Drama and Religion in English Provincial Society, 1485–1660

This book examines theatre and religion in provincial England from the early Tudors to 1660.

Paul Whitfield White (Author)

9781107403642, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 October 2011

260 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.39 kg

'… particularly detailed and interesting since it builds convincingly on the voluminous testimony produced when Yorke was arrested and charged with complicity in the Gunpowder Plot with harboring Jesuits … offer[s] an extremely interesting and salutary set of counterexamples to the current orthodoxy …' Church History

In this book, Paul Whitfield White examines the interplay between theatre and religion in provincial England from the early Tudors to 1660. In challenging the critical narrative of secularization, suppression, and demise, he recasts the history of that drama in the light of fresh sources and scholarship. The project engages with recent interests in Shakespearean criticism concerning the theatrical culture of the north of England, where a documented contemporary touring troupe performed Shakespeare's plays in Catholic households. Defying the 'medieval/renaissance' divide of past drama/literature scholarship, the book begins in the early Tudor period, when parish revels flourished as part of a nationwide surge in religious fund-raising and charity. It proceeds with the argument that the history of early modern theatre in provincial society, as in London, remained vibrant and diverse for popular audiences in many parts of the country, and that religion contributed to that vitality and variety.

Introduction: English provincial theatre and religion
1. Drama and religion in the English parish
2. The parish Robin Hood and religious guilds
3. Civic biblical drama in the age of Reformation
4. Theatre, religion, and town/gown conflict in Cambridge
5. Bishops, recusants, and household theatre
6. Travelling troupes and religion
7. From mankind to Mucedorus.

Subject Areas: History of religion [HRAX], Theatre studies [AN]