About the Book
This book is the first to examine early Tudor theatre specifically from the perspective of the great households of England. The aristocrats of the sixteenth century commissioned, funded, and staged complex and often lavish entertainments for their households including plays, masques, concerts, dances, and sports. These thematically and stylistically unified revels, watched by guests and retainers, were designed to swell the social and artistic reputation of the patron and to communicate his ideology - in fact to delight the eye and ear while selectively educating the mind and soul. Theatre became for the nobleman a means to secure loyalty, a loyalty that both reflected and reinforced his political power.
Important both as a collection of primary source documents and for its detailed examination of them, Patrons and Performance first considers the evolution, theatrical talents, duties and privileges, and techniques of retained performers, including Chapel Children and Gentlemen, minstrels, playwrights, and players. It then proceeds to a discussion of the interlude and of how the unique relationship between nobleman and artist affects the play's characters, theme, and structures.
Table of Contents:
Part 1 The chapel: administration and facilitiies; performance - plays, pageants and disguisings; play-texts. Part 2 The minstrels: heraldic minstrels; soloists; consorts - resident and travelling; minstrels in performance. Part 3 Playwrights and players: playwrights; players - duties and privileges; players and household administration; the advantages of patronage; touring. Part 4 Plays: characterizations; structures; ideologies.
Review :
`Patrons and Performance often examines primary sources to good effect ... her qualifications seem preferable to bolder pronouncements which the often limited reserves of evidence cannot support.'
Steven W. May, Georgetown College, ANQ, Volume 6, No. 4, New Series
`Professor Westfall's exposition of the documentary evidence is clear and sound. Her interpretation of the documentary evidence is usually thoughtful and judicious when such matters as personnel, itineries, and payments are in question.'
T.W. Craik, Durham University Journal, January 1991
`Professor Westfall meticulously explains how the players would have exploited the everyday structures of the household ... Her analysis of the surviving archive, architectural, and historical records vividly brings to life the lavish ceremonials and entertainments of great households.'
Notes and Queries
`Westfall's achievement is to clarify our understanding of the types of performers'.
David Miers, Patrons and Performance.
`Westfall's useful research monograph is likely to remain definitive'.
Jonathan Barry, Patrons and Performance.
'Westfall explores the hinterland of Shakespeare's history plays, in particular, in a learned and valuable study.'
English Studies, Volume 72, Number 6, December 1991
'Professor Westfall meticulously explains how the players would have exploited the everyday structures of the house-hold, such as galleries, screens, doorways, and the chapel itself. Her analysis of the surviving archive, architectural, and historical records vividly brings to life the lavish ceremonials and entertainments of great households.'
Michael G. Brennan, University of Leeds, Notes and Queries, September 1991
'provides valuable documentation on the size, movements, and touring routes of companies or performers'
R.A. Foakes, University of California, Los Angeles, Renaissance Quarterly
'Westfall first recreated early Tudor household revels at Toronto in 1979 in a memorably original production of Twelfth Night revels from ordinances in the second Northumberland household book. Her perceptive book now reconstructs that lost context again and persuasively anlyzes its remarkable aesthetics.'
Ian Lancashire, University of Toronto, Modern Philology, 91:2
'Westfall has identified a fascinating subject, well-deserving of attention from students, scholars, and performers of early English theater.'
Sally-Beth MacLean, Shakespeare Quarterly
'... the author draws extensively on the work of the many scholars who have written on this theme, but also on her own researches in the available range of printed and manuscript household accounts.'
Mervyn James Stonesfield, Oxon. EHR Shorter Notices Feb '94
