The phrase "all is but Fortune" (The Tempest 5.1) expresses both the hope and the resignation that characterize the Renaissance attitude to Fortune that is illustrated and discussed here. Throughout the medieval centuries, the fickle goddess survived in all sorts of literary and artistic sources, ready to be appropriated in traditional as well as innovative ways by the artists and writers of early modern Europe. Political thinkers like Machiavelli invoked her, as did physicians, playwrights, printers, painters, pamphleteers, even philosophers.
 This book explores the vast array of allusions to Fortune embedded in the Folger Shakespeare Library's books and manuscripts. Representations of Fortune from classical antiquity to the late Renaissance in England and on the Continent are the main focus. In the evolution of the depiction of Fortune over this period of time it is possible to see how the idea itself changes. The idea that Fortune can be controlled is an important aspect of this study since it is an idea found not only in illustrations but in literature as well. Indeed, Fortune is a central element of many plays, poems, and prose works throughout the Renaissance, which the Folger Library's wide collection makes it possible to bring together here.

Fortune: All Is but Fortune

Arts & Photography

Thomson, Leslie

Study & Teaching

Folger Shakespeare Lib

This dictionary, the first of its kind, defines and explains over 900 terms found in the stage directions of plays for the professional stage written by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. The authors draw on a database of over 22,000 stage directions drawn from around 500 plays. Each entry defines a term, gives examples of how it is used, cites additional instances, and gives cross-references to other relevant entries. This will be an indispensable work of reference for scholars, historians, directors and actors.

A Dictionary of Stage Directions in English Drama 1580–1642

Literature & Fiction

Dessen, Alan C.

British & Irish

Cambridge University Press

Dramas & Plays

This book reconsiders the evidence for what we know (or think we know) about early modern performance conditions. This study encourages a new recognition and treatment of certain aspects of the plays as evidence - and demonstrates the significance of the implications of that new information. This book is also an assessment of the competing narratives about the processes involved in early modern performance: about the status of manuscript playbooks, about the parts that players memorized, about the functions of the bookkeeper, about casting, about prompting, and about rehearsal practices. Leslie Thomson investigates the bases for the interdependent beliefs that an early modern player relied only on his part to prepare for a performance, that rehearsal was minimal, and that a bookkeeper compensated for these circumstances by prompting any player who was "out of his part." By focusing on often ignored (or downplayed) requirements and challenges of early modern play texts, Thomson provides evidence for answers that will foster a more nuanced and thorough understanding of original performance practices. That will, in turn, influence how we read, study, and edit the plays. This exploration will be of great interest to theatre and performance researchers, graduate students, teachers of early modern drama at the undergraduate and graduate levels, performers, directors, editors.

From Playtext to Performance on the Early Modern Stage (Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama)

Routledge

Discoveries on the Early Modern Stage

This study of the action of discovery as plot device, visual motif, and thematic trope on the early modern stage considers an important and popular performance convention in its cultural and religious contexts. Through close examination of a number of 'discoveries' taken from a wide range of early modern plays, Leslie Thomson traverses several related disciplines, including theatre history, literary analysis, art history, and the history of the religious practices that would have influenced Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Taking as its primary focus the performance of disguise-discoveries and discovery scenes, the analyses include considerations of how this particular device relates to genre, plot structure, language, imagery, themes, and the manipulation of playgoer expectations. With strong reference to the visual arts, and an appendix that addresses the problem of how and where discovery scenes were performed, Thomson offers an innovative perspective on the staging and meaning of early modern drama.

Discoveries on the Early Modern Stage: Contexts and Conventions

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