Materializing the East in Early Modern English Drama

Aisha Hussain is a PhD candidate at the University of Salford, UK.Murat Ögütcü is Associate Professor and is currently working at Adiyaman University, Turkey.

"Despite the popularity of plays about the East, the representation of the East in early modern drama has been either overlooked, marginalized as footnotes, or generalized into taken-for-granted stereotypes. Materializing the East in Early Modern English Drama focuses on the multi-layered, often conflicting and changing perceptions of the East and how dramatic works made use of their respective theatrical space to represent the concept of the East in drama. This volume re-examines the (mis)representation of the East on the early modern English outdoor and indoor stage and broadens our understanding of early modern theatrical productions beyond Shakespeare and the European continent. It traces the origin of conventional depictions of the East to university dramas and explores how they influenced the commercial stage. Chapters uncover how conflicting representations of the East were communicated on stage through the material aspects of stage architecture, costumes and performance effects. The collection emphasizes these material aspects of dramatic performances and showcases neglected plays, including George Peele's The Battle of Alcazar, Robert Greene's The Historie of Orlando Furioso and Joseph Simons' Leo the Armenian, and puts them in conversation with William Shakespeare's The Tempest, John Fletcher's The Island Princess and Philip Massinger and Fletcher's The Sea Voyage"--

List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsIntroductionMurat Ögütcü (Adiyaman University, Turkey) and Aisha Hussain (University of Salford, UK)Part I. Civility, Commonality, and the Classics1. Materializing Mamluks and Turks in Salterne's TomumbeiusMurat Ögütcü (Adiyaman University, Turkey)2. Cultural and Celestial Representations in Goffe's The Courageous TurkDaniel Blank (Durham University, UK)3. Byzantines in English Jesuit Drama: Performing Joseph Simons' Leo the ArmenianMark Chambers (Durham University, UK) and Johnny Ignacio (Durham University, UK)Part II. Costume, Space, and Place4. Dramatising Borders and Behaviours of the Eastern 'Other' in Greene's Alphonsus and Orlando FuriosoAisha Hussain (University of Salford, UK)5. Staging a Multicultural World in Daborne's A Christian Turned TurkHana Ferencová (Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic)Part III. Sight, Smell, and Blood6. 'Seat of Merchandise': Staging Indian Trade in The Triumphs of Honour and IndustryLubaaba Al-Azami (University of Liverpool, UK)7. Scent of the Orient: The King's Men and the Corporatization of SmellNour El Gazzaz (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK)8. Fat Falstaffs and Sullied Flesh in Dryden's AmboynaMarianne Montgomery (East Carolina University, USA)Afterword: Journeys into the 'Orient'Jyotsna G. Singh (Michigan State University, USA)NotesBibliographyIndex