Andrew Duxfield, Christopher Marlowe and the Failure to Unify

Extract

THIS book is part of the distinguished series ‘Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama’, published by Ashgate which is now part of Routledge. The series is edited by Helen Ostovich and the publisher says of it, ‘this series presents original research on theatre histories and performance histories; the time period covered is from about 1500 to the early 18th century’. It has published such distinguished and useful studies as The Chester Cycle in Context, 1555–1575 by Jessica Dell and David Klausner and Locating the Queen’s Men, 1583–1603: Material Practices and Conditions of Playing by Holger Schott Syme and Andrew Griffin. Andrew Duxfield’s book is not a very impressive addition to the series. After a brief Introduction, he covers Marlowe’s six plays in five chapters, beginning with Dido, Queen of Carthage, followed by Tamburlaine with both parts dealt with in one chapter, then Doctor Faustus, and with The Jew of Malta and The Massacre at Paris covered in one chapter, and ending with a chapter on Edward II. There is a slightly more than one-page Afterword. It might be of some interest that the plays are not covered in their supposed order of composition, but I cannot see that Duxfield makes much of this.