Roaring Boys: Shakespeare's Rat Pack [Paperback]

Judith Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2006

In the late 1580s a new kind of entertainment flowered in London: professional theatre, with its custom built playhouses, professional companies, incredible staging and, last but not least, the new writers, poets, playwrights - the roaring boys. To ambitious young writers, London was a magnet offering the possibility of fame, excitement, wealth and opportunity beyond their wildest dreams. Arriving in London from quite ordinary backgrounds - Marlowe was the son of a shoemaker, Shakespeare's family were leather workers, Jonson's stepfather a bricklayer - they suddenly found themselves feted, offered large sums of money, the darlings of audiences - and they created drama off stage as well as on. Like footballer and media celebrities of today, they behaved like the stars they thought themselves to be - drinking with wild abandon, partying, courting publicity - their reputations growing in the telling. Some set out to shock; some drank too much, some, like Christopher Marlowe, became involved in fights, fatally; a few ran headlong into political danger. This lively and engaging book, packed with anecdote, recreates the lives and times of these playwrights and actors, and the world in which they lived from 1578 when Burbage built the first purpose built theatre to 1620 when the great age came to its end.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Judith Cook was a journalist, playwright and writer of non-fiction. Her books on the theatre included Directors' Theatre, Women in Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Players, and Backstage and she also worked as a part-time lecturer at Exeter University in the Department of Elizabethan/Jacobean Theatre. She died in 2004.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: The History Press (July 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750933690
• ISBN-13: 978-0750933698
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,895,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Introduction to the Elizabethan Stage, May 7, 2007

By 

Anniina Jokinen (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roaring Boys: Shakespeare's Rat Pack (Paperback)

Judith Cook has distilled an enormous amount of research on Shakespeare and theatre in Elizabethan London into a clear and readable account.

Cook provides a good sketch of the known facts not only of Shakespeare's life, but of all his fellow playwrights, the University Wits, Marlowe and Jonson. The emerging new plays are covered, as well as their reception, the experience of theatre-going and day-to-day existence in bustling Renaissance London, all the while holding the linear narrative thread of Shakespeare in particular.

Cook gives just enough detail, without weighing the reader down. A great introduction to all the playwrights and the playwriting environment, and can be recommended as a valuable springboard before delving into in-depth research with other books. It was a delightful read, highly recommended for undergraduate students of English, theatre majors, and the Renaissance reader.