Records Ofearf~Q English Drama
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volume 15, number 2(1990) A Newsletter published by University of Toronto Press in association with Erindale College, University of Toronto . JoAnna Dutka, editor Records ofEarf~q English Drama MARY BLACKSTONE A Survey and annotated bibliography of records research and performance history relating to early British drama and minstrelsy for 1984 - 8. (continued) 418 Kendall, Ritchie D. The Drama ofDissent: The Radical Poetics ofNonconformity, 1380 - 1590. Studies in Religion Series . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986 . [A study of the dramatic qualities of nonconformist dissent, which draws on occasional references to theatrical performance from printed sources . Chapters are: 1) `The Lollards : The Unmasking of Mystery,' 2) `The Lollards: Displaced Drama,' 3) `John Bale : The Cloistered Imagination,' 4) `Thomas Cartwright : The Drama of Disputation,' 5) `Martin Marprelate : Syllogis- tic Laughter.'] 419 Kent, Joan R The English Village Constable 1580 -1642: A Social andAdministra- tive Study. Oxford: Clarendon, 1986. [Discusses the powers and duties of con- stables, their procedures and problems, their place in and relation to their commu- nity, and their conduct . Through substantial primary research (especially with constables' account books), she demonstrates that although constables in some locations had important roles in local rituals and festivities ('drawinge the fend' on Plough Monday in Waltham, drink at the bonfire on the `kings holydaie' in Pattingham and Branston, `expenses' from the `perambulation' in Waltham, pp 52, 294), they were frequently pitted against popular customs in their role of enforcing increasingly Puritan social decorum : a constable at Fincham confronted the village clerk and minstrels carousing on Midsummer Night in the alehouse (p 257); one at Alton, Hampshire suppressed Sunday dancing and arrested the minstrel (pp 257-8) ; one at Brinklow, Warwickshire tried to stop the setting up of a Maypole and arrest the minstrel ; one at Longdon, Worcestershire attempted to 1 suppress May games and morris dancing and arrest the minstrel (p 258) ; and one in Wells, Somerset tried to suppress May games, morris dancing, and pageants and arrest the minstrels involved, but the townsmen responded by mounting three pageants ridiculing the constable and circulating satirical ballads (pp 258-9, 261) . Some constables, however, supported local customs : the wake involving minstrels and `vagrant rogues' at Walsall, Staffordshire, 1610 and the church ale involving minstrelsy and dancing in the church house on Sunday at Yeovil, Somerset, 1607 (p 294).] 420 Ker, N. R. `The Provision of Books .' In The Collegiate University. Ed. James McConica. Vol 3 of The History ofthe University of Oxford Gen. ed. T. H. Aston . Oxford: Clarendon, 1986. 441- 78 . [Draws attention (p 473) to a new tran- scription by Walter Mitchell of 6,000 book titles drawn from book lists in univer- sity inventories 0506 - 14, 1527 - 43, 1545 -1661) and wills (1506 -1720) . The typescript is available at the University Archives .] 421 Kimball, Elisabeth G. Oxfordshire Sessions ofthe Peace in the Reign ofRichardu Oxfordshire Record Society 53 (1983) . [Transcribes three documents relating to an attack on Oxford scholars and the robbery of many items including cithers in 1389 (pp 97 -100, 103 - 6, 110 -13).] 422 Kindermann, Heinz. Das Theaterpublikum der Renaissance . Vol 1. Salzburg. Otto Muller, 1984. [A study of the Renaissance theatre audience which focuses prima- rily on continental performance but which includes some English examples (drawn from printed primary and secondary sources) . Chapter 2 on the audience for street-theatre considers triumphal and royal entries-including those of Charles v into London, 1522 (pp 72 - 5); Elizabeth i into London, 1558 (pp 82 - 3, fig. 16) and the Field of the Cloth of Gold, 1522 (p 76)-and tournaments (under Richard r, Edward iii, and Henry viii, pp 102 - 3) . Chapter 3 on ballet and dancing at court devotes some attention to records of English masques (pp 147 - 8) and their precursors in revels, disguisings, and other entertainments (particularly under Henry viii and Elizabeth, pp 144 - 7). Unfortunately, this volume is not indexed .] 423 King, Pamela M . 'Dunbar's The Golden Targe: A Chaucerian Masque.' Studies in Scottish Literature 19 (1984) 115 - 31 . [Argues that this poem is related in a metaphorical sense to the masque rather than simply to court festivities as an occasional poem . In exploring its borrowings from the presentational form of court entertainments she cites previously printed records for tournaments (1501, 1503, 1507, 1508 ; pp 121, 124 - 6), the royal entry of Margaret Tudor into Edinburgh (p 123), disguisings at Richmond Palace and Edinburgh (p 124), and the Fishmongers' pageant at the birth of Edward in in 1313 (p 125)- the last two with particular reference to pageant cars in the shape of a ship .] 