Playing to the Gods: Church as Theatre

Abstract

Four hundred years ago churches were sometimes used as ‘playhouses’, just as they occasionally serve as theatres for plays and concerts today. Most of the performances staged at England’s Renaissance churches were local, amateur productions; but church buildings were among the provincial spaces sometimes available as temporary playhouses for professional touring companies, too. Travelling players acted in various (mainly indoor) ecclesiastical spaces in early modern England, including parish and cathedral churches and church houses.1 The Earl of Leicester’s Men performed in the parish church at Aldeburgh in 1573–74, for instance, while a professional cathedral production is recorded at Norwich in 1590.2 Other touring players paid to use the church houses in Bridgwater, Sherborne, and Somerton.3 Professional performances in churchyards appear to have been less common: only one clear record of a patronised troupe performing in a churchyard has been found so far between 1559 and 1625. In 1589–90 a troupe of the Queen’s players performed in the ‘Colledge Churche yarde’ at Gloucester Cathedral.4 But more examples may be found as research continues.KeywordsTown HallPlay PerformanceProfessional PlayerChurch PlayingAmateur PlayerThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.