Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-312) and index
"This book examines the hundred years of drama preceding Shakespeare in the light of a critical problem: English drama at the beginning of the sixteenth century was allegorical, didactic, and moralistic; but by the end of the century theatre was censured as emotional and even immoral. How could such a change occur? Kent Cartwright suggests that some theories of early Renaissance theatre - particularly the theory that Elizabethan plays are best seen in the tradition of morality drama - need to to be reconsidered. He proposes instead that humanist drama of the sixteenth century is theatrically exciting - rather than literary, elitist, and dull as it has often been seen - and socially significant, and he attempts to integrate popular and humanist values rather than setting them against each other. Taking as examples the plays of Marlowe, Heywood, Lyly and Greene, as well as many by lesser known dramatists, the book demonstrates the contribution of humanist drama to the theatrical vitality of the sixteenth century."--Jacket
The humanism of acting: John Heywood's The foure pp -- Wit and science and the dramaturgy of learning -- Playing against type: Gammer Gurton's needle -- Time, tyranny, and suspense in political drama of the 1560s -- Humanism and the dramatizing of women -- The confusions of Gallathea: John Lyly as popular dramatist -- Bearing witness to Tamburlaine, part 1 -- Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay: the commonwealth of the present moment
