Title: Princes to act : royal audience and royal performance, 1578-1792 /
Authors: Wikander, Matthew H.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press,
Year: 1993
Subjects: Theater Europe History; Theater Great Britain History.; Theater Political aspects Europe.; Theater Political aspects Great Britain.; European drama History and criticism.; English drama History and criticism; Masques History and criticism.; Theater audiences Europe History.; Masques, English History and criticism.; Europe Court and courtiers.; Great Britain Court and courtiers.
Abstract: In Henry V, Shakespeare describes a royal performance - with "princes to act and monarchs to behold the swelling scene"--That would have been impossible in England's public theaters. Such was not the case in court theaters, however, where monarchs sponsored and participated in a wide range of theatrical activities. The close association between monarch and actor, kingdom and stage, was "no noveltie" to Castiglione, who warned that princes who act would run the risk of never being taken seriously. A conspicuous example was Sweden's Gustav III, who wrote, acted in, and personally supervised the production of plays - and was murdered, in costume, at a masked ball.