The Interregnum

The theatres were ordered to be closed immediately after the outbreak of hostilities in August 1642 -- 'while these sad causes and sad times of humiliation do continue.' As this phrasing suggests, it is unlikely that more than a temporary closure -- expected by the players in times of plague and during periods of royal mourning -- was intended. Often claimed to be the long-awaited revenge of rabid puritans, the closure was more probably the precautionary move of a still-moderate parliament concerned to secure the support of the respectable bourgeoisie, and worried by the new role of the public theatres as a mouthpiece for the people-- thus potentially encouraging what would have been perceived as mob-rule. Whatever the cause of the edict, its effