1. Medieval Drama -- 2. The Beginning of the Story of Drama -- 3. Renaissance Drama -- 4. The Image of Elizabethan Drama -- 5. Restoration Comedy -- 6. Bawdy, Manners and the English National Character --7. Melodrama -- 8. The Unacceptable Face of Theatre --9. Naturalism -- 10. Playing It Straight: Proper Drama -- 11. Post-war Theatre and the State -- 12. Drama in the Age of Television -- Chronological List of Plays by Performance Date
Summary
The authors here provide a comprehensive account of the cultural history of English drama. They draw upon new empirical research and the latest theoretical models to show how the character of a given theatrical age contains many contradictions