Staging Early Modern London

This lecture course examines the performances through which early modern London (c. 1558-1642) “staged” itself: at the public and private theaters, on the street in civic and royal rituals, and in popular entertainments.   In so doing, we will examine how the capital city’s sense of itself came to be shaped by its various performances – its relationship with the crown, with the country, with strangers and foreigners – and how key sites (the “liberties,” the Royal Exchange, the Guildhall, the Thames, Covent Garden, Hyde Park) came to hold meaning for London audiences. 

We will be reading texts by dramatists including Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Francis Beaumont, Thomas Middleton, and James Shirley, as well as less studied texts.