Women and Dramatic Production 1550-1700

239 Pages·2000·11.915 MB·English

by  Alison Findlay, Gweno Williams, Stephanie Hodgson-Wright

WOMEN AND DRAMATIC PRODUCTION
1550-1700
LONGMAN MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE LIBRARY
Gt'llel. I editors:
Chnrllliv BrWlI, H('Tlford CoUcg<', OxJ()rd and .\. H.K eeble , Universitoyf Slirling
Publi.wrd titles:
Pi("rs Plowman: An Introductjon 10 Ihe B-TC"xl
Jamtl Simp~on
ShakC"spcarl"'s 1ould} TalC" : RecuITt'nt P101 MotiJs in 'hak('slX".uian Drama
i."nh Scragg
Ellgli~h
Tht' Fabli;tu in
Joll1l HillrJ
English Ml'dicvnl • Iysu s: Goun , of Failh
Marion (;Ias.!cot
SpeakingP ictur ,: Engli'h Embll'm Books and RC"nai,s anceCult urC"
Midlatl Bolh
TheC lassi aJ Lfgd Y in R('nai'lS3ncc' POftry
Robill Sown/!)'
Rf'g:Uning Paradic;c.' LOSI
77,oma.1 Corns
English and Italian LiIC"ralUf(' from Danlt' toShake, pt'an': A Studyof Snul'C't'
Analo/,,'lJl' and Di\'('rg 'nee
Robill Airkpatric/.
'hakcspearc'sA ltt'rnalh Tail'S
i.l'alt SrrOM
(~a\\ain Poel
The -
M Piliin'
Donn("s ReligiousWriling: Oiscou' rosf F(l'ign('d O('vOlioll
P. M. OIil'rr
Imageso f Faith in EnglishLitt·ratun.' 700 1500: AnInlrodunion
Dn 0'(11
(ouruincs and Lil('ralurt' in Il'dicvaJ England
Dar:id Rumlry
\\' ,I", SUITt') and Enrl) Tudor POf'tt}
ElizabethHralr
A KL'w Illll'odu tion to ehau' r 2ndedilion)
Dmk Brm'tT
l~alI"l1 aebllr: l The Wrilet in Public Life
Pollmoll
Shakt'sp·larc'. Sonlll'l. and O1I1'atiw Poems
.1. DCOm711J
WOMEN AND DRAMATIC
PRODUCTION
1550-1700
ALISON FINDLAY AND
STEPHANIE HODGSON-WRIGHT,
WITH GWENO WILLIAMS
RO Routledge
U
TLE
DG Taylor & Francis Group
E
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published2 000 by PearsonE ducationL imited
Published2 014 by Routledge
2 Park Square,\ 1ilton Park, Abingdon, Chon OXH1K\I
711 Third AVCllue, Ne" York,:'\Y 10017, llSA
Roulledgeis all impri11/ o[/l1e Taylor & FnUlcis Group, ;Ul i11icmna iJusi11ess
CopYlight © 2000, Taylor & Francis.
The right of Alison Findlay, StephanieH odgson-Wrighta nd
Gweno Williams to be identified as authorso f this Work has
been assertedb y them in accordancew ith the Copyright,
Designsa nd PatentsA ct 1988.
All rights reserved.: '\0 part of this book may be replintcd or reproducedo r utilised in any form
or by any electronic,m echanical,o r other means,n my knmyn or hereafteri nvented,i ncluding
photocopyinga nd recording,o r in any information storageo r rellie,oal system," ithout
permissioni n m'iting h'OIll the publishers.
:\otices
I\..umdedgea nd bestp racticei n this lield arc constantlyc llanl,>1ng. As ne" researcha nd
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instructions,o r ideasc ontainedi n the matelial herein.
IS]3:'\ 13: 978-0-582-31982-0(p bk)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A cataloguer ecord for this book can be obtainedf rom the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Findlay, Alison, 1963-
Women and dramaticp roduction, 1550-1900/A lison Findlay and Stephanie
Hodgson-Wright,w ith Gweno Williams.
p. cm. ~ (Longman medieval and Renaissanceli brary)
Includes bibliographical referencesa nd index.
ISBN 0-582-31983-8( alk. paper) ~ ISBN 0-582-31982-X( alk. paper)
1. Women in the theater~England~History~17th History 17th century. 2. Women in the
theater~England~History~a nd History 16th century. 3. English drama~Early Earlymoderna nd
Elizabethan,1 500-1600~History Historyand criticism. 4. English drama~17th 17thcentury~
History and criticism. 5. English drama~WomenW omenauthors. 1. Hodgson-Wright,
Stephanie. II. Williams, Gweno. III. Title. IV. Series.
PN1590.w64 F56 2000
792'.082'094109 032~dc21 dc21 00-063361
Typesetb y 35 in III 13pt Baskerville
To
Eleanor Findlay,
BarbaraW right
and
Rose Gordon
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
Acknowledgement.s. ..................................................................................v.i.i. ....
Introduction
Alison Findlay and StephanieH odgson-Wright. .....................................1.. .
Chapter 1 Translatingt he Text, Performingt he Self
Gweno Williams ..................................................................................1.5.. ....
Chapter2 Beauty, Chastity and Wit: Feminising
the Centre-stage
StephanieH odgson-Wright. ................................................................4..2.. ..
Chapter3 'Upon the World's Stage':T he Civil War
and Interregnum
