What is a Playhouse?

<p>This book offers an accessible introduction to England’s sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century playing industry and a fresh account of the architecture multiple uses communities crowds and proprietors of playhouses. </p><p>It builds on recent scholarship and new documentary and archaeological discoveries to answer the questions: what did playhouses do what did they look like and how did they function? The book will accordingly introduce readers to a rich and exciting spectrum of play and playhouses not only in London but also around England. The detailed but wide-ranging case studies examined here go beyond staged drama to explore early modern sport gambling music drinking and animal baiting; they recover the crucial influence of female playhouse owners and managers; and they recognise rich provincial performance cultures as well as the burgeoning of London’s theatre industry. </p><p>This book will have wide appeal with readers across Shakespeare early modern performance studies theatre history and social history.</p>