Setting the Stage:
Renaissance London
Setting the Stage
Why was drama born in London during the 15th-16th century? William Shakespeare most certainly had something to do with the boon of theatrical arts in Renaissance society, but beyond Shakespeare there was a suppressed lower class that yearned to express itself. Renaissance drama consisted of four main genre types—tragedy, comedy, historic, and romantic—which allowed people of all social class to experience an enormous range of human emotion on the same level (Archer 2). Subgenres, like citizen comedy, evolved to serve specific social groups.
Part of the appeal of drama in the Renaissance period was the immediacy in which it was performed. Public theatres were much larger than private theatres, but all venues shared a comparable sense of intimacy. Watching players on a stage felt like watching neighbors through a window. Part of what drew crowds to the theater was the mischief involved in watching very private acts unfold in the public domain (Orlin). Thomas Dekker’s The Shoemaker’s Holiday is ideal for exploring the private v. public dichotomy because it blurs the lines within class hierarchy—nobility, tradesmen, and royalty are all well-represented in the play’s characters and scenes. Dekker's first plays were performed in Henslowe's enclosed Fortune Theatre. He then began writing for the Queen's men who performed at a different venue. The Shoemaker's Holiday was likely performed at the Fortune theatre considering when it was written. The intimacy of the Fortune Theatre, and it's realm in the public domain, made it accessible to citizens without losing its private atmosphere (Price). When staged, Dekker's drama must have resembled looking into the lives of the journeyman shoemakers through a window. In addition, “The Shoemaker’s Holiday” uses the device of characters in disguise. This overt portrayal of the conflict between what is publicly acceptable and privately desired colludes humorously in the main character Lacy’s Dutch alias, Hans.
The Shoemaker’s Holiday falls under the larger umbrella of comedy but is more specifically known as a citizen comedy. Like the city comedy, citizen comedy was an established form because it dealt with drama close to the hearts of Londoners—economics in relation to morality and the ever-present class tension between the haves and have-nots (Twyning). As described, the situation of this citizen comedy made it especially accessible to Londons citizenry.