English Drama Before Shakespeare

Longman Literature in English Series

by Peter Happé

English Drama before Shakespeare surveys the range of dramatic activity in English up to 1590. The book challenges the traditional divisions between Medieval and Renaissance literature by showing that there was much continuity throughout this period, in spite of many innovations. The range of dramatic activity includes well-known features such as mystery cycles and the interludes, as well as comedy and tragedy. Para-dramatic activity such as the liturgical drama, royal entries and localised or parish drama is also covered. Many of the plays considered are anonymous, but a coherent, biographical view can be taken of the work of known dramatists such as John Heywood, John Bale, and Christopher Marlowe.

Peter Happé's study is based upon close reading of selected plays, especially from the mystery cycles and such Elizabethan works as Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy . It takes account of contemporary research into dramatic form, performance (including some important recent revivals), dramatic sites and early theatre buildings, and the nature of early dramatic texts. Recent changes in outlook generated by the publication of the written records of early drama form part of the book's focus. There is an extensive bibliography covering social and political background, the lives and works of individual authors, and the development of theatrical ideas through the period. The book is aimed at undergraduates, as well as offering an overview for more advanced students and researchers in drama and in related fields of literature and cultural studies.

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

About the author

Dr Peter Happé is a Visiting Fellow in English at the University of Southampton.

His first degree was in English at Queens' College, Cambridge (1955); after a Certificate in Education, he gained an MA in English at Birkbeck College, London, followed by a London PhD. He has taught English at a variety of schools and colleges, and was appointed Principal of Rutland Sixth Form College and then later of Barton Peveril Sixth Form College.

He has been a Tutor and Associate Lecturer of the Open University since 1983, as well as teaching undergraduate courses at the Universities of Cambridge, Southampton, and Tours. He has supervised PhD students at both Southampton and Tours. He was a visiting professor of the University of Tours in 1994, and was later awarded the Medal of Honour of the City of Tours in 2002. In 1995-6 he held a Hartley Fellowship at the University of Southampton, and was then a Research Associate at the Open University between 1996 and 1999.

He has published extensively on medieval and early Renaissance drama.