Acting Companies and their Plays in Shakespeares London explores the intimate and dynamic relationship between acting companies and playwrights in this seminal era in English theatre history. Siobhan Keenans analysis includes chapters on the traditions and workings of contemporary acting companies; playwriting practices; stages and staging; audiences and patrons; each illustrated with detailed case studies of individual acting companies and their plays; including troupes such as Lady Elizabeths players; Beestons Boys and the Kings Men and works by Shakespeare; Jonson; Middleton; Brome and Heywood. We are accustomed to focusing on individual playwrights: Acting Companies and their Plays in Shakespeares London makes the case that we also need to think about the companies for which dramatists wrote and with whose members they collaborated; if we wish to better understand the dramas of the English Renaissance stage.
#2665917 in eBooks 2000-06-15 2014-03-03File Name: B00IRF9E52
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Rome JersualemBy Eric MaroneyIn Aphrodite and the Rabbis: How the Jews Adapted Roman Culture to Create Judaism as We Know It; Burton Visotzky provides us with both a sweeping and focused view of how Greco-Roman culture worked to mold rabbinical Judaism.For example; the Passover Seder is quite purposefully designed after Greco-Roman style symposiums (with more decorum; no sex; and less drunkenness). In fact the classic Seder was celebrated reclining; in the Roman style.But Visotzky explores far more than styles of eating. Roman culture permeated all areas of Jewish life; despite many Jews hostility to Rome. As the predominant culture; it was bound to impact all areas of Jewish life. The author explains an important point: after the destruction of the Second Temple; it took at least two or three centuries for rabbinical culture and authority to extend to most Jewish communities. This meant that certain Jewish communities; like the one in Dura-Europos in modern Syria; decorated their synagogue with human and other figures ndash; something forbidden by rabbinical Judaism. Eventually; the rabbirsquo;s version of Judaism would win.But even their Judaism was permeated with Greco-Roman culture. The number of loan words in rabbinical Hebrew alone attests to that. This book throws light on an area of Jewish history that few ponder.16 of 18 people found the following review helpful. Alike and different in many ways-the Jews of AntiquityBy Jerome A. HoffmanThe book captures many Talmudic aggadah describing interaction between the Classic Rabbies and Hellenistic/Roman civilization in late antiquity. An added bonus are the photographs of excavated synagogues; including the Dura synagogue in Syria. The writing style is almost folksy at times. In some ways that is the books strength and its weakness. The thesis; namely that the Jewish population of Roman antiquity was assimilated in many ways including language; custom and art and; i believe in the authors view is similar to the current situation of Jews in Israel and the Diaspora.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A Great Book That Needs Follow-up InterpretationsBy james loweryAlthough this book is apparent in its biases; the author states them with clarity while sticking to the facts that literature and archaeology provides. I enjoyed reading this book although the author remained hesitant and apologetic in several of his interpretations; even though; as I have already said; he laid his biases before the readers. Overall this was a good read definitely meant for the lay individual.
