Includes bibliographical references.

Acknowledgements. Guide to the Anthology. Introduction. Further Reading. Chronology of English Culture and Society 1558 to 1642. The Plays: Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy (1585); Anon., Arden of Faversham (1592); Christopher Marlowe, Edward II (1593); Thomas Heywood, A Woman Killed With Kindness (1603); Elizabeth Cary, The Tragedy of Mariam, The Fair Queen of Jewry (1604); Ben Jonson, The Masque of Blackness (1605); Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607); Ben Jonson, Epicoene, or The Silent Woman (1609); Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girl (1611); Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, The Changeling (1622); John Ford, 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore

Ten non-Shakespearean Renaissance plays and a masque have been brought together for the first time in what is a major text for students of English drama of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The Renaissance saw a dramatic explosion of such force that, four hundred years later, its plays are amongst the most frequently performed and studied we have. This anthology offers a full introduction to Renaissance theatre in its historical and political context, along with newly edited and thoroughly annotated texts of the following plays: * The Spanish Tragedy (Thomas Kyd) * Arden of Faversham (Anon.) * Edward II (Christopher Marlowe) * A Woman Killed with Kindness (Thomas Heywood) * The Tragedy of Mariam (Elizabeth Cary) * The Masque of Blackness (Ben Jonson) * The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Francis Beaumont) * Epicoene, or the Silent Woman (Ben Jonson) * The Roaring Girl (Thomas Middleton & Thomas Dekker) * The Changeling (Thomas Middleton & William Rowley) * 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (John Ford). Each play is prefaced by an introductory headnote discussing the thematic focus of the play and its textual history, and is cross-referenced to other plays of the period that relate thematically and generically.