In this selection of research articles Butterworth focuses on investigation of the practical and technical means by which early English theatre, from the fifteenth to the early seventeenth century, was performed.

Philip Butterworth is a leading historian of early English theatre. He has written over 40 articles and book chapters, three critically acclaimed monographs, and edited or co-edited [with Katie Normington] three further significant volumes. His careful reading of primary sources is informed by his having directed a wide range of medieval theatre texts that both pioneered and exemplified practice-as-research. He is currently working on a fourth monograph, Functions of Medieval English Stage Directions: Analysis and Catalogue. This is also to be published by Routledge.

Peter Harrop is Professor Emeritus at the University of Chester. His most recent publications are Mummers' Plays Revisited, (2020) and The Routledge Companion to English Folk Performance [with Steve Roud], (2021). He also has a longstanding interest in the practices of early modern theatre and performance, particularly in their customary aspects.

1. 'The York Mercers' Pageant Vehicle, 1433-1467: Wheels, Steering, and Control' / 2. 'Hugh Platte's Collapsible Wagon' / 3. 'Pageant Carriage Maintenance at Chester' / 4. 'Jetties, Pentices, Purprestures and Ordure: Obstacles to Pageants and Processions in London' / 5. 'The work of William Parnell, supplier of staging and ingenious devices, and his role in the visit of Elizabeth Woodville to Norwich in 1469' / 6. 'The York Crucifixion: Actor/Audience Relationship' / 7. ''Jean Fouquet's 'The Martyrdom of St Apollonia' and 'The Rape of the Sabine Women' as Iconographical Evidence of Medieval Theatre Practice' / 8. 'Richard Carew's Ordinary: the First English Director' / 9. 'Prompting in Full View of the Audience: The Groningen Experiment' / 10. 'Hellfire: Flame as Special Effect' / 11. 'The Light of Heaven: Flame as Special Effect' / 12. The Providers of Pyrotechnics in Plays and Celebrations' / 13. 'Juggling and Staging Tricks in Early Theatre' / 14. 'Brandon, Feats and Hocus Pocus: Jugglers Three' / 15. 'Hocus Pocus Junior: Further Confirmation of its Author' / 16. 'Is there any Further Value to be Gained from Re-Staging Medieval Theatre?'