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Outlines of English and American Literature
The Secular Drama
by Long, William J.
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When the Normans came to England they brought with them
a love of pageants, or spectacles, that was destined to have an important
influence on the drama. These pageants, representing scenes from history or
mythology (such as the bout between Richard and Saladin, or the combat
between St. George and the Dragon), were staged to celebrate feasts, royal
weddings, treaties or any other event that seemed of special importance.
From Norman times they increased steadily in favor until Elizabeth began
her "progresses" through England, when every castle or town must prepare a
play or pageant to entertain the royal visitor.
The Masque
From simple pantomime the pageant developed into a masque; that is, a
dramatic entertainment accompanied by poetry and music. Hundreds of such
masques were written and acted before Shakespeare's day; the taste for them
survived long after the Elizabethan drama had decayed; and a few of them,
such as The Sad Shepherd of Ben Jonson and the Comus of
Milton, may still be read with pleasure.
Popular Comedy
While the nobles were thus occupied with pageants and masques, the common
people were developing a crude drama in which comedy predominated. Such
were the Christmas plays or "mummings," introducing the characters of Merry
Andrew and Old King Cole, which began in England before the Conquest, and
which survived in country places down to our own times. [Footnote: In
Hardy's novel The Return of the Native may be found a description of
these mummings (from "mum," a mask) in the nineteenth century. In Scott's
novel The Abbot we have a glimpse of other mummings, such as were
given to celebrate feast days of the Church.] More widespread than the
mummings were crude spectacles prepared in celebration of secular
holidays,--the May Day plays, for example, which represented the adventures
of Robin Hood and his merry men. To these popular comedies the Church
contributed liberally, though unwillingly; its holy days became holidays to
the crowd, and its solemn fasts were given over to merriment, to the
festa fatuorum, or play of fools, in which such characters as Boy
Bishop, Lord of Misrule and various clowns or jesters made a scandalous
caricature of things ecclesiastical. Such plays, prepared largely by clerks
and choir boys, were repeatedly denounced by priest or bishop, but they
increased rapidly from the twelfth to the sixteenth century.
Spread of the Drama
By the latter date England seemed in danger of going spectacle-mad; and we
may understand the symptoms if we remember that the play was then almost
the only form of popular amusement; that it took the place of the modern
newspaper, novel, political election and ball game, all combined. The trade
guilds, having trained actors for the springtime Miracles, continued to
give other plays throughout the year. The servants of a nobleman, having
given a pageant to welcome the queen, went out through the country in
search of money or adventure, and presented the same spectacle wherever
they could find an audience. When the Renaissance came, reviving interest
in the classics, Latin plays were taken up eagerly and presented in
modified form by every important school or university in England. In this
way our first regular comedy, Ralph Royster Doyster (written by
Nicholas Udall, Master of Eton, and acted by his schoolboys cir.
1552), was adapted from an old Latin comedy, the Miles Gloriosus of
Plautus.
Boy Actors
The awakened interest in music had also its influences on the English
drama. The choir boys of a church were frequently called upon to furnish
music at a play, and from this it was but a step to furnish both the play
and the music. So great was the demand to hear these boys that certain
choir masters (those of St. Paul's and the Chapel Royal) obtained the right
to take any poor boy with a good voice and train him, ostensibly for the
service of the Church, but in reality to make a profitable actor out of
him. This dangerous practice was stimulated by the fact that the feminine
parts in all plays had to be taken by boys, the stage being then deemed an
unfit place for a woman. And it certainly was. If a boy "took to his
lines," his services were sold from one company to another, much as the
popular ball player is now sold, but with this difference, that the poor
boy had no voice or profit in the transaction. Some of these lads were
cruelly treated; all were in danger of moral degradation. The abuse was
finally suppressed by Parliament, but not until the choir-boy players were
rivals of the regular companies, in which Shakespeare and Ben Jonson played
their parts.
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