The Problem in the Middle: Liminal Space and the Court Masque

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Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones enjoyed one of the most successful theatrical collaborations of Renaissance England with their spectacular court masques. But their relationship soured over a dispute as to what was most important in the masque: the poetry of the former or the set and costume design of the latter. Wilson argues that the masque is in a perpetual state of liminality, existing in the margin between performance and an observing audience. The masque is more than historically interesting; it negotiates the space between possibility and reality. This book searches for that intervening ground and the resolution of the problem in the middle.