This article examines the meaning of terms such as “lively” and “to the life” in early modern plays and in commentary on dramatic performance. Scholars have tended to interpret these terms as praise for a naturalistic acting style, one that values actors’ realistic portrayals of their characters. Conversely, this article argues that livelines…[Read more]

My aim in this essay is to draw together two areas of study from cinema and theatre. The first is the theory of popular genres, their evolutionary cycle, and their role in the industrial development of Hollywood in the first half of the twentieth century, as explored by theorists and historians of cinema. The second is the early modern genre of…[Read more]

Programme Note for Donmar Theatre’s ‘Measure for Measure’, directed Josie Rourke, opens 10/18.