Dramatis Personae (3) (Stage by Stage)

Touching on "Passion Plays" and "Mysteries and Moralities," this exploration also examines the folk farces that flourished during the Middle Ages. Discussing developments during the Renaissance in Italy such as the commedia dell'arte as well as exalted musical innovations culminating in operas and ballets, the book also discusses the drama of Europe—including Spain, France, Germany, Holland, and Great Britain—where theater reached an extraordinary climax in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods in the work of Shakespeare and others. Providing a summary of Shakespeare's plays and how they have been interpreted through the centuries, this account also examines in detail his contemporaries—Marlowe, Kyd, Ford, Beaumont, Fletcher, and others— before considering the work of Jonson and Webster, two great dramatists who outlived the Bard.