Introduction

This book begins with a simple observation - that just as the theatre resurfaced during the late Renaissance, so too government as we understand it today also began to appear. Their mutually entwining history was to have a profound influence on the development of the modern British stage.

Purpose and Approach

This volume proposes a new reading of theatre's relation to the public sphere. Employing a series of historical case studies drawn from the London theatre, Tony Fisher shows why the stage was of such great concern to government by offering close readings of well-known religious, moral, political, economic and legal disputes over the role, purpose and function of the stage in the well-ordered society.

Theoretical Framework

In framing these disputes in relation to what Michel Foucault called the emerging art of government, this book draws out - for the first time - a full genealogy of the governmental discourse on the theatre.