Kent added to ‘Early English Drama’ series

Kent: Diocese of Canterbury, ed. James M. Gibson. Records of Early English Drama. 3 vols. University of Toronto Press and The British Library, 2002. ISBN: 0-8020 8726-4, $650 (Canadian).

Records of Early English Drama (REED), an international research project based at the University of Toronto, aims to provide a context for the great drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries by examining the external historical evidence for drama, secular music, and other communal entertainment and ceremony from the Middle Ages until Puritan legislation closed the London theatres in 1642. REED editors search for this evidence in the records of parishes and towns, civil and ecclesiastical courts, and in personal papers such as wills, diaries, and letters. Through its fresh examination of these historical manuscripts, REED has already clearly established the rich dramatic background of Shakespeare and other sixteenth century dramatists and has demonstrated the need to rewrite completely the history of early English-speaking theatre. Volumes in the series so far include York, Chester, Coventry, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich, Cumberland/Westmorland, Gloucestershire, Devon, Cambridge, Herefordshire/Worcestershire, Lancashire, Shropshire, Somerset, the Bristol, Dorset/Cornwall, Sussex, and the recently published Kent: Diocese of Canterbury.

The REED volumes for Kent include extensive evidence of the New Romney passion play and the Canterbury marching watch with pageants and over 300 payments to travelling minstrels, players, and bearwards sponsored by royalty or nobility, evidence found in monastic accounts and in the chamberlain's accounts, borough minute books, quarter sessions records and other civic records from the city of Canterbury and the ten ancient towns in the diocese of Canterbury. Parish churchwardens' accounts and extensive ecclesiastical court records also document the existence of parish players, morris dancers, May games, and other folk celebrations. All evidence of these dramatic and ceremonial activities has been transcribed from the original sources, edited, and presented with explanatory notes, translations, and general introduction in the latest Records of Early English Drama format. The resulting volumes on Kent: Diocese of Canterbury form the largest county collection to be published thus far in the REED series.

Volumes can be ordered from the British Library, c/o Turpin Distribution Services Ltd., Blackhorse Road, Letchworth, Herts SG6 1HN. Telephone: 01462 687550. James M. Gibson lives in Maidstone and works as a freelance research writer and archivist of the Rochester Bridge Trust.