1988, reissued 1995); and Robert Weimann, Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition in the Theater: Studies in the Social Dimension of Dramatic Form and Function (1978, reissued 1987). An excellent resource on plays within plays is Robert J. Nelson, Play Within a Play: The Dramatist’s Conception of His Art: Shakespeare to Anouilh (1958, reissued 1971). Resources for theatrical history include Philip Henslowe, The Henslowe Papers, 2 vol., ed. by R.A. Foakes (1977); and Roslyn L. Knutson, “Telling the Story of Shakespeare’s Playhouse World,” Shakespeare Survey, 44:145–156 (1992). Bernard Beckerman, Shakespeare at the Globe, 1599–1609 (1962); and Gerald E. Bentley, The Profession of Player in Shakespeare’s Time, 1590–1642 (1984), treat the organization and practices of the acting companies. Audiences in the Elizabethan theatre are addressed in Ann Jennalie Cook, The Privileged Playgoers of Shakespeare’s London, 1576–1642 (1981); Alfred Harbage, Shakespeare’s Audience (1941, reissued 1969); and Alvin Kernan, Shakespeare, the King’s Playwright: Theater in the Stuart Court, 1603–1613 (1995). Studies of the playhouse stages include Andrew Gurr, “The Shakespearean Stages, Forty Years On,” Shakespeare Survey, 41:1–12 (1989); and John Orrell, The Human Stage: English Theatre Design, 1567–1640 (1988).
Shakespeare on Theatre