480 years later, Tudor play back on its original stage
The Play of the Weather was written in the early 1530s by John Heywood, the playwright and poet who was to inspire Shakespeare. Although he was a Roman Catholic who included extremely daring digs at the monarch in his writings, he managed to avoid having his head chopped off.
The play, which uses the British weather to explore how a king can satisfy the contradictory demands of his subjects, contains a number of allusions to highly sensitive political and personal issues of the day.
Heywood not only got away with writing about the King’s religious policy and his recent marriage to Anne Boleyn, which was still a closely guarded secret when the play was produced, but was rewarded with a special gilt cup presented by the King.
Although copies of the first printed edition of 1534 have survived in institutions such as the British Library, the play has languished forgotten until now.
comments powered by Disqus
- Revised AP U.S. History Standards Will Emphasize American Exceptionalism
- In a county that tried to amend U.S. history course, a lesson in politics
- Overhauling La Guardia, an Airport With a Historical Name but a Tarnished Image
- Now it can be told: The weakening of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is the crowning achievement of GOP partisans who detested the law
- Japanese textbooks may sanitize history, but comic art books don't
- Historians Against the War gathering signatures for new resolution to AHA on alleged violations of academic freedom in Israel
- Academic Seeks Death Certificate for Outlaw Billy the Kid
- Murderer of historian of Czech Jewry goes on trial
- Election results are in for the American Historical Association
- Nial Ferguson warns Obama’s bet on Iran has low odds of success