7 - ‘An example of courtesy and liberality’: great households and performance

Summary

A prince ought also to show himself a patron of ability, and to honour the proficient in every art …Further, he ought to entertain the people with festivals and spectacles at convenient seasons of the year; …and showhimself an example of courtesy and liberality….

Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Twenty years ago, a volume on early modern theatre would not have contained an essay or chapter about household performances; very likely the term ‘household’ would not even appear in the index. But ironically, an awareness of household theatre and noble patronage has always silently haunted practically every volume about Renaissance drama. Whenever a performance at court is described, whenever a travelling troupe of players is mentioned, whenever minstrels are noted, whenever an interlude is analysed, whenever the antics of a fool are admired, household performance haunts the writing. So, it turns out we have been covertly discussing this topic for some time; all it takes is a slight shift of the lens, a change from background to foreground to produce this essay and other studies of patronage.

In our own time, the students and scholars of early modern theatre have focused primarily on the plays of the public stages, but long before the existence of the Blackfriars, the Rose, or the great Globe itself, private household auspices had offered cultural experiences that differed significantly from their vastly more famous progeny. Records of Early English Drama (REED) publications are verifying that during the peak years of the London stage, performances sponsored by noble patrons in the provinces, at households and towns, were increasing, which challenges the popular notion that the public stage replaced the private. So theatre historians, perhaps under the influence of New Historicism, have turned their attention to matters contextual to printed plays, and consequently such venues as the great households of England have become a focus of study rather than an incidental footnote.