London Civic Theatre: City Drama and Pageantry from Roman Times to 1558 (review)

Anne Lancashire's study of early London theatre fills a much-needed gap in theatre history by examining performance in the capital before the building of permanent playhouses in the reign of Elizabeth I. Prior to the Records of Early English Drama (REED) project, the study of early English theatre was dominated by a focus on London, fixed playhouses, scripted plays, and the period after 1576, the date when the Theatre, long thought to be the first permanent playhouse in London, was built (though the Red Lion, built in 1567, has since upstaged the Theatre in this respect). With the gradual publication of REED volumes since 1979, that focus has shifted to accommodate a much wider definition of performance and a much wider range of playing spaces across the provinces of England. The planned London volumes, however, of which Lancashire is one of the editors, have yet to appear. Thus, in recent decades, while our understanding of provincial performance has been greatly expanded, knowledge of performance in London prior to the advent of fixed playhouses has been largely confined to one or two snippets: William Fitzstephen's twelfth-century reference to the plays about saints and miracles performed at Skinners' Well; the Prioress of Clerkenwell's complaint around 1300 about audiences damaging the priory lands while attending 'miracles et lutes [wrestling matches]'; John Rastell's construction of a playhouse at his home in Finsbury in the 1520s.

A growing interest in pageantry and street theatre (royal entries, coronation processions, Lord Mayors' Shows, etc) has brought some London material to greater prominence, but the emphasis of this interest has been characteristically biased towards the court. Lord Mayors' Shows have represented something of an exception to this trend; but civic theatre, especially that sponsored by the London companies, has been much neglected, largely because so few of the records have been published. Lancashire's study is the product of much patient archival work in company records and other sources, and allows us for the first time to see elements of the bigger picture of performance in London brought together in a coherent narrative. The book is divided into two parts. The first covers the period from Roman times to 1410, taking especial account of the discovery in 1987-88 of a Roman amphitheatre underneath the present Guildhall in London. The second, covering 1410-1558, has chapters on company hall plays, John Lydgate's civic mummings, formal land entries into the city, water shows, the Midsummer Watch, and the Lord Mayor's Show. The book also includes two very useful appendices, one a table of royal entries, including information on their routes, and the other a selection of previously unpublished civic records. Sadly not included is Lancashire's list of London mayors and sheriffs to 1558, forthcoming as an appendix in Caroline Barron's The Government of London 1200-1500.

The book's major strength is Lancashire's capacity to combine close and detailed knowledge of records, bringing numerous new records to light, with an ability to provide a coherent and highly readable overview. The range of materials she discusses is tremendous, the annotation is rich and informative, and one ends the book with a sense for the first time of encountering some of the fullness of London's early theatrical history. As Lancashire points out, her book is the beginning, not the end of the process of building that history. It is to be hoped that future contributions to the process will be as scholarly and as fascinating as this one.