What is a Masque?

From 1604 to 1640 the Court of England feasted on a series of celebratory performances of a new and exciting kind. Warriors and witches, heroes and princesses, nymphs of Greece and idols of Virginia sang and danced their way through the Stuart Masque, in the company of satyrs, madmen, bears and baboons. Noblemen danced alongside professional actors, and revolutionary designers struggled for supremacy with established poets. It was a spectacle of astonishing glamour, enchanting sweetness, rough humour and refined allegory.

The Masque centred around a solemn performance by a group of 12 courtiers, masked and costumed, representing fantastic mythological creatures - Knights of Apollo, Queens of Antiquity, Stars, Goddesses… At the end of this scene, the masked dancers came into the audience and took out a partner to accompany them in social dances within the auditorium space. The spectacle, thus, was both for the court and by the court. To contrast with this celebration of courtly nobility, the show began with scenes of disorder, or exoticism: witches, gypsies, tritons, naiads, spirits…

The Masque was not simply drama, nor music, nor dance, nor visual arts, but a knitting together of every possible aspect of stage activity, even to the extent that the audience themselves were also chief players. Each masque was created for a certain, single, specific occasion – a festive day or marriage – which ensured the complete exclusivity of the performance: they were made to be done once, only. The masque was a serious work of art; and a one-night party.

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