| 概要 |
It has been established that the Crown protected the Elizabethan stage against attacks from the corporation of London and other enemies of the theatre. Queen Elizabeth and influential members of the P...rivy Council, such as the Earl of Leicester and Lord Hunsdon, patronized major companies of players, authorizing them to play throughout England. There were, however, times when the central government appeared to act as if they were actually an enemy of the stage themselves. In 1597, the Privy Council ordered the demolition of all the purpose-built theatres in London. In l598, it issued a decree restricting playing in and around the city of London to only two companies. In l600, it further ordered these two troupes to limit performance to a single playhouse each and not to play more than twice a week. Some critics believe that these decrees issued by the Privy Council against the stage, together with the system of dramatic censorship by the Master of the Revels established in Elizabeth's reign, were intended to curtail the growth of the expanding theatre industry. The present paper questions this notion, arguing that, in spite of these ostensibly antitheatrical measures, the central government had no intention of restraining the stage. It was one thing to issue an order but quite another to see that it was enforced. There is no evidence that the output of the London theatre industry was diminished during the period 1597-1600 when the Privy Council issued the orders against the stage. The Privy Council minutes and other records strongly suggest that it made little or no effort to have any of these antitheatrical decrees vigorously enforced. (The order of 1597 for the destruction of all playhouses did not in fact destroy any of them.) Dramatic censorship by the Master of the Revels did not check the growth of the theatre industry either, but rather promoted it. The Master censored all plays being prepared for the stage according to the royal patent granted to him in l581. This system of censorship, by which the Master licensed the plays to be acted, made it easier for companies of players to operate in London as well as in the countryside, because the Master's licence for playing protected the players against mayors and other local officials who wanted to suppress their performances, lt is true that the central government, with the Master of the Revels as their agent, exerted control over the stage, but they regulated the stage in a way that protected the theatre industry rather than placing limits on it.続きを見る
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