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‘Marlowe in Miniature: Dido, Queen of Carthage and the Children of the Chapel Royal’

Eoin Price Orcid Logo

Christopher Marlowe, Theatrical Commerce and the Book Trade, Pages: 41 - 55

Swansea University Author: Eoin Price Orcid Logo

Abstract

Surveying the full range of evidence associated with the early history of Dido in the repertory of the Children of the Chapel Royal, this chapter suggests the play may have been more popular and successful than theatre historians have assumed. The chapter reconsiders standard claims about the Childr...

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Published in: Christopher Marlowe, Theatrical Commerce and the Book Trade
ISBN: 1107126207
Published: Cambridge University Press 2018
Online Access: http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/literature/renaissance-and-early-modern-literature/christopher-marlowe-theatrical-commerce-and-book-trade?format=HB#siiBo7jsp0s6b2DT.97
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa34736
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Abstract: Surveying the full range of evidence associated with the early history of Dido in the repertory of the Children of the Chapel Royal, this chapter suggests the play may have been more popular and successful than theatre historians have assumed. The chapter reconsiders standard claims about the Children of the Chapel Royal, who are usually thought of as a coterie court troupe who fell badly out of favour midway through the 1580s. Arguing instead for their commercial viability, the chapter suggests that Dido formed an important part of their repertory in the second half of the decade by placing the play in its wider theatrical landscape. Situating the play in relation to children’s drama of the previous decade, as well as directly contemporaneous plays from both boy and adult company repertories, the chapter argues that Dido was influential, as well as imitative, and may have helped shape the direction of tragedy in the early 1590s.
Keywords: Marlowe; boy companies; Children of the Chapel Royal; theatre history; playhouses; repertory; Elizabethan drama
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Start Page: 41
End Page: 55