Shakespeare & Co.: Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher and the Other Players in His Story

Stanley Wells' "Shakespeare & Co." is the most delightful companion to the Elizabethan-Jacobean stage I know; or it would be if the plays it is meant to be a companion to were more accessible.As it is, though short, every page is lively, and it is as full of matter as an egg is full of meat.When I studied Shakespeare in school 40-odd years ago, he was presented as a solitary genius; and he still rules the performing stage. Although Wells, as chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and a quondam professor at Birmingham, has seen occasional performances of plays by Middleton and Fletcher, I have never had the pleasure. Even reading them is expensive.In ". . . & Co." (and, no, he never hints that he knows Sylvia Beach once ran a bookshop with that name), Wells sets out to, first, establish that the solitary genius sometimes worked with collaborators and, even when writing alone, was responding to other plays, and to actors and audiences -- the second part of this may seem obvious, but the first was akin to heresy when I was in college; and, second, to explain in what unShakespearian ways the other playwrights were also masters.He sums up, "With the passing of the years, Shakespeare has too often been isolated from his fellows. He is the greatest of them, but he would not have been what he is without them. As a playwright, he developed in technique and in the capacity to convey the depths of his human understanding throughout his career."Wells throws in everything including the kitchen sink. There will be a page of close textual analysis, followed by a page of antique gossip, followed by a page about stagecraft, followed by a page about performance history. All deeply informed and sometimes so obvious as to be missed. For example, Wells observes (not claiming to be the first to have done so) that all Shakespeare's late plays about familial conflict end in reconciliation.This was certainly not true of other popular playwrights, like Webster.I have often thought that the assiduity of scores, perhaps hundreds, of scholars doing "research" by ransacking old books and papers for themes and attributions, that the spending of years to show that a line in Shakespeare came, directly or otherwise, from a book published by someone never read today, was silly. Wells shows that, at least sometimes, the connections have point.Whether the points really enhance the play, which is, after all, the thing, is another matter; but in his hands the hunt doesn't seem quite so trivial.As for accessibility, cheap editions of Shakespeare are to be had for pennies, but editions of his contemporaries are expensive. For example, Middleton's "A Game at Chess" is $27 in the Revels edition, and his complete works are $200. A reasonable collection of just the plays mentioned by Wells in "Shakespeare & Co." would run at least a thousand dollars.They might be worth it, at that, but not everyone has a thousand for such pleasures.

A pretty easy read with some lovely background information regarding Shakespeare's connections to his playwriting contemporaries: it was informative and only took about a day to read and highlight. I think my only qualms with the text were that I felt like the chapters on Fletcher and Webster were a tad disorganized. I think the Webster chapter felt like that only because of the lack of information that we have about him as a person (we don't even have a picture after all), but the Fletcher chapter was a tad hard to follow because of his partnership with Beaumont. I know the chapter is called "John Fletcher and Others," but perhaps it was a bit too much to take on in a single section. My other issue was, I believe, a Kindle-centric problem. There were some glaring errors in the text with missing words (often substituted by question marks, I think) and misspellings (Peele is spelled Peek twice without reason and then returns to Peele). Towards the end, the question marks were absurd at a few points, making the affected sentence practically unreadable.

condition and delivery as advertised.

Excellent read for those who love Shakespeare AND for those who want to know more about Shakespeare's contemporaries. Shakespeare was a mere mortal when he died, surrounded by contemporaries who were extremely talented. Jonson excelled at comedy, Marlowe at tragedy, some history, lots of gore. Some you may not have heard of, but all produced works worthy of praise heaped on Shakespeare. Shakespeare was exemplary in that he excelled in EVERYTHING--comedy, tragedy, history, long form poetry, sonnets...while each of these men specialized. This book will make you want to chase down Marlowe's plays as well as others.

I have greatly enjoyed this book. It is a quick and insightful read full of interesting information about the times in which Shakespeare and his contempories lived. A vivid and thoroughly enjoyable book.

I'm docking this by 1 star since Wells recycles some bits, almost verbatim, that he's trotted out many times elsewhere. Otherwise, Wells is an easy read, always conversational, sometimes even chatty, with plenty of funny and witty asides. His prodigious learning is on full display, particularly in the appendices, but the text of the book makes for breezy reading.What the book doesn't do is place Shakespeare among his contemporaries. The Bard hovers in the background, an ever-elusive figure, until the text touches on Richard Burbage or Ben Jonson; the rest of the time we have to take it on the author's word that various plays are quoting, mimicking or parodying Shakespeare - sometimes a stretch.What you do get is an engaging introduction to the other major Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights and lots of interesting detail and ancient rumors. There are lots of wonderful nuggets scattered throughout - my favorite surrounding a play called Keep the Widow Waking.Overall, a solid overview and a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Very interesting background details and biographies of Shakespeare's contemporaries which shed light on his influences and influence in his day. Wells's knowledge of the subject is encyclopaedic and hence fascinating.Extremely worthwhile for any student/lover of the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatrical scenes.

Excellent book on on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, especially Marlowe - would strongly receoomed this for anyone interested in Elizabethan drama.

Answered all the questions I had about the great writer.

The book arrived a couple of days before I expected it, and it matched the description.

I didn't think I would read another book about Shakespeare. However it gave me insight into Shakespeare's collaborators , actors and his literary heirs.. I have a greater respect for these colleagues who contributed to Shakespeare's plays.

brilliant

Must have book.