One of the best there was

Briefly: let me commend Ellis Sharp's blog the Sharp Side (not for the first time). Back here, I wrote (with reference to Raymond Williams' Drama in performance):

Picture a play - lines, stage directions, acting styles. Now picture the stage it's produced on - the dimensions, the equipment, how it faces or projects into the audience. Now picture the audience - who are they and what brought them into the theatre? Finally, picture society in this period: who's in charge, who are they in charge of and how do they do it?

Now, how do all those levels fit together? (Because they do fit together.)

I don't know if Ellis has read much Raymond Williams, but he's just provided a superb illustration of this approach: The Meanings of 'The Duchess of Malfi'. Read. Learn. Enjoy. (To quote a line T.H. White gives to Merlin, somewhere in The Once and Future King: "Learn something new - that's the only thing that never fails.")

(What, you thought I'd be posting about G8 or something?)