Early Performers and Performance in the Northeast of England

Diana Wyatt, John McKinnell

• Publisher: Arc Humanities Press
• Year: 2021
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781641893459
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

This collection explores the evidence for a wide variety of performance traditions up to 1642 in the northeast region of England which was among those most remote from London. While noble and religious houses in the northeast often patronized visiting performers and might be aware of developments in the capital, the region also had lively performance traditions of its own, on every level of society, from the wedding revels, sporting activities, and household fools of major noble families, through civic plays and processions, to the customary annual performances of hunters and ploughmen. The book considers the political, economic, religious, and psychological impulses that affected these traditions, and its closing chapter addresses their possible relevance to the culture of the region today.

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction — John McKinnell and Diana Wyatt
• 1. Comic Performance in the Tudor and Stuart Percy Households — Bob Alexander
• 2. Wedding Revels at the Earl of Northumberland’s Household — Suzanne Westfall
• 3. Weddings and Wives in some West Riding Performance Records — Sylvia Thomas
• 4. Travelling Players on the North Yorkshire Moors — David Klausner
• 5. Travelling Players in the East Riding of Yorkshire — Diana Wyatt
• 6. Northern Catholics, Equestrian Sports, and the Gunpowder Plot — Gašper Jakovac
• 7. Wool, Cloth, and Economic Movement — Jamie Beckett
• 8. Visiting Players in the Durham Records — Mark Chambers
• 9. Rural and Urban Folk Ceremonies in County Durham — John McKinnell
• 10. Rush-bearings of Yorkshire West Riding — C. E. McGee
• 11. Boy Bishops in Medieval Durham — John McKinnell and Mark Chambers
• 12. Regional Performance as Intangible Cultural Heritage — Barbara Ravelhofer
• Bibliography
• Index