Courses

This course examines the performances through which early modern London (c. 1558-1642) “staged” itself: at the public and private theaters, in settings such as the court and the Inns of Court, in civic and royal rituals, and in popular entertainments.   In so doing, we will examine how London’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 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, James Shirley, and Richard Brome, as well as less studied texts.   We will also be reading a set of critical works relating to early modern London and its various “stages”.