William Shakespeare - Humanities-Ebooks

Hamlet 11
So there has since 1660 been a particular sensory and intellectual gap, and to meet
Shakespeare on his own ground (where he makes fullest, most immediate sense)
modern readers must be aware of auditing as well as spectating, and of the theatreworld
that supported Shakespeare’s full, passionate, and successful career.
Perhaps the most obvious thing about that theatre-world is its energy. London was
buzzing, and throughout Shakespeare’s career (c.1590–1613) remained the largest,
most innovative city in Europe. Trade, war, expansion, investment—and new ways
of investing—were powerful drivers. England as a whole had also forcibly stopped
an activity that had long been important, and the impulses it had satisfied needed
a new outlet. Under Roman Catholicism theatre was sacred: mystery cycles were
performed in public procession at their time in the liturgical round, while morality
plays taught doctrine and miracle plays celebrated exemplary lives. Many people
acted and very many more audited, so when Henry VIII broke with Rome in 1533 he
couldn’t simply suppress traditions of sacred performance—but the Catholic doctrine
and faith they celebrated could only be a problem for an Anglican monarch, so the
weight slowly came on, and there is no known English performance of a complete
cycle after Coventry in 1574.
That date should give pause, for the mystery cycles and morality plays are often
firmly labelled as mediaeval, as they are in origin—but they were performed into
Shakespeare’s lifetime, and he certainly knew about them. Just as importantly, many
people he spoke to, worked with, and wrote for were also familiar with the cycles
and their performance: but in 1575 the cycles were no more, and theatre will out.
The man with the good timing, right idea, and persuasive tongue was James Burbage
(d.1597), and the idea he had was in all fundamentals the modern theatre. What may
most surprise is just how original an idea it was.
Greek theatre, like the mystery cycles, was sacred and classical amphitheatres
part of temple-complexes, while Roman theatre was mostly political, usually a poor
relation of gladiatorial sports, and always a matter of direct patronage and official
subsidy. Travelling players in the middle ages have left no trace of any permanent
stages, so what Burbage wanted in 1576 was radical: a large, purpose-built structure
owned and run by professional actors, to be funded through commercial performances.
Preconditions for such a venture include a sufficiently large and wealthy catchment
area, a workable design for the building, a pool of (would-be) actors, writers able to
The ‘porter’ scene in Macbeth (2.3) is based on the ‘Harrowing of Hell’ in the mystery cycles,
when ‘devil-porters’ are disturbed by Jesus hammering on the gates—but the specificity of this
well-known example tends to mask rather than emblematise the far wider and deeper connection
between the ‘mysteries and moralities (d.1574)’ and the ‘Shakespearean Stage (b.1576)’.