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The Playing Field
Mystery Play

 Mystery plays are
among the earliest form
of plays in medieval
Europe. They focused
on Bible stories and
were frequently
organized and
performed by craft
guilds.
Other Entertainment

 Jousts, tournaments,
masques, juggling,
fortune-tellers, magic
shows, and festivals were
other common types of
entertainment.
 Most English towns also
had stocks and whipping
posts—drunks, frauds,
adulterers and others
would be placed in carts
and paraded through the
streets for people to jeer
and throw garbage at.

The Globe
Costuming in Titus
Andronicus

Elizabethan Dress

Censorship

 The Master of Revels was
a government position
responsible for stage
censorship. Though the
function was transferred
to the Lord Chamberlain
in 1624, the Master of
Revels still seemed to
perform this duty until
the English Civil War
closed London theatres in
1642.
Printed Play; the Master
Text

 Foul Papers: drafts covered with revisions and crossed out
words.
 Fair Copy: Written by the playwright or a scribe, the “final”
draft of the play.
 Promptbook: Contains the fair copy along with stage
directions and notes, presented to Master of Revels for
licensing.
 Quartos: Early printed editions, theorized that some are
products of actors recalling memorized lines and not drawing
from a written source.
 First Folio: Printed in 1623, the first collected edition of the
plays.
Music and Dance

 Music and dance was a common entertainment for
Elizabethan audiences, and naturally was integrated
into Shakespeare’s works.
 It was also common for his plays, especially his
comedies, to end with a song and dance number.
 Many of the songs he used were heavily adapted,
but have much older roots, like, “O Mistress Mine”