In this scholarly and entertaining book, first published in 1987, the author tells the story of Jacobean private theatre. Most of the best plays written after 1610, including Shakespeare's late plays such as The Tempest, were written for the new breed of private playhouses – small, roofed and designed for an aristocratic, literary audience, as opposed to the larger, open-air houses such as the Globe and the Red Bull, catering for a popular, 'lowbrow' audience. The author discusses the polarisation of taste and the effect it had on literary criticism and theatre history. This title will be of interest to students of English Literature, Drama and Performance.