A Shakespearean Theater
by: Jacqueline Morley/ John James (Illust.)

Hardcover. Columbus OH, Peter Bedrick, 1st US, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 48 pages, glossy pictorial boards. Gorgeous, full-color panoramas of ancient landmarks are magnified with inset illustrations revealing fascinating details. A thumbnail history of the English theater, from its ancient and medieval predecessors to its suppression by the Puritans. Using the familiar one-topic-per-spread format, this tracks theater's checkered history as it slowly developed from a religious teaching tool to secular entertainment. Morley mixes fictional and historical characters to portray a player's often hand-to-mouth life. She focuses on Shakespeare's period in particular, describing the structure of a typical theater company, the major London stages of the time, what it was like to put on and to attend a play (specifically A Midsummer Night's Dream, though other plays and playwrights get mentions), and the Globe's phoenix-like career. Clean copy.