The culture of playgoing in Shakespeare's England : a collaborative debate /

This elegantly written volume is made especially intriguing by a structure that permits its two authors to debate in separate essays the intricate cultural questions raised in imagining Shakespeare's audience. Dawson and Yachnin (both Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver) focus their differing gazes on the ways broad social and historical implications influenced playmaking and playgoing practices in the Elizabethan period. They initially explore activities within the playhouse itself, from the work of actors to visual issues and staging problems. Moving outside the theater walls, Dawson and Yachnin probe an impressive range of influences on viewing plays, from religious objections to the sometimes-nefarious character of the Elizabethan audience and the plays themselves to the fascinating ways drama contributed to forming a British national memory and the dissemination of news, history, and currents of thought. Because the authors emphasize rather than obscure their disagreements, this book is a more lively narrative than most scholarly works. Aimed at a sophisticated reader, it will be of most use to upper-division students through faculty. For this audience, it will provide rich pleasure by raising as many intriguing questions as it answers. J. Fisher Wabash College