New-York tribune., 1900-05-06
CENSORSHIP OF PLAYS.
THE MASTER OF REVELS AND HIS
MODERN DOUBLE-NOT A POST
FOR \ PRURIENT PURIST

MODERN DOT BlE|NOI y POST
FOR 4 PRURIENT PURIST.
London, April %
The office Of Examiner of Plays is quaint
survival of the splendid revels of a vanished
palace. During the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries plays were enacted among the trees
of Whitehall Gardens for the recreation of the
Court, and there was a stage manager with the
title Of Master of Revels. This title was con-
ferred upon Sir Thomas Cawerden in 1916.
This was at the end of the reign of Henry VIII
and thirty years before James Burbage built
and opened the first theatre in London. The
Master of the Revels was charged with the
sponsibility of entertaining the Court with
open air dances and costume maSquerades. AS
time went the masques brought to the
highest state of elegance and refinement Emf
nent architects like lingo Jones built the stage
and instructed the scene painters: Ben JOnson
and other poets wrote allegores in stately verse,
the best composers of the day supplied the
scores for the music. special dances were de-
vised by French artists and the costumes were
ordered with unexamped splendOr for the
actors were the lords and ladies of the Court in
velvet and silk. with gold embroideries gleam-
ing and diamonds flashing under the leafy green
of the gardens of Whitehall The Master of
Revels was allowed so free hand that as much
as S10Oo0p was expended upon the scenery and
costumes of Shirey's "Masque of Peace" during
the reign of Charles l,
ELIzABETHAN STAGE MANAGERS
The most conspicuous Master of Revels during
TIE Elizabtthan period was Edmund Tylney
Who systematZed the arrangements for Court
rcYes by organizing a skilled force of enbroid-
erers. tailofs, costumers. painters and artisans
lis wardrohes We're stocked with costumes for
these entertainments, and there were work
shops in Whitehall where artists, decorators and
artificers arranged the raost sumptuous scenic
effects at a time when the struggling Eliza
bethan theatres We're bare and not even pro-
Vided with stage screens. Sir George Busk and
Sir John Ashley, who staged Ben Jonsons
masques, enlarged the scope of scenic Illustration
and personally conducted the rehearsals The
oldtime Master of Revels was a man of learn
ing and accomplishments, and also diplomatic
courtier. The beauties of the Court were in
Quoted by him into the sraces and mysteries of
classical mythology, and sometimes the Queen
herself had to be taught a new dancing meas
ure and to lie corrected in rehearsal. After the
Restoration Charles III under took to re live these
stately dramas of the old palace OF Whitehall
but the Court had ceased to care for classical
entertainment and preferred coarser pleasures
The stage properties stored in damp cellars
where they were ultimately destroyed when the
palace was burned.
Sir Henry Herbert was the last Master of
Rcves to conduct the amateur theatritals cf
the lords and ladies Of the Court The Lord
Chamberlain nomnaly exercised the func-
uons of the office Cor Il brief period, and then
became the patron and critic of the stage The
Crown had always claimed the right Of regu-
lating and suppressng the performances Of
players. Under the Eliza bethan statutes the
atrlcal representations could be prohibited dur
ing Lent and periods of public mourning and
common players of interIudcs and minis; reIs
wandering abroad" were liaDle to punishment
IS ''rogues, Vagabonds and sturdy beggars " un-
less they belonged TO a baron Of the realm or IN
any other honorable parsonage The statutes
OF James imposed fines for using sacred
names 'JestinSly or profanely'' in stage nlavs
the reign of Charles | the enactment of com
mon plays on Sundays was interlictad Tho
Long Parliament abolished the stage by stat
ute. ordered the destruction of theatres and
authorized the conviction of players rs roauas
These Vagaries of Puritanism were followed l,v
court patronage after The Restoration when Ii
censed player were allowed 10 wear the Kings
scarlet and lace and the settlement of ac-
tors quarTels and the jealousi IS and grievance,
Oh actresses was matter of royal concern /
pleasure in the theatre was again Master nf
feNeIs. and signed the warrants If licensed ac-
tCrS' and the Examiner of Plays to this day is |