Civic London 1559-1642

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London's dramatic records from the Elizabethan and Stuart periods - the age of William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, John Webster, Thomas Dekker, and others - are of unparalleled importance, but have been mostly overlooked by scholarship until now. For too long dismissed as the domain of dour anti-theatrical puritans, a place where playgoing was frowned upon if not explicitly prohibited, the City of London was in fact a hotbed of dramatic activity, and the numerous records that survive of performance within its boundaries are an untapped resource. From the mid sixteenth to the mid seventeenth centuries, theatrical activity was taking place within the City of London at the same time as in the famous suburban playhouses such as the Theatre, the Globe, and the Rose. Indeed, on many occasions the very same writers and performers - including dramatists Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker, John Webster, Thomas Heywood, and Anthony Munday, as well as high-profile actors like Richard Burbage of the King's Men and Edward Alleyn of the Admiral's Men - were being employed in both domains, a fact which deserves to be better known. 'Civic London 1559-1642' will produce for the first time a full picture of performances at the overlooked City inns such as the Bel Savage on Ludgate and the Bull on Bishopsgate, where, for example, some of Marlowe's plays, and possibly even some by Shakespeare, were likely staged. It will investigate performances in the City's livery company halls and in its schools (such as the Merchant Taylors' School, attended by Thomas Kyd and Edmund Spencer, amongst others), as well as exploring pageantry and drama on the river Thames and on the City streets. 'Civic London 1558-1642' will therefore be the first project to reveal the depth and richness of the City's performance culture in the Renaissance, enabling academics as well as lay researchers to understand the vibrant theatrical traditions of England's capital city in the hey-day of English drama. The project's research findings will be hosted on a searchable, free-to-use pre-publication website, accompanied by user guides and search aids. The research will thus be accessible by local, national, and international audiences and by non-specialists as well as academics. Non-specialist audiences may initially find the project research interesting based on their knowledge of the most famous dramatist of the day, but through 'Civic London 1559-1642' they will learn that there was a great deal more to Renaissance theatre than simply Shakespeare. The project will foreground the important contributions to the drama of this period made by other writers and performers, some of whom will be less familiar but who in this context were actually rather more important. The project has public engagement built in throughout. The cultural history of London is of perennial appeal, especially since some of the forms of performance captured by the research - such as the Lord Mayor's Show, which still draws large crowds annually - continue to this day, and thus speak directly to the lived experience of many people. Part of the project's public engagement work is to develop a mobile app to provide virtual walking tours to enable people to map and locate the performance venues explored by the research, thus enhancing its accessibility still further. The project team also plan a free public exhibition and study day, and a public lecture, at accessible venues in London. In addition, the research will undoubtedly have a substantial impact on teaching and learning at school, college and HE level. Drama from the time of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, and their contemporaries is central to GCSE, A Level and university English curricula, and being able to draw freely on the project outputs from the project's website will enable teachers and students alike to transform their understanding of the theatre of this crucial period.