HOW CROMWELL’S WAR MADE THEATRE GO UNDERGROUND
Cromwell shut down the playhouses but had a liking for music
The saga of the Clifden golfers has all the marks of Greek drama about it, of high profile people bringing the house down on themselves. Was it a bad case of hubristic over-confidence, like Oedipus bringing ruin on himself and his family despite plenty of warnings, or some kind of herd blindness?
Of course the rules in Ireland about what was or wasn’t forbidden, hadn’t the full force of law as the former EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan unavailingly pointed out three times.
In England during the plague, or in tempestuous times under Cromwell and the Puritans, the government didn’t make that mistake.
The difference between the Puritans and modern times is that there wasn’t much scope for argument. The laws were clear and draconian and the punishments for disobeying these rules were very tough.
An order of 1647 suppressing all plays, condemned them for being ‘an occasion of great vices and disorders, tending to the provocation of God’s wrath.’
All stages, seats and boxes were to be pulled down and demolished, and ‘any player proved to have acted in such performances was to be ‘openly and publicly whipped or committed to jail.’ Anyone offending a second time was ‘to be punished as an incorrigible rogue’.
Our current habit of removing the metaphorical whip from offending politicians doesn’t have the same ring of firmness.
Cromwell would not even allow a verse by Shakespeare to be recited at his daughter’s wedding. ‘Away with Shakespeare and his description of human passions,’ he said. ‘It offends against every commandment of the Decalogue.’
A lot of actors had been involved in the English Civil War between parliament and the king, but when it was over they were jobless, neither soldiers nor actors, without theatres to perform in.
The hard-up performers tried to get round the rules as safely as they could.
Occasional productions took place in private houses. The widow of the Earl of Holland arranged a series of performances at her home in Kensington, and a collection was made for the actors after the play. Not unlike the donate button today.
To get round the restrictions, performances would sometimes be advertised as ‘an exhibition of rope-walking’ or some other harmless pursuit.
On other occasions bribery was used, but there was always the risk of soldiers interrupting proceedings and the performers ending up in jail.
In fact, the main point of shutting theatres, apart from puritanical rigour, was to keep the lid on possible political disturbance by the audiences, especially when King Charles was about to be executed.
But again, like today, Cromwell was aware that people were getting fed up with the lack of entertainments.
And strangely, he had a fondness for song and music, especially organ music.
It allowed him to permit the performance of a play, The Siege
of Rhodes, cleverly disguised as a kind of opera, staged privately in London.
His taste in humour, however, was very basic. He detested the bawdy comedy of the stage, but he liked buffoonery.
‘The kind of joke I like is the harmless joke of sitting on my hat’ he explained, a joke he actually often performed.
A pity it’s not the only thing he’s remembered for.
‘Cromwell was aware that people were fed up with the lack of entertainments’