Drama in Early Tudor Britain 1485-1558

A time of great changes after nearly a century of foreign wars and civil strife, the Tudor era witnessed a significant transformation of dramatic art. Medieval traditions were modified by the forces of humanism and the Reformation, and a renewed interest in classical models inspired experimentation. Howard B. Norland examines Tudor plays performed between 1485 and 1558, a time when drama reached beyond local, popular, and religious contexts to treat more varied and more secular concerns, culminating in the emergence of comedy and tragedy as major genres. The theater also imported dramas from the Continent, adapting them to English tastes. After establishing the popular dramatic traditions of fifteenth-century Britain, Norland discusses the critical interpretation of the Latin plays of Terence studied in the schools and the views of influential authors such as Erasmus, Vives, and More about what drama should be and do. The heart of the book is its in-depth analyses of individual plays. Norland examines the secularization of the morality play in Skelton'sMagnificence, Bale'sKing John,Respublica, and Redford'sWit and Scienceand he traces the changes in comic form from Medwall'sFulgens and LucresthroughCalisto and MelebeaandJohan Johanto Udall'sRoister Doisterand Gammer Gurton'sNeedle. The final section examines the first tragedies written in England: Watson'sAbsolom, Christopherson'sJephthah, and Grimald'sArchipropheta.Norland, Howard B. is the author of 'Drama in Early Tudor Britain 1485-1558' with ISBN 9780803233379 and ISBN 080323337X.