Shakespeare and the admiral's men: Reading across repertories on the london stage, 1594-1600

Abstract

For most of the 1590s, the Admiral's Men were the main competitors of Shakespeare's company in the London theatres. Not only did they stage old plays by dramatists such as Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd: their playwrights invented the genres of humours comedy (with An Humorous Day's Mirth) and city comedy (with Englishmen for My Money), while other new plays such as A Knack to Know an Honest Man and The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon were important influences on Shakespeare. This is the first book to read the Admiral's repertory against Shakespeare's plays of the 1590s, showing both how Shakespeare drew on their innovations and how his plays influenced Admiral's dramatists in turn. Shedding new light on well-known plays and offering detailed analysis of less familiar ones, it offers a fresh perspective on the dramatic culture of the 1590s. Enhances the understanding of Shakespeare's relationships with his contemporaries by offering new insights into the influence of Admiral's Men dramatists on Shakespeare, and his influence on them Offers a critical survey of plays by a single acting company, the Admiral's Men, and provides an essential point of reference for understudied plays of A Knack to Know an Honest Man, Captain Thomas Stukeley and The Two Angry Women of Abington Provides a useful introduction to the wider critical discourse in repertory studies.