Performing Multilingualism on the Caroline Stage in the Plays of Richard Brome

Book excerpt: The book investigates the issue of multilingualism in the Caroline age through the lens of Richard Brome’s theatre. It analyses Brome’s multilingual representation of early modern London between 1625 and 1642, a multilingual and cosmopolitan city, a pole of attraction, a crossroads of religious, linguistic, political, and cultural experiences in a national and European context. The interaction between English and foreign languages has always been a sort of obsession for early modern England but, in this specific period, its role becomes increasingly important: interpreting this delicate, and unjustly labelled as decadent, phase of English drama through the lens of multilingualism generates a new perspective on the social dynamics, and on contemporary political events in domestic and foreign politics, while casting new light on a relatively neglected playwright. Taking a multifaceted approach, the book discusses the recourse to three types of language found in Brome’s plays, namely modern languages other than English, classical languages, and dialects, and explores the relationship between the use of one or more languages in a play and the contemporary early modern context. The book also analyses the implications of such use, since it allowed the playwright to dramatize social dynamics, while commenting on contemporary political events in England.