List of illustrations; A note on texts and list of abbreviations; Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction: how the drama disappeared; Part I. 1642-1649: Cases in Politics and Drama: 1. New news for a new world? Genre, politics and the news dialogues of the 1640s; 2. 'With the agreement of the people in their hands': transformations of 'radical' drama in the 1640s; 3. Royalist versus republican ethics and aesthetics: The Famous Tragedie of Charles I and The Tragedy of the Famous Orator Marcus Tullius Cicero; Interchapter: 'The Life of Action': playing, action and discourse on performance in the 1640s; Part II. The 1650s: Protectorate, Politics and Performance: 4. Gender and status in dramatic discourse: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle; 5. Royal or reformed? The politics of court entertainment in translation and performance; 6. National identity, topic and genre in Davenant's Protectorate opera; 7. Genre, politics and place: the social body in the dramatic career of John Tatham; 8. True and loyal? Politics and genre in Civil War and Protectorate tragicomedy; Coda; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.