Shakespeare's Professional Career (Canto original series) [Paperback]

Peter Thomson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 1994 | Series: Canto original series

Shakespeare was a supremely successful accommodator. The story of his career as actor and playwright, which this book tells, shows the accommodation of his remarkable talents to the circumstances of his time: the social, political and professional life of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. It describes the development of this talent into genius against a background of theatrical rivalry, opportunism, service to noble patrons, and the sometimes involuntary involvement in political intrigue. The book begins with Stratford-upon-Avon and investigates Shakespeare's likely link with the Earls of Derby, going on to detail the theatrical conditions that prevailed when Shakespeare first embarked on his profession. Year by year Peter Thomson recreates Shakespeare's writing career, showing how the plays mirror their times. The story reveals the precarious nature of theatrical survival, the constant threat posed by the withdrawal of noble or royal patronage, the spread of disease, the anxieties of war and the uncertain climate. Peter Thomson's concern throughout is with the concrete details of the profession, incorporating the new evidence provided by the recent Rose and Globe excavations. The narrative is succinct but entertaining, enabling the non-expert to pick a clear path through contemporary political struggles and intrigues, the structure of Elizabethan patronage, the formation and disbanding of theatre companies and buildings. There are numerous illustrations gleaned from museums, libraries and great houses to illustrate the theatrical and social context of Elizabethan and Jacobean England.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is rare these days to read a scholarly book that is as beautifully written as Peter Thomson's Shakespeare's Professional Career. To enter the overtrodden ground of Shakespearean biography and politics can be a daunting prospect for reader and writer alike, but Thomson, with his lively pen and sharp, witty mind, makes it easy and pleasant to go over what we think we already know--and, with deceptive ease, offers new and interesting insights from his unusual perspective." Derek Cohen, American Theatre

Book Description

Shakespeare was a supremely successful accommodator. The story of his career as actor and playwright, which this book tells, shows the accommodation of his remarkable talents to the circumstances of his time: the social, political and professional life of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. Peter Thomson describes the development of this talent into genius. He also depicts a background of theatrical rivalry, opportunism, service to noble patrons, and the sometimes involuntary involvement in political intrigue.

Product Details

• Paperback: 229 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (March 25, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521466555
• ISBN-13: 978-0521466554
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,623,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Professional among professionals, December 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Shakespeare's Professional Career (CANTO) (Paperback)

We tend to think of Shakespeare as the finished product he is today, the plays we see on stage with their costumes and trappings and the world's best actors, or those aspirants in High School tripping over light cables behind the scenery. He had a beginning, though, and like everyone who survived to adulthood in his age, he worked for a living. Reading this book you can imagine him trotting on stage for his part in a play, getting called up during a rehearsal to recast some lines one of the other actors found uncongenial. Rather like Beetle in Stalky and Co., only more solid somehow. It is a splendid book and illustrates the man and his age with the effortlessness of good scholarship. It is too short, but for those who really want to know what things were like around Shakespeare in his own day, get this book. Imagine Shakespeare helping to lug the giant timbers of a large building across the frozen Thames to build the Globe. Back then as now, Theatre people did what had to be done for the show to go on.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascination study..., November 27, 2011

By 

B. J Robbins (La Quinta, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shakespeare's Professional Career (CANTO) (Paperback)

"This is not a book about Shakespeare but about Shakespeare's job." This is the first sentence in the Preface. Well, almost...of course, Thomson could not completely write off Shakespeare's time in Stratford...to which he gives a short, but accurate as far as we know, account...

The rest, as is promised, is about Shakespeare's professional career in London, about the theaters, the people, the London life, where he lived, Burbage and the rest of the players and just about anything you want to know about how he made his living...

A much recommended read...

You can get a used copy for one penny!! you couldn't find a book this good at this low price anywhere online!!...I paid much more!!! Buy it now!!!!