"...the book offers a comprehensive history and guide to early English theater...Dillon includes helpful tables offering information on plague-related theater closings, feast days and festivals, and playing seasons...an excellent resource for classroom intruction"
Susan Kendrick, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching

"At last, the book early theater historians have been waiting for: an introduction that responds to the archival and scholarly work of the last twenty years, work that has transformed our understanding of early English theater but has been frustratingly slow to make its way into introductory texts aimed at a broad readership, many of which remain riddled with misconceptions and outdated information. Now, however, we have Janette Dillon's thoroughly new overview, one that sets the record straight about the nature, scope, cultural meanings, and significance of early performances...By focusing on plays in English from their earliest instances up to the closing of the theaters in 1642, Dillon is able to stress continuities and shared trends, while still leaving room for innovations. Such a broad scope brings with it a heavy demand for expertise in four centuries' worth of theater history, but Dillon ranges with seeming effortlessness over these years...a highly readable, up-to-date, and well-organized volume. As a guide, Dillon is authoritative yet accessible, opinionated yet balanced, lively yet erudite...the book handily meets the needs of both experts and novices: the former will enjoy the cogent discussion of material they already know and are almost certain to be surprised by something they don't (as I was), while students and general readers will appreciate the clear introduction to a large and complicated subject. This book deserves a spot front and center on the shelf of every scholar of early theater, and it should be in the hands of all serious students and of the general reader as well. " -Clare Sponsler, Shakespeare Quarterly