Many residents’ associations have an Elizabeth Russell: such a pain when you move to the area and want to make changes; a relief when others threaten to do the same. In 1596, Russell, the self-styled dowager countess of Bedford, doorstepped her neighbours in the Blackfriars area of London and secured 30 signatures opposing the opening of a new playhouse. As Chris Laoutaris writes in this splendid and original book, she was formidable, her flared widow’s hood making her look like a cobra poised to strike.
Russell’s victims in this instance were the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, England’s premier theatrical troupe. Prominent among their number was William Shakespeare, an actor and writer whose greatest success to date was the narrative poem Venus and Adonis. The battle for the Blackfriars playhouse is not unknown, but no one has fleshed out the characters or followed in their footsteps as well as this book.
England