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In this book Elizabeth Rivlin explores the changing relationship between servants and masters across various English plays, novels, and didactic treatise on service from the late 16th to the early 17th centuries. Rivlin argues that service is a representational practice in which acting for one's master is correlated to acting as one's master. It is in the imitation of the master by the servant, and vice-versa, that the concept of aesthetic service emerges. The performative mimesis of service from the plays of William Shakespeare to the prose of Thomas Deloney is considered within a broader historical context during which England transitioned from a neofeudal state to a burgeoning capitalist society. Rivlin traces all of the effects that this had on concepts of servitude and the service economy. The first chapter of the book focuses on the way servant characters' use of role-play and imitation in Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors (1591-94) and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1592-93) challenges traditional restrictions of status and agency. Chapter two traces the emerging self-awareness of prose fiction through the authorial voice of a page in Thomas Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller (1593-94). The next chapter bridges prose and drama by considering Thomas Dekker's play The Shoemaker's Holiday (1599) along with its [End Page 190] source material, Thomas Deloney's novel The Gentle Craft (1597-98), and focuses on the way theater is conceived as a form of service. Chapter four is devoted to the work of Ben Jonson, including The Alchemist (1610-11), Timber: or, Discoveries (1649), and various poems, all of which articulate an evolving relationship between service and authorial subjectivity. The final chapter returns to Shakespeare by looking at The Winter's Tale (1610-11) and The Tempest (1610-11), both of which, Rivlin argues, model their tragicomic aspects on the iterative and transformative power of service. The book is a rich addition to English literature, theatre, and cultural history of the period, and provides a historical perspective on the changing role of status, labor, and identity in the face of capitalist expansion in the early 17th century.
Graham Ley and Sarah Dadswell's edited volume provides the first comprehensive documented history of South Asian theatrical activity in Britain from the 1970s onward. The book focuses on well-known companies based in Britain as well as smaller short-lived groups that incorporated diasporic communities from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, among others. The book is organized chronologically in 14 sections. The first section of the book provides a broad historical introduction to the theatrical work of British groups working in South Asian languages. Sections two to six highlight the emergence and prominence of the Tara Arts collective (1977-1985), along with other London-based groups in the 1980s, such as the Hounslow Arts Cooperative, Actors Unlimited, the British Asian Theatre Company, and the Asian Cooperative Theatre. The subsequent sections explore the emergence of two women-led groups at the beginning of the 1990s, Tamasha (1989-1997) and the Kali Theatre Company. These are accompanied by other contemporary initiatives such as Man Mela (1989-2001) and the Watermans Arts Center. The sections also discuss the community-based groups Peshkar and the Asian Theatre School; the latter emphasizes professional development and increased participation within the theatrical sector. The final chapters are devoted to recent companies such as the Reduced Indian Film Company (Rifco) and Rasa Theatre. Each section draws from primary documents, interviews, and plays to provide a comprehensive and multilayered documentary history. The book is accompanied by a DVD with illustrative images as well as audio and audiovisual recordings of many of these collectives' works. The book will be of particular importance to those interested in South Asian theatre from a global perspective, as well as scholars engaged in contemporary British drama and...
