Contents

Acknowledgements

Part one

I mysteries and moralities: the audience as actor

1. The mystery cycles

2. Morality plays

3. The tyranny of the audience

2 the period of transition: classical comedy and the hybrid plays

1. The comedy of the ancient world

2. The impact of classical tradition

3. The play as illusion

3 the world and the stage

1. The play metaphor

2. Inheritance and experiment

3. The new attitude towards the audience

Part two

4 the play image in the early work of shakespeare

1. Act, scene, and tragedy

2. The legacy of the vice

3. Shakespeare's early comedies: shadows, dreams, and plays

5 the player king

1. The king in jest

2. The flawed rule

English