A brilliant overview of the great Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists. Although Cook concentrates on the dramatists - Marlowe, Shakespeare, Dekker, Johnson, et al - their lives and how they would have worked with the theatre companies, she also looks at the contemporary world of the theatre, considering just what it was like to be a member of the audience at one of the great Bankside theatres. As well as considering how the closure of the London theatres during times of plague affected the impresarios and their players. If you're interested in the theatre of the time this is a brilliant introduction. ( )

Although I read this book searching for information on CHristopher Marlowe for an assignment I was writing I found it enjoyable reading. This book covers the period when theatres became established as popular places of entertainment in Elizabethan London. Cook deals particularly with the playwrights but also covers the theatres, actors and plays and relates these to what was happening and the politicla situation. ( )