[The Growth and Structure of Elizabethan Comedy] - M. C. Bradbrook
Originally Published in 1955, this textbook is aimed at the English Student, but having said that it starts off strongly with a good introduction and three general chapters on Elizabethan comedy before Shakespeare. Good points are made about the use of language, the development of plays through the tradition of rhetoric, the development of comedy from early Tudor times and the context in which plays were performed.

Part II takes the reader through the playwrights in reasonable chronological order ending with Shakespeare and reasons why he stood above the others in the late sixteenth century. Shakespeare’s legacy now dominates what was a major evolution of artistic growth, but it wasn’t quite as clear cut as that in Tudor times and Bradbrook makes a good case for Shakespeare being a synthesis of what was happening. Other playwrights such as Lyly, Greene, Peele and Nash get due consideration. Part III again in roughly chronological order trots through contemporaries of Shakespeare and those that followed in the reign of King James. This is perhaps the weakest part of the book because any general themes are overtaken by the work of the individual playwrights. Dekker, Heywood, Jonson, Marston, Middleton, Fletcher, Day and Chapmen each get small sections where Bradbrook sums up their work and attempts to put them in context.

The book is more concerned with the texts of the plays as they have come down to us, rather than thoughts about actual performance, this is particularly noticeable in the third section. There is a chronological table of the plays as well as notes at the back of the book, overall I found this to be a good overview of the plays that were performed with some examples and pointers to those that are still worth reading. 3.5 stars ( )