Alison Findlay .....................................................................................6..8. ....
Chapter4 'No Silent Woman': The Plays of Margaret
Cavendish,D uchesso f Newcasde
Gweno Williams .................................................................................9..5.. ...
Chapter5 Licensedt o Thrill: Early RestorationD rama
Alison Findlay ...................................................................................1..2..3.. .
Chapter6 Undress,C ross-dressR, edress:A phra Behn
and the Manipulation of Genre
StephanieH odgson-Wright. ...............................................................1..5.1..
Chapter7 A Woman'sP lace is in the Play/House
Alison Findlay and StephanieH odgson-Wright. ..................................1..7 7
Bibliograph)! ........................................................................................2..0...6.. .
Index .................................................................................................2..2..3. ....
VII
ACKNOWLE DG EMENT S
We wish to thank the talenteda nd open-mindedp erformersa nd production
staff who have contributedt o all our productions.W e also thank staff at
LancasterU niversity Library, the Brotherton Library, Leeds, Sunderland
University Library, the University College of Ripon and York Stjohn Lib-
rary, the British Library, the BodleianL ibrary, Oxford, and the Folger Shake-
speareL ibrary for their help while we have beenr esearchingm aterialsf or
the book. Our specialt hanks are due to Marion Wynne-Davies,Jacqueline
Pearson,B etty Travitsky and S. P. Cerasanof or their pioneeringw ork in
the field and their unwaverings upport and enthusiasmf or our project in
all its various manifestationsW. e have benefitedm uch from presentingo ur
researcha t the 'Attending to Early Modern Women: CrossingB oundaries
Conference(' University of Maryland, 1997) and 'Formso f PersuasionF: ourth
International ConferenceL iterature and History' (University of Reading,
1998) and expresso ur gratitude to the participantsw ho helpedt o sharpen
our ideasw ith positive feedback.W e are especiallyi ndebtedt o Neil Keeble,
the GeneralE ditor of the Series,f or his experth elp in producingt he book,
and to Gill Hayton for painting the excellentp icture for the cover.
In addition, Alison Findlay thanksT essC osslett,A lison Eastona ndL ynne
Pearcef or their generouss haring of ideas in the English Departmenta t
Lancaster.S he offers heartfelt thanks to her husbandD avid who has given
his love and support throughout. Her children, Robert and Eleanor, have
beenl ike a light at the end of the tunnel and she thanks them too.
StephanieH odgson-Wrightw ould like to thank the British Academy
for a Small ResearchG rant, the Newberry Library, Chicago for a Lester
J. CapponF ellowship and, at the University of Sunderland,t he School of
Humanitiesa nd Social Sciencesf or researchle ave, the GraduateR esearch
School, especiallyA ndrew Slade, for moral and financial support and the
English Departmentfo r its highly conducivec ollegial atmosphereP. articular
thanks are due to MaureenM eikle, a valued colleaguew hose knowledge
of Anna of Denmark has been a source of inspiration. The enlightening
conversationsw ith and encouragingr emarks from Isobel Grundy, Lynne
Magnusson,D iane Purkiss, Shari Zimmermana ndA lex Bennetth ave been
VIII
ACKNOWlE DG EMENTS
much appreciateda, s has the patientl ove ands upportf rom Anthony Bentley,
Jo Evans, Danielle Fuller, Alison Younger and BarbaraW right.
Gweno Williams offers thanks to staff at York Minster Library. She also
wishes to thank the colleagues,f riends and family who have helped and
supportedh er in this project: Lesley Clark, Roger Clark, Sally Curtis, Cliff
Curtis, Andrew Gordon,I sobel Gordon,R ose Gordon,T oby Gordon,Julie
Hirst, John Marland, Liz Savage,R uth Stevenson.
Note on texts
For all plays, we have useda modern,a ccessiblee dition where possible.I n
the absenceo f any moderne dition, we have used the original printed text
or manuscript.R eferencesto these texts are given in full the first time they
are usedi n eachc hapter;t hereafter,b y pagen umberso r pages ignaturesa s
appropriate.A ll referencesto Shakespearep'sl ays are to StephenG reenblatt,
Walter Cohen,JeanE . Howard and Katherine EisamanM aus, (eds) (1997)
The Norton ShakespeareN, ew York and London: W. W. Norton. All biblical
referencesa re to the KingJamesB ible (1611).
IX