424 - `Spatial Semantics and the Medieval Theatre .' In The Theatrical Space. Themes 2 in Drama 9 . Ed. James Redmond. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1987. 45 - 58. [Examines the different theories concerning the staging of medieval theatre (with reference to the Castle of Perseverance drawing) and concludes that a `multi-systems approach' is desirable and `not at all incompatible with the traditional figural method' (p 57) .] 425 King, T. J. `The King's Men on Stage : Actors and Their Parts, 1611 - 1632.' The Elizabethan Theatre IX. Papers given at the Ninth International Conference on Elizabethan Theatre held at the University of Waterloo, in July 1981 . Ed. G. R. ' Hibbard . Port Credit, Ontario : P.D. Meany, nd. 21 - 40. [Draws from Henslowe's papers and Diary as well as other records from Bentley and Chambers to support his analysis of the casting of 11 plays performed by the king's men in this period . He concludes that parts were assigned on the basis of the size of the part- not character traits- and that actors had to be flexible enough to play very different roles . He provides a chart for king's men identified in principal parts during this period.] 426 Kipling, Gordon . `The Queen of May's Joust at Kennington and the Justes of the Months ofMay andJune.' Notes and Queries 229 (1984) 158 - 62 . [Corrects the date of a joust held at Kennington in honour of the Queen of May - previously transcribed by Richard Firth Green, `A Joust in Honour of the Queen of May, 1441,' Notes and Queries, 225 (1980), 386 - 9 - to May 1507 and identifies it as that performed by Charles Brandon, Thomas Knyvet, Gyles Capell, and William Hussy and documented in the poem `The Justes of the Moneths of May and June' . Also quotes passages from the poem identifying Richard Grey, earl of Kent and Charles Brandon as participants in the 'Justes of the Moneth of June' . Makes occasional reference to other jousts (1494, 1501, 1506, 1509) in which Sir Rowland Vielvill participated.] 427 - `Richard ii's "Sumptuous Pageants" and the Idea of the Civic Triumph.' In Pageantry in the Shakespearean Theater. Ed. David M. Bergeron . Athens : Univer- sity of Georgia Press, 1985 . 83 - 103 . [With reference to descriptions of Richard it's reconciliation triumph by Holinshed and Maydiston (as well as occasional reference to descriptions of similar pageants), he examines the nature and purpose of such pageantry, placing more emphasis on connections with the biblical and liturgical entries of Christ into Jerusalem and heaven than with the pageantry of cycle plays or pageants used as trade-symbols in civic processions and shows . Reference in Henry vii's Household Ordinances (1494) to 'a sight with angelles singing' to be erected on city conduits whenever a queen was received into London suggests that particular scenic features became traditional .] 428 Knapp, Margaret and Michal Kobialka . `Shakespeare and the Prince of Purpoole : The 1594 Production of The Comedy ofErrors at Gray's Inn Hall.' Theatre History Studies 4 (1984) 70 - 81 . [Examines the Gesta Grayorum records of festivities 3 04 accompanying the Comedy ofErrors performance during the Prince of Purpoole's Christmas Revels, December 20 through Shrove Tuesday, for information regard- ing the nature of staging. Records concern the erecting of scaffolding for seating ; the seating of the lord of misrule, his train, and important dignitaries on the dais ; the riding of a horse around the hall fireplace ; the staging of the Masque ofAmity at the side of the hall using a curtain (p 78) and a reference to the area between the dais and the fireplace as the `Stage' (p 77) . Knapp concludes that an area 9' by 34'8" may have been used for the performance of Comedy ofErrors, and it may have been seen from four sides . Other staging records from the Inner Temple (p 75) and Middle Temple (p 78) are also used to suggest that there was no single method of staging plays at the Inns and that Elizabethan players had to be flexible in their staging expectations . Accompanied by an engraving of the Hall, a ground plan of the Hall during term and a list of events during the 1594/5 Revels .] 429 Knowles, James D . `Identifying the Speakers : "The Entertainment at Ashby" (1607) .' Notes and Queries233 (1988) 489 - 90. [Draws attention to frequent mistranscriptions and incorrect identification of speakers amongst editors of the 14 verses attached to John Marston's `Entertainment at Ashby' in the Huntington Library. The speakers for this gift-giving ceremony for the betrothal of Anne Stanley and Grey Brydges would have involved three servants, most likely gentle- women waiting on Elizabeth Countess of Huntingdon : Katherine Fisher; her sister, Mary Fisher; and Mistress Clavers .] 430 - `WS MS.' Times Literary Supplement 29 April 1988 : 472, 485 . [An examina- tion of Peter Levi's edition of the Ashby gift-giving verses with a point by point refutation of his arguments (both paleographical and circumstantial) which leads to the conclusion that William Skipwith is the more likely author of the verses .