The English Stage: A History of Drama and Performance tells the story of the drama through its many changes in style and convention from medieval times to the present day. With a wide sweep of coverage, John Styan analyses the key features of staging, including early street theatre and public performance, the evolution of the playhouse and the private space and the pairing of theory and stagecraft in the works of modern dramatists. He focuses on the conventions by which a playwright, his actors and their audience create the phenomenon of theatre and the way such conventions have changed over time.