The Review of English Studies Advance Access originally published online on February 9, 2007
The Review of English Studies 2007 58(233):34-63; doi:10.1093/res/hgl149
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press 2007; all rights reserved
The Earl of Sussex, the Revels Office, and London Commercial Theatre, 1572–1583
University of Washington
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Abstract |
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With the opening of at least nine new venues in and around London between 1575 and 1578, the commercial theatre industry underwent a remarkably rapid expansion. This expansion is linked to reforms introduced in the queen's Revels Office by Thomas Radcliff, 3rd Earl of Sussex, the Lord Chamberlain, and Lord Burghley, the Lord Treasurer. Sussex took direct control of the Revels Office between 1573 and 1579. Assisted at times by his cousins, Charles 2nd Lord Howard of Effingham and Henry 1st Lord Hunsdon, Sussex decreased the number of masks while sharply increasing the number of plays produced at court each year. Burghley, aided on occasion by Walsingham, closely oversaw the finance of the revels in this period. The creative and production costs associated with the new plays now being brought to court were outsourced to a select group of commerical companies, most patronized by relatives and friends of the queen who were also members of her Council. The Council used its power to insure that these companies were permitted to perform in venues in and around London to polish their performance skills before entertaining the queen. Income from these commercial performances underwrote the artistic and production costs that had been outsourced to these companies. The result was the highest quality entertainment at court for the lowest price, and it was in this quasi-capitalist, protectionist environment that the ‘legitimate’ theatre industry developed in and around London.