Matteo DiGiovanni
997729891
ENG331
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
Pyrotechnics in Early English Drama
Keywords:
Fireworks, Gunpowder, Ordnance, Squibs, Stage Effects
As students of literature it is sometimes easy to forget
that drama does not begin and end with the written word. In the theatre,
pageantry is every bit as important as poetry, and entertainment often trumps
art. As evidenced in the REED texts, in addition to the script, a good dramatic
production includes sets, costumes, staging, music, and—because Englishmen of
the 15th and 16th centuries were every bit as obsessed
with explosions and pretty colours as we are today—fireworks!
Pyrotechnics of numerous varieties were used in all
manner of dramatic and celebratory productions at this time. There is little
extant information on the precise and specific forms that these fireworks took,
and, in fact, going from the tone of language in REED, it is my impression that
this is because they varied greatly based on the individual craftsman. In all
examples I could find, they were discussed only in general and unfamiliar
terms, wherein an account might say that “strange fire works were shewed, in
the great quadrangle, besides rockets and a number such manner of deuises.” (Oxford,
191) In that example, the “fire works” are discussed independently of the
rockets and devices, implying that there was more going on than the Roman
Candles and Catherine Wheels that make up the fireworks displays we are used to
today. Just as there are countless different works of art, a fire work seems to
have been any theatrical presentation involving fire.
This definition also extends to gunplay, of which there
seems to have been a frankly alarming amount in day to day life. There are
literally hundreds of examples in REED of payments made for the purchase,
upkeep, manufacture, and operation of firearms big and small. At Cambridge, the
Trinity College inventory specifically mentions two guns stored along with
their costumes, and students frequently fired off weapons as part of the
numerous ceremonies the university had “traditionally been steeped in.”
(Cambridge, 720) There is at least some evidence to suggest that in England the
use of guns for entertainment was controlled: “and that no man shote gonnys
within the Citie to the Disturbance of his neyburs without he be required by
the baillie in tyme of need,” (Hereford, 416) but it is certain that they were
still easy to obtain, and were commonly in use. These guns were probably not
loaded at the time (one desperately hopes; I searched and searched but could
find no explicit confirmation) but they were still useful as props in almost
any public performance, from plays to speeches to “sermons.” (Cambridge, 200)
Like fireworks, there are very few things as impressive or attention grabbing
as a gun fired at close range.
This attention-grabbing aspect made prop guns and
fireworks particularly useful for the utilitarian purpose that they could
serve, in addition to being simply entertainment. At an annual St. George’s Day
show in Chester, beginning in April of 1610, a great procession of marchers and
horsemen was made to parade before the mayor and townsfolk in celebration. This
procession was led by imposing bearded men, “very owgly to behold,” who carried
clubs and scattered fireworks ahead of them to clear the way for those marching
behind. (Chester, 259) A pyrotechnic display could be used to entertain the
crowd while controlling them at the same time.
Also in Chester, advantage was taken of fireworks’ unique
capacity not to be ignored. Rather than assembling the whole town in one place
for a formal ceremony, “the Mayor, Sheriffs, Aldermen, & fortie of the
Common Counsell” would traditionally travel through the town on Christmas Eve,
waving torches and setting off explosives. (Chester, 415) As anyone who has
lived through a modern Victoria Day or 4th of July can tell you, the
familiar sound of fireworks popping off in the distance can ring in the holiday
even when you aren’t close enough to witness them yourself.
In Bristol, the noted playwright George Peele contrived a
neat (if somewhat unsettling) summary of the power of fireworks both to
entertain and to alarm. An anecdote from the “Merrie Conceited Jests of George
Peele” (Bristol, 166-167) relates a time when he found himself short of coin
and unable to pay the stable fees to “[deliver] his horse out of purgatory.”
Noting the presence of several unemployed actors at the inn where he was
staying, Peele went to the mayor of Bristol and convinced him to pay ten
shillings for an impromptu staging of a new play. He hired the actors and paid
the stable, then collected an additional forty shillings from the audience he
attracted. At the start of the play, Peele read a four line prologue, then set
off a selection of fireworks like a ninja tossing a smoke bomb. The audience
was delighted, but when the smoke and dazzlement had cleared, Peele, his horse,
and the money had all disappeared into the night.
Of course, more than just being window dressing or sleight
of hand, guns and fireworks were additionally valued for the dramatic symbology
that they could invoke. The most frequent use of fireworks seems to have been
for stand-alone displays like Guy Fawkes’ Night (also called Gunpowder
Conspiracy Day), where they were an apt if somewhat ironic celebration of a
terrorist’s attempt to blow up Parliament. Additionally, there was scarcely a
hellmouth or Satanic depiction to be found without a cascade of incandescent
sparks rounding out the devilish image.
Guns
were even more structured in their use as props, given the obvious aura of
military power they project, as well as their usefulness for accessorizing the
costumes of characters meant to be soldiers. In addition to the more traditional
narrative plays that we are used to, it was common for stagings of mock battles
to occur, independent of a larger plot. These dramatized manoeuvres could
include “the wynninge of an holde & takinge of prisoners, with waytes
trumpettes gonnes and squybbes [with squybbes being fireworks or small
explosives].” (Cambridge, 199)
Frequently,
guns would also serve a more ceremonial or celebratory role, as they were
carried in parades or fired off at formal events. REED contains numerous
payments from cities and guilds for men to carry and fire muskets and even
artillery pieces. The fact that they were paid for the service seems to suggest
that these gunners were not on-duty military personnel, at least not at the time
of their employment, so we can assume that they were there purely in an
entertainment capacity, and not as mandated by duty. If this is true, it seems
almost unbelievable the extent to which these civilian imitations of a military
force would go. In 1573 the city of Bristol purchased “26 small barrills … [of]
serpentyne powder,” totalling thirty-six pounds. This would have been used in a
serpentine (a navel gun), to celebrate the Queen’s visit. They also paid “for furnyshing
the galleys,” which refers to the outfitting of several ships. (Bristol, 87) It
would appear that Bristol was planning to greet her Majesty’s arrival by
fielding a weaponized armada on the river Severn, and this manner of
pyrotechnic overcompensation was common for celebrating royalty.
Fireworks
and gunplay are theatre incarnate. Without nuance or preamble they can lend
spectacle to any show, and gravitas to any occasion. It is no wonder that early
English drama embraced the medium so wholeheartedly, when nothing else can enthral
an audience with such immediacy. Whether on the stage or in the streets, they
were a central and invaluable facet of developing theatre in this period.
Works
Cited
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