Playgoing in Shakespeare's London

Rating:
Summary: Accurate and meticulous description of Shakespeare's Theatre
Review: An excellent book complete with little-known details about the state of the theatre in England during Shakespeare's time. A great source for those researching theatre and theatre history as well as reading up on Shakespeare himself. Highly reccommended.

Rating:
Summary: Detailed but interesting reading
Review: I never knew until I read this book, how little is really known about playgoing in Shakespeare's time. Much has to be deduced from adding a letter here, to a playbill there, to an essay from somewhere else. Gurr is an excellent writer and does a great job in this book of making such a collection of details interesting reading. He also does an absolutely outstanding job of drawing conclusions based on evidence and not filling in the blanks with guesswork. He discusses the theaters, the actors, the audiences, dress, classes, and touches on dozens of contemporary topics including the plague, pickpockets and cutpurses, the weather, and prices. There are a couple of appendices with interesting lists of surviving documentary evidence regarding playgoing.