ELIZABETHAN DRAMA

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 52, 10 September 1928, Page 6

ELIZABETHAN DRAMA

PAGEANTS FOR THE PEOPLE THE COMING OP SHAKESPEAKE Continuing her short course of lectures on the English Drama for the Workers' Educational Association on Saturday night, Mrs. John Hannah gave an account of the place which the drama held iv the We of the people in the days of the ii.dors, and showed how largely its development was due to the patronage and support of the monarchs of that period. The link between the old morality plays and the lilizabethan drama was the interludes and chronicle plays, which-depicted the life of the time and were presented during the Wars of the Hoses. They exalted the monarch in a way that had never been attempted before, and as new ideas were introduced and new fields of thought opened up, the older dramatic forms became infused with fresh life without losing their own spirits. Indeed, Britain was the wily nation that had imbibed new ideas for the drama and retained its old qualities. The. morality . .plays lacked humour and the broadly comic' aspects, and for popular entertainment the people wanted more fun. So the Interludes emerged with an abstract theme for their basis instead of religion, and the' hero representing well-known characters rather than a type. Henry the Eighth .was a great supporter of the drama, and gave it a legal status, the Chapel .Royal becoming practically a training-ground for performances. The presentation of plays extended to the schools, and it became the fashion for children to perform them at holidays and other special times. The nobles followed the King's example,-and turned their' halls into temporary theatres for the travelling players, who went from town'to town. Some of the nobles also had a band of actors of their own and there were.1, in addition, special inns where plays were performed. : INFLUENCE OF THE RENAISSANCE. The Elizabethan period, raid Mrs. Hannah, was a time of great adventure, physically, mentally, and spiritually, when the world was full of new discoveries. Queen Elizabeth inherited all her father's leve of sihoiv and pageantry, and supported it wholeheartedly, and much uew life and force poured into the drama caused it to bceoTie exuberant and vociferous. Burbage erected the first theatre in 1575, but the London County Council placed obstacles in the way and the early theatres were built outside ' tho town . boundaries. They were primitive and uncomfortable, open to the sky so that no shelter was provided for the onlookers, and were devoid of scenery, movable properties, and notice-boards being carried on to the stage as required. Tho dresses worn by the actors belonged to the period in which they lived, and travelling players occupied o very unenviable position in society. The manners and habits of the ground lings loft much to be desired and (.lie plays lacked originality, consisting mainly of rimes and horrors piled up on top of each other with gruesome monotony. Mrs. Hannah referred to tho cruelty of the age with its constant stream of "tortured victims, and expressed the opinion that Shakespeare's work owed its pre-eminence over that of his contemporaries chieily to his wonderful balance aud sanity.. He lived a normal life and his characters .present iife as it really is. -TheI.work of Greene, on the other hand, reflected the bitterness of his dissolute life, and he was a great enemy of Shakespeare, aud refused j to recognise bin art. Marlowe possessed great ge;iius, and ranked next to Shakespeare. His lincst play is tho Chronicle of Kilwanl H. ami his '"TnmborfcihiH" contains sonic line poel.vy. Mrs. Hannah remarked upon the tremendous output of 15wi union t, l'lotclicr, and Shake,spc;uv, timl concluded her lecture by rending sonic extracts from plays she hud referred to. Noxt Saturday-nho will deal with "Some Aspects of Restoration' and Geot'giaii Drama."