Shoreditch, the Liberties and Eastcheap---Licentiousness and History on Shakespeare's Peripheral Stage

Project: National Science and Technology CouncilNational Science and Technology Council Academic Grants

Project Details

Abstract

This book writing project aims to produce a book that will enhance our appreciation of the licentious spirits in Shakespeare’s history plays by exploring their interconnection with licentious features in the Renaissance Liberties and also by analyzing the thrill engendered by the Bard’s risk of tempering with history and with dominant social and political discourses. There is not doubt that Hal and Falstaff’s play times in Eastcheap epitomize such licentious spirits. The discussion will stress on the significance of Eastcheap, and it will also examine other significant unruly characters such as rebellious commoners and defying women to demonstrate that such licentious spirits constitute dramatic fascinations, which reflect the licentious spirit of Shakespeare’s peripheral stage. The project is an extension of my NSC research project (2004-2005) entitled: Fools, Tricksters and Drama: The Representation of the Comic in Shakespeare's History Plays. The book I intend to write will also incorporate some of the analyses in my unpublished Ph. D. dissertation entitled Interfering Voices: Women and History in Shakespeare’s History Plays, which was completed in June 2000. The project was inspired by Museum of London’s thrilling announcement of the discovery of Shakespeare’s first playhouse in Shoreditch on August 6, 2008. Jack Lohman, director of Museum of London Archeology said, that the discovery offers “a tantalising glimpse into Shakespeare’s city.” Times on Line London Correspondent, Fiona Hamilton wrote about this Shoreditch find: “Located outside the jurisdiction of the City of London, where puritanical magistrates and City leaders frowned on the debauchery of the theatre movement, Shakespeare and other playwrights were free to express themselves.” This speculation upon the site seemingly coheres with features of the Liberties depicted both by Steven Mullaney in The Place of the Stage: Licence, Play and Power in Renaissance England and Stephen Greenblatt in Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, yet it overlooks the risks involved in theatrical activities. By linking the location of the peripheral stage to Shakespeare’s risky dramatizing of English historiography, a subject presumably under stringent censorship, my proposed book hopes to draw attention to the fascinating licentious spirits inherent in the Bard’s history plays.

Project IDs

Project ID:PE9807-1096
External Project ID:NSC98-2410-H182-015
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date01/08/0931/07/10

Keywords

  • Shakespeare
  • the Liberties
  • Shoreditch
  • Eastcheap
  • history plays
  • licentiousness

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