Staging Favorites

<p><em>Staging Favorites </em>explores theatrical representations of royal favorites in Spanish French and English dramatic production during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. </p><p>During this time the courts of Spain France and England were dominated by all-powerful ministers who enjoyed royal favor. The politics of royal favoritism gave rise to a significant group of plays which constitutes the subject of this book. While scholars have studied this group partially and separately in national context <i>Staging Favorites</i> approaches these dramas about favorites from a wider European point of view and performs comparative analyses of a number of plays – including <i>La paciencia en la fortuna</i>; <i>Le Favori ou la Coquette</i>; and <i>Sejanus His Fall </i>– and adds new detail and differentiation to the early modern perception and representation of the royal favorite.</p><p>This book will appeal to scholars and students interested in early modern literature history of theater and cultural history.</p>