Women on the Renaissance Stage: Anna of Denmark and Female Masquing in the Stuart Court 1590-1619 - Paperback
Women on the Renaissance Stage: Anna of Denmark and Female Masquing in the Stuart Court 1590-1619 - Paperback
by Clare McManus (Author)
This work reassesses women's relationship to performance in early modern England. It investigates the staging conditions, practices and gendering of Anna of Denmark's performances, bringing current critical theorisations of race, class, gender, space and performance to bear on the female courtly body in dance, staging, scenery, costume and make-up in the Jacobean court.
The study establishes a tradition of early seventeenth-century female performance which constitutes a trajectory for the emergence of the professional Restoration female actor. Anna of Denmark, wife of James VI of Scotland/James I, was a great patron of Ben Johnson, among others.Front Jacket
Women on the Renaissance stage provides a unique reassessment of women's relationship to performance in early modern England. A study of women's participation in the Jacobean court masque, it gives detailed historicised and interdisciplinary readings of the performances of Anna of Denmark (wife of James VI and I) in the Scottish and English Jacobean courts. Clare McManus investigates the staging conditions, practices and gendering of Anna's performances, from the ceremonies and festivities of the Scottish court to the English court masques of Jonson, Daniel, Campion and others. Current critical theorisations of race, class, gender, space and performance are brought to bear on the courtly woman's body in dance, staging, scenery, costume and make-up within what might be thought of as female court. In doing this, McManus establishes a tradition of seventeenth-century female performance which provides a trajectory for the emergence of the professional female actors of the Restoration. This innovative study of a hitherto neglected performance tradition will expand the understanding of gender and performance for scholars and students of early modern culture.
Back Jacket
Women on the Renaissance stage provides a unique reassessment of women's relationship to performance in early modern England. A study of women's participation in the Jacobean court masque, it gives detailed historicised and interdisciplinary readings of the performances of Anna of Denmark (wife of James VI and I) in the Scottish and English Jacobean courts.
Clare McManus investigates the staging conditions, practices and gendering of Anna's performances, from the ceremonies and festivities of the Scottish court to the English court masques of Jonson, Daniel, Campion and others. Current critical theorisations of race, class, gender, space and performance are brought to bear on the courtly woman's body in dance, staging, scenery, costume and make-up within what might be thought of as female court. In doing this, McManus establishes a tradition of seventeenth-century female performance which provides a trajectory for the emergence of the professional female actors of the Restoration. This innovative study of a hitherto neglected performance tradition will expand the understanding of gender and performance for scholars and students of early modern culture.Author Biography
Clare McManus is Professor of Early Modern Literature and Theatre at the University of Roehampton