Early Modern English Drama: A Critical Companion is a collection of 27 contributed introductory essays on individual plays from the early modern period. Each essay, written by an authoritative scholar, addresses not only a play, but a specific cultural or literary epic, from London to the law, servants to sovereigns, geography to religion. These essays cover vital perspectives in current cultural studies such as issues in race, class, gender, sexuality and colonialism as well as topics in intellectual history like humanism, science, the law, and reformation theology, and in the dramatic genre. Including authors and works most often taught in college and university courses, this volume is an ideal supplement to both primary texts and anthologies of Renaissance Drama.