Literature

Drama

Interludes

Interludes were short farcical plays of secular subject matter. The original meaning of this word is "play between", and was performed between 2 long plays or two courses in a banquet. Interludes were performed in banqueting halls of the nobility, guilds, and later colleges and universities. Unlike the amateur actors that performed Miracle & Morality plays during the Medieval period, the performers of Interludes were professional entertainers, trained since childhood.

Of those who wrote Interludes, John Heywood (1497 - 1580) was the most prolific, specializing in writing unrefined, lively farces. His best works were Pardoner, The Friar, Four P's, The Weather.

It is thought that Heywood might have had assistance from Sir Thomas More.

The dramatic skill and ability that was present during the Renaissance was coupled with the recent discovery of artifacts from the Greek and Roman Golden Ages. Most importantly, remains from Greek and Latin drama were unearthed. From these scripts, Renaissance dramatists learnt imperative lessons regarding structure and style of drama, gained a clearer understanding concepts of comedy and tragedy, and were able to draw from these artifacts inexhaustible sources for subjects.

Renaissance comedy was based on the style of Plautus and Terence, adopting the latter's stock characters, e.g. the mischievous servant, the wily lover, grumpy old man and boastful military man.

Tragedy was based, surprisingly not on the great Greek tragic writers, but instead on Seneca. Though Seneca's work wasn't originally intended for the stage, his characteristic bombast and extravagant horror appealed to the unrefined tastes of the pre-Elizabethan audience. Seneca is to thank for bringing to the Elizabethan stage ghosts, a chorus, revenge Roman dramatists typically wrote plays in 5 acts, and this was followed by Renaissance dramatists. This characteristic has been followed up to about a century ago.

The origins of Renaissance and Elizabethan literature find themselves in Greek and Roman literature, which often became models of various kinds of literature. However, this revival did not take place with simply the discovery of these ancient scripts. Along with their aid, the rebirth of literature was propelled by changes in the church liturgy.

In the previous period in history, the Middle Ages, dramatic influences were being introduced to church services. Such included short enactments of stories. The first of these is believed to be the scene where an angel announces Christ's resurrection to Mary. Eventually the enactments increased to include more and more of the Christian story, from the creation and Noah's ark, to the crucifixion and the Last Judgement. Theatrical concepts such as chorus character, acting area, (platea backdrop consisting of mansions) and audience was established. However, as time passed, the clergy became unhappy with the number of laymen, not churchmen, participating in these plays. Also in many areas secular themes were emerging, and the church was unable to house these mini-theatres. So the Miracle Plays were banished from the church, and later from the church grounds too. As time went by, wagon-like apparitions were used as stages and could easily be moved from town to town.

In this way, Miracle, Morality and Mystery plays evolved. These began with Bible stories performed by guilds. Trades guilds were then known as "mystere", so the plays funded and performed by the guilds adopted the name "Mystery Play". Miracle plays focused on the lives and miracles of Saints, and morality plays were mostly secular stories that taught Christian and moral values and lessons. Such a play is the story of Everyman. All these plays were performed on wagons, the platform of which served as a stage and also provided storage area for props and costumes.

Other early plays include numerous tragedies and comedies based on Classical and Italian models. Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton wrote what is today known as the first English tragedy, Gorhoduc or Ferrex and Porrex. Gorhoduc was a stiff play, although it made use of blank verse and Italian dumb show (or buffoonery). Gammer Gurton also wrote Needle, and his comedy, based on Terentian comedy, abounds in lively English atmosphere.

At the same time, touring bands of performers were already in existence. These groups included acrobats, animal-handlers, singers, musicians, dancers and actors. Performance forms evolved into farces, interludes, and the like; and were often performed in the yards of inns. These structures were usually rectangular or square in shape, with numerous stories of galleries surrounding the yard. This design is very similar to that of the Renaissance theatre. Other plays in inn-yards were often about English history, or tragic comedy such as Edward's Damon or Pithias and Preston's Carnbises.

Another very well known early Renaissance play was Nicholas Udall's Ralph Roister Doister (1553). It typically is based on a Terentian storyline and adopts characteristic Terentian characters. One of the characters, Merygreeke, is believed to have evolved from the Morality Play's comic vice. This well-written and early play has been very popular. Up until 1580 drama had undergone many metamorphic stages; and numerous comedies, tragedies, and variations of these had been written.

Between 1580 and 1642 theatre flourished, especially in London.