REFASHIONING THE SELF IN RICHARD BROME'S THEATRE

My research is in the field of the studies between space and identity and revolves around Richard Brome (1590?-1653), a Caroline playwright considered as a minor one since he was known as a “Ben’s son” more than for the intrinsic value of his works. Following a New Historicist perspective, my dissertation has two main objectives: on the one hand, ‘placing’ Richard Brome in the literary canon in the light of the new studies started in the 1960s that aim to re-evaluate the playwright and his corpus of works. On the other, analyzing the relationship between space (conceived as London urban space) and identity through the medium of social interaction, considering both how a place influences the human behaviour and how a particular mix of social relations concurs to define the uniqueness of a place. Among the fifteen plays written by Brome, I selected the city comedies providing examples of place realism, that is, episodes set in real London places (like Covent Garden or the Temple Walks). Three itineraries are followed: the places of power (The Presence Chamber in Whitehall Palace, in The City Wit), eating and drinking establishments (in The Weeding of Covent Garden, The English Moor, The Sparagus Garden) and the places of the law (The Demoiselle, A Mad Couple Well Matched).