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Home > Shakespearean Dance > Papers, Essays, and Lectures > Cosmic Harmony or Drunken Revelry?: Dancing in the English Court Masque in Theory and in Practice

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Cosmic Harmony or Drunken Revelry?
Dancing in the English Court Masque in Theory and in Practice

The following is the abstract for the paper I presented at the March 2003 Fresh Perspectives on Conflict and Change: Annual History Postgraduate Conference at the University of Sussex. The presentation included a variety of slides.

Abstract:
In 1606, Sir John Harington attended the masque Solomon and the Queen of Sheba presented before King James I of England and King Christian IV of Denmark. In The Illusion of Power: Political Theater in the English Renaissance, Stephen Orgel writes that when a monarch danced in a masque, 'a deep truth about the monarchy was realized and embodied in action, and the monarchs were revealed in roles that expressed the strongest Renaissance beliefs about the nature of kingship, the obligations and perquisites of royalty.' (Ref. 1) However, at the masque of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, 'most of the presenters went backward, or fell down, wine did so occupy their upper chambers,' and when the King 'got up, and woud dance with the Queen of Sheba... he fell down and humbled himself before her, and was carried to an inner chamber and laid on a bed of state...' (Ref. 2)

Stephen Orgel's explanation highlights the power dynamics inherent in the structure and presentation of the masque and agrees with masque writers' explanation of their texts, but it fails to encompass the more raucous descriptions of masques and dancing recorded by contemporary viewers and participants. A king's falling down drunk at a court masque was unlikely to reveal the deeply held Renaissance beliefs about monarchy that the original script might have conveyed. This paper will focus on the disparities between theories and practices of dancing in the court masque in early modern England. It will also attempt to counter the current trend in masque scholarship that explores political subtexts but ignores the revelry central to the court masque and similar entertainments.

References:

1. S. Orgel, The Illusion of Power: Political Theater in the English Renaissance (1975), p. 38.
2. M. S. Steele, Plays & Masques at Court during the Reigns of Elizabeth, James and Charles (1926, 1968), p. 151.

 

For more of my papers please return to: Papers, Essays, and Lectures.

 



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