Perhaps too it needs to be underscored that a too explicit foregrounding of
Christianity as a theme in the theatre would have presented a certain other
difficulty:
it wouldn't have sold tickets.
The Elizabethan stage was, without any malediction intended, a capitalist
venture, and everything was governed by money. Shakespeare, if not quite the
Andrew Lloyd Webber of his day, was certainly by modern standards a
multi-millionaire at the end of his life. That's why he and his family have
the most prominent grave-spots in Holy Trinity.
Having said surely 'Measure for Measure' is one of the most searching
examinations of some elements of Christianity in the language while 'King
Lear', although set in a fabled pagan world, is underpinned by centuries of
peasant moralities. And, as Alison pointed out, the Mystery Plays are a
pervading background, I think the Coventry cycle was still being performed
in Shakespeare's youth, altho' my memory might be playing me false.
david bircumshaw
|