Girl Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance - Performance and Pedagogy

''[A] fascinating new study - builds a compelling case for the unique contribution of medieval and early modern girls to a number of cultural spheres, opening up new readings of canonical texts as well as introducing even expert readers to a host of likely unfamiliar materials'' - Review of English Studies''This brilliant and transformative study completely redefines the conventional accounts of medieval and early modern theatre'' - Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame, USADeanne Williams offers the very first study of the medieval and early modern girl actor. Whereas previous histories of the actress begin with the Restoration, this book demonstrates that the girl is actually a well-documented category of performer and a key participant in the drama of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It explores evidence of the girl actor in archival records of payment, eyewitness accounts, stage directions, paintings, and in the plays and masques that were explicitly c