Archive for May, 2014

May 18 2014

The Duchess and Early Modern Playhouses

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The King’s Men first performed The Duchess of Malfi at the Blackfriars Theatre, their indoor theatre. The company acquired the theatre, located in the former Blackfriars priory, in 1608, and it became their winter home. A higher admission price meant a higher class of clientele, and gentlemen would come to seventeenth-century indoor theatres to see […]

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May 05 2014

Commendatory Verses

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In early modern literary culture, poets would write “commendatory verses” for their peers, short poems of praise in honor of a new publication. The first edition of The Duchess of Malfi appeared with poems written by several of the other noteworthy playwrights of the London stage. John Ford and William Rowley contributed, but Thomas Middleton […]

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