Shakespeare and the Stage / With a Complete List of Theatrical Terms Used by Shakespeare in His Plays and Poems, Arranged in Alphabetical Order, & Explanatory Notes

HENRY VIII

THE PROLOGUE.

SCENE. SHOW. PLAY.

I come no more to make you laugh, things now

That bear a weighty and a serious brow,

Sad, high and working, full of state and woe

Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow

We now present. Those that can pity, here

May, if they think it well, let fall a tear:

The subject will deserve it. Such as give

Their money out of hope they may believe,

May here find truth, too. Those that come to see

Only a show or two, and so agree

The play may pass, if they be still and calling

I’ll undertake may see away their shilling

Richly in two short hours. Only they

That come to hear a merry play,

A noise of targets or to see a fellow

In a long motley coat guarded in yellow,

Wil be deceived, for gentle heavens, know

To rank our chosen truth with such a show

As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting

Our own brains and the opinion that we bring

To make that only true we now intend

Will leave us never an understanding friend.

Therefore for goodness’ sake, and as you are known

The first and happiest hearers of the town,

Be sad as we would make ye, think ye see

The very parsons of our noble story

As they were living, think you see them great

And followed with the general throng and sweat

By thousand friends; then, in a moment see

How soon this mightiness meets misery:

And if you can be merry then, I’ll say

A man may weep upon his wedding day.

I’ll undertake may see away their shilling

Richly in two hours.

In commenting upon this play, the reader must bear in mind that this is one of the doubtful plays of Shakespeare. Much ingenuity has been displayed in endeavouring to unravel the mystery of its authorship. Most scholars discern the hand of Fletcher, together with that of Shakespeare. Others would award the entire play to Fletcher, while on the other hand, the entire play has been considered as fully Shakesperean. A great poet, Tennyson, was of the opinion that most of the play was written by Fletcher. Spedding, who has devoted much thought to this problem, would assign to Fletcher a great portion of the dialogue, including the famous “Farewell” speech of Wolsey, which I for one cannot for a moment allow, as this speech, above all others, has the true Shakesperean ring. Two very interesting items of theatrical history can be gathered from this prologue, namely, the price of admission to the best seats and the duration of a five act play of Shakespeare’s time. Spedding would give the Prologue and the Epilogue to Fletcher.

The price of admission to the best seats would be a shilling, as we learn from Dekker’s books of Gull’s, where he mentions the twelvepenny rooms as being the best place in the theatre. This price was for the best seats or a seat upon the stage, which at this period was allowed at some of the theatres. When the custom was introduced of allowing a few of the spectators a seat on the stage is uncertain. The matter has not been fully examined or explained, and little information can be gathered from contemporary sources. The boxes, or rooms, as they were styled, were priced at a shilling at the Globe and Blackfriars Theatres. The twelvepenny rooms were situated near the stage, in the lowermost gallery, and are seen on the drawing of the interior of the Swan Theatre, close to the word orchestra. Why the writer should refer to the shilling seats only is difficult to make out. Perhaps for the first performance of a new play a shilling was charged for all the seats. We know that a different scale of charges did exist, but the accounts are somewhat confused. It was during a performance of this play that the thatched roof of the Globe Theatre caught fire and was burnt to the ground. This took place on St. Peter’s Day, June 29th, 1613.

ACT. PART. PLAYED.

I would have play’d

The part my father meant to act upon

The usurper Richard.

I, 2, 195.

THE EPILOGUE. PLAY. ACT. CLAP.

’Tis ten to one this play can never please

All that are here; some come to take their ease

And sleep an act or two; but those we fear

We have frighted with our trumpets, so ’tis clear

They’ll say ’tis naught.

For this play at this time, is only on

The merciful construction of good women;

For such a one we show’d ’em if they smile,

And say ’twill do I know within a while,

All the best men are ours for ’tis ill hap

If they hold when their ladies bid ’m clap.

MASQUE.

Now this masque was cried incomparable.

I, 1, 27.

PAGEANTS. SHOWS.

’Tis well; the citizens,

I am sure, have shown at full their royal minds

And let ’em have their rights they are ever forward,

In celebration of this day with shows,

Pageants and sights of honour.

IV, 1, 2.

PLAYHOUSE. AUDIENCE.

These are the youths that thunder at a playhouse and fight for bitter apples; that no audience but the tribulation of Tower Hill or the limbs of Lime House, their dear brothers, are able to endure.

V, 4.

MASQUE. REVELS.

Enter the King and others as masquers, habited like shepherds, ushered by the Lord Chamberlain. They pass directly before the Cardinal, and gracefully salute him.

A noble company! What are their pleasures?

Because they speak no English, thus they pray’d

To tell your grace, that, having heard by fame

Of this so noble and so fair assembly.

PAGEANT. PLAY. PART.

I will not be slack

To play my part in Fortune’s pageant.

PROLOGUE. PLAY. TRAGEDY.

I know their complot is to have my life:

And if my death might make this island happy

And prove the period of their tyranny,

I would expend it with all willingness;

But mine is made a prologue to their play.

For thousands more, that yet suspect

Will not conclude their plotted tragedy.

III, 1, 151.

SHOWS.

And now what rests, but that we spend the time

With stately trumpets mirthful comic shows

Such as befits the pleasures of the Court.

ACT. ROSCIUS. SCENE.

What scene of death hath Roscius now to act?

V, 6, 10.

Roscius was the most celebrated comic actor of his times. He lived in the first century A.D., dying in the year 62. Throughout the ages he has been personified as the greatest actor of all times, and his name has often been applied to any actor of great eminence. In Shakespeare’s period, Richard Burbage was the Roscius of the day, and was known as “Roscius Richard.”

ACTORS. PLAY’D. TRAGEDY.

Why stand we like soft-hearted women here

Wailing our losses, whiles the foe doth rage;

And look upon, as if the tragedy

Were play’d in jest by counterfeiting actors.

II, 3.

This night to meet here, they could do no less,

Out of the great respect they bear to beauty,

But leave their flocks, and under your fair act

Crave leave to view these ladies and entreat

An hour of revels with them.

Act II, Scene IV

Crave leave to view these ladies and entreat

An hour of revels with ’em.

Under the name of Revels was included many kinds of merrymaking and festivities. From the fourteenth century onwards such diversions were held at the Court and at the houses of noblemen. The Revels included dancing, games, masking, mummings or disguisings and other forms of lively entertainments. In Tudor times these amusements had assumed vast proportions. In Henry VII’s reign the Master of the Revels first makes his appearance, and that official post continued to be held until the Restoration. Queen Elizabeth formed a separate company, called Children of the Revels, which took part in many important functions. These children also acted in regular plays, and caused much heart-burning and dissension amongst the adult players.

Shakespeare and the Stage / With a Complete List of Theatrical Terms Used by Shakespeare in His Plays and Poems, Arranged in Alphabetical Order, & Explanatory Notes

About This Book

HENRY VIII