Production Audiences and Networks
The Toronto Dutch Courtesan production reached a wide audience. A sold-out preview for members of the Renaissance Society of America during the conference’s annual meeting drew an international audience of early modern researchers (19 March 2019). Conference presenters, leading experts on Marston, and some members of the Oxford Complete Marston editing team (Martin Butler and Lucy Munro), saw the play together on the first day of the conference (Friday, 22 March), and reflected back on the innovative work on the play presented during the conference.
The production also makes a significant contribution to a growing Marston production archive, which also includes the 2013 York Dutch Courtesan (UK) directed by Michael Cordner and archived by Oliver Jones (who offered their reflections on staging the play in a roundtable on the second day of the conference), and the Edward's Boys' company production of The Malcontent at the ‘Marston Effect’ conference in Oxford (UK) on 29-31 March 2019. The opportunity to see multiple iterations of Marston’s play within the context of his other works is rare indeed. Access to such an archive is crucial to scholars and artists to exploring the full interpretative possibilities of a play.
Our script, modified post-production, also featured in the Shakespeare Institute’s annual play-reading marathon, which placed Marston’s play in the wider context of the network of connections and influences across early modern drama.
And Marston’s play is intriguing fare for those generally interested in early modern drama. The Toronto Dutch Courtesan production drew a wide audience of loyal PLS supporters, members of Toronto’s university drama programmes, local artists, and supporters of our cast, nearly selling out our entire performance run.