The King's Servants in Printed Paratexts, 1594–1695

Abstract

abstract:This essay examines cast and actor lists, as well as other allusions to actors in prologues and epilogues, in plays printed and reprinted between 1594 and 1695. Heidi Craig addresses the evolution of attempts to record actors' involvement in print in the seventeenth century, focusing on three distinct moments in playbook publishing: before 1642, during 1642–60, and after 1660. Analyzing cast and actor lists in collections and in single-text playbooks printed to 1695, Craig argues that they function as marketing devices and as documents of theater history, revealing how revivals and print format influenced contemporary interest in the theatrical past.