Drawing on a wide rage of play texts, Alison Findlay shows how illegitimacy encoded and threatened to deconstruct some of the basic tenets of patriarchal rule. She considers bastards as indicators and instigators of crises in early modern England. -- .
An introduction to the work of women dramatists in the early modern period. The text covers not only writing and translation of plays, but also female performance in official forms (such as "court" masque). The text charts the development of women's active involvement in drama.