Locating Early Modern Repertories: Shakespeare & the London playing companies'

British Shakespeare Association conference, King's College London & Shakespeare's Globe, 11 - 13 September 2009
Call for papers [this via the LRS]

This seminar will consider the drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries in relation to early modern playing companies, be that the companies who staged their plays, companies by whose repertories they were influenced, or companies whose repertories were influenced by them. It is informed by the work of critics including Roslyn Knutson, Andrew Gurr, Scott McMillin and Sally-Beth MacLean, Mary Bly and Lucy Munro who have variously examined early modern drama within a repertorial framework. It will particularly welcome papers that address the global/local theme of the conference: this could (for example) be by examining the theatrical marketplace of early modern London, or by considering the impact of changing locales on performance, whether through touring in England or abroad or through moving between theatres in the capital. Some other possible topics for discussion are suggested below:
* the relationship between playing companies and their London audiences and/or their aristocratic patrons
* competition, collaboration, or influence between company repertories
* London's play-making geography: where actors and players lived, the relationship between theatres and their surrounding communities
* playing companies and early modern civic culture: company finance, apprenticeship, relationships with the livery companies
* involvement in civic drama.

Please send your proposal (200 word max) to: Tom Rutter (t.rutter@shu.ac.uk)
Proposals should be submitted by 31 May 2009.