The Poetics by Aristotle
Seven Ages of the Theatre by Richard Southern, Faber and Faber, London, 1962
Theatre: A Concise History (4th Edition), Thames and Hudson, London, 2012
Illus. Guide to Staging Greek, Roman & Medieval Theatre by Mary Woollard, J Garnet Miller, Malvern, 1999
Masks and the Origin of Greek Drama by Frank Byron Jevons
Greek Drama by Moses Hades
Book of Illustrations: Ancient Tragedy by Richard G Moulton
A Guide to Greek Theatre and Drama by Kenneth Mcleish, Methuin Drama, 2003
Stage by Stage Vol 1: The Birth of Theatre by Philip Freund, Peter Owen Ltd, London, 2003
Images of the Greek Theatre by Richard Green & Eric Handley
A Pocket Guide to Greek & Roman Theatre by John Burgess, Faber & Faber, London 2005
The Roman Theatre and it’s audience by Richard C Beecham, 1995,
Roman Theatre: Texts and Contexts by Timothy J Moore, 2012,
Cambridge Companion to Roman Comedy Ed by Martin T Dinter
Stage by Stage Vol 2: Oriental Theatre by Philip Freund, Peter Owen Ltd, London, 2003
Stage by Stage Vol 3: Dramatis Personae by Philip Freund, Peter Owen Ltd, London, 2003
Stage by Stage Vol 4: Laughter and Grandeur by Philip Freund, Peter Owen Ltd, London, 2003
The Medieval Theatre by Glyn Wickham, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 1974
Christian Rite & Drama in the Middle Ages by O B Harrison Jr, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1965
The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Theatre Ed Richard Beadle, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994
The Medieval Theatre In The Round by Richard Southern, Faber and Faber, London, 1957
Drama and Ethos: Natural Law Ethics in Spanish Golden Age Theatre by Robert L Fiore, University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, 1975
A History of Spanish Golden Age Drama by Henryk Ziomek, University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, 1984
El Corral Del Principe: The Reconstruction of a Spanish Golden Age Playhouse by John J Allen, University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 1983
Spanish Drama of the Golden Age by Margaret Wilson, Pergamon Press, London, 1969
The Commedia Dell’Arte: A Study In Italian Popular Comedy by Winifred Smith, Columbia University Press, 1912
English Professional Theatre 1530-1600, edited by Glynn Wickham, Cambridge University Press, 2000
Globe: Life in Shakespeare’s London by Catherine Arnold, Simon and Schuster, 2015
The Tudor Interlude by T W Craig, Leicester University Press, 1958
Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy by Fredson Bowers, Princeton University Press, 1971
Themes and Conventions of Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy by M C Bradbrook, [CAmbridgeb University Press, 1980
Shakespeare and Co by Stanley Wells, Penguin Books, 2007
The Development of the English Playhouse by Richard Leacroft, Eyre Methuen, 1988
Two Tudor Tragedies, edited by Willian Tydeman, Penguin Books, 1994
Suggested Further Reading and Fun Stuff
A personal selection of theatre and history related fiction and other stuff that you might enjoy. They are all books I have read (or listened to) and enjoyed and are in no particular order:
Morality Play by Barry Unsworth, Hamish Hamilton, London,
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland, Penguin Books Ltd, London 2008
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, Tinder Press, London, 2020
The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlow by Charles Nicholl, Penguin Books, London
Venus and Aphrodite: A Biography of Desire by Bettany Hughes
The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes
The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic by Mike Duncan
Peter Hall’s Diaries: The Story of a Dramatic Battle
The World of Christopher Marlowe by David Riggs
The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl, Allen Lane, London, 2007
The Soul of the Age: A Biography of the mind of William Shakespeare by Jonathan Bate, Viking, London, 2008
Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel
1066: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal
The Young Pretender: The Dramatic Return of Master Betty by Michael Arditti, Arcadia Books, London, 2022
The Ruby In Her Navel by Barry Unsworth, Hamish Hamilton, London, 2006
Prick Up Your Ears by John Lahr, Allen Lane, London, 1978
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell