subject: The Ways In Which These Associations Inform And Enhance The Drama [print this page] This glorification of the city in the Elizabethan drama gives way, in Grantley's account, to a more particularized use of London places in the Jacobean era, where 'a level of recognitive response is invited [from the audience] that is grounded in their local experience'. Grantley suggests the range of dramatic functions that such localized references might perform: some 'are introduced for their intrinsic fascination' others '"place" characters or strands of narratives morally, socially or in other senses'. It is perhaps unfortunate that the various possibilities are not followed up in greater detail. Grantley mentions several examples of significant features of London life, including prisons, shops, and the Thames, but there is MBT Shoes On Sale little sustained exploration of the multiple meanings they held for Londoners, or the ways in which these associations inform and enhance the drama.
Grantley does demonstrate a concern with human characteristics associated with the city, however. In particular he foregrounds in Jacobean drama the importance of wit as a survival tool in the urban environment a phenomenon he locates as a response to the catching literature of the period. Grantley follows up on this by tracing a transformation in the nature of London wit within Caroline drama, as it is characterized increasingly as a form of urban refinement. This is part of a larger tendency of the Caroline stage 'to confine its gaze to the sophisticated world of the privileged in the metropolis and values of the "town"' a tendency also demonstrated by the drama's interest in the new leisure locations emerging around London. As a whole, Grantley's study provides an overview of some important developments in drama across a wide historical period. The chief virtue of the work is the encyclopaedic knowledge of drama that the author brings to his study. Readers unfamiliar with the range of dramatic works that utilise or refer to the city in some way will encounter references to MBT Chapa some new materials between these pages. There are weaknesses that emerge in Grantley's approach, however. His narrative tends rather towards illustrating the dramatic potential of place than providing a detailed examination of the particular uses to which it is put.
Given the repeated references to the localisation of drama and its appeal to the local experience of the audience, it is a surprise that neither the theatres themselves nor their locations are subject to detailed discussion. The lack of direct examination of the built environment of London itself and the changes it underwent in the period, is also noticeable. One might have expected more use to be made of writers such as Stow and Munday who catalogued the city's fabric in such detail, or failing that, more engagement with recent scholarship on the subject. As it stands Grantley's overview concentrates upon the evidence of the stage but fails to connect this material convincingly to the built environment and practices of inhabitation of a city that remains waiting in the wings.
