Shakespeare and Theatrical Patronage in Early Modern England.

Paul Whitfield White and Suzanne R. Westfall, eds. Shakespeare and Theatrical Patronage in Early Modern England.

Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. viii + 326 pp. index. illus. $60. ISBN: 0-521-81294-1.

This study of early modern and Shakespearean theatrical patronage brings together an impressive range of contributors to fill the gap left by what the editors rightly identify as the absence of an extensive study of these issues in favor of a focus on literary patronage.

This is a wide-ranging and carefully structured collection. Suzanne Westfield's opening chapter, which is really a usefully extended introduction, offers a clear-sighted overview of models and theorizations of early modern patronage and its relationship to theater. The book continues with David M. Bergeron's essay on the publication of Shakespeare's First Folio and the patronage dynamics of the move of the theater into print. It then moves through the late medieval urban performances in York, through touring Marian theater, the intricate detail of the factionalism of the Elizabethan court and back to the Shakespearean public stage. Of particular importance are Paul Whitfield White's chapter on Shakespeare and the Cobhams, which re-situates court performances within the detail of the court's patronage systems; Sally-Beth MacLean's fascinating piece on Robert Dudley; and Michael Shapiro's reconsideration of the commercialization of the children's playing companies of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. David Bevington's and Milla Riggio's beautifully framed and scholarly piece, comparing the early sixteenth-century marriage festivities for the children of the Tudor court with those for the 1613 Jacobean-Palatinate wedding, might perhaps have taken more account of the gender and national dynamics of the festivities and becomes rather distracted in a discussion of Shakespeare's relationship to the masque. Alexander Leggatt's engaging piece on the role of the audience as patron in Beaumont's Knight of the Burning Pestle ends the collection on a high note.

One area of concern for some readers might be the lack of an explicit consideration either of women's patronage or of the gendering of patronage discourses. This is somewhat mitigated by Leeds Barroll's consideration of the dowager Countesses of Derby and Essex (among other topics) and by Mary A. Blackstone's chapter on Mary Tudor's touring players and court performances, but it is clear that gender is not a central concern for this book. While, of course, such issues are only one perspective on patronage it does seem odd, in the light of the recent and ongoing work on women's patronage and its gendering, that it should not figure more prominently here.

One particular feature of White and Westfall's book is its investment in the developing nature of archival research. Many of the chapters draw extensively on the ongoing work of the REED project and it would be fair to say that much of the research presented in the book would not be as it is without the work of the REED scholars. At the same time, the collection also takes an active view of new technologies of archiving, publishing, and pedagogy. The introduction lists a web address where further materials can be found, including maps and appendices for the chapters dealing with Leicester's Men, the Marian touring companies and the York theatricals. Given that few of the contributors mention the website or make use of it, this is not an even commitment, but the offer of a supporting website alters the shape and nature of a collection like this one in interesting ways. One possible drawback to this approach might be the question of what would happen should the website not be available. After all, when a book goes out of print copies are usually still accessible, but when a website becomes defunct that information is lost. What happens to a book which has designed itself around a website that no longer exists? White and Westfall's collection does not stand or fall by its website, as their wide-ranging and scholarly book stands independently from any additional resources, but this remains a pertinent question for others publishing now and in the future.

CLARE MCMANUS

Queen's University Belfast