Title:
|
Drama in Tudor education : education in Tudor drama
|
The present work argues for the invaluable contribution of boy actors
to the evolution of Tudor drama. Since most young scholars later went up
to university or the'Inns of Court, I have also considered the course of
drama in those institutions. This drama in education was given its prime
impetus by visiting professional troupes, whose itineraries included schools,
universities and the Inns. The education in drama they set before their
audiences helped shape the schools drama, which was able to develop and
expand in a way denied the professionals by the consequences of the
Reformation. Not till Leicester's men established themselves at the Theater
were the professionals enabled once again to strive towards their eventual
pre-eminence.
The argument in those'sections dealing with the colleges of Winchester,
Eton and Westminster is supported by original archival material hitherto
unavailable in print.
The Introduction states the situation at the moment of the foundation
of the Theater and of the first Blackfriars. That significant moment
marked the beginnings of the decline in the fortunes of the forces of drama
in education. The prehistory is rooted in the broad educational changes
of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries (Chapter I) and in the
seminal effect upon the drama of the sermons of the mendicant preachers of
the later Middle Ages (Chapter I). These twin influences forged the drama
of pre-Reformation England, defined the roles of professionals and boys
alike (Chapter II).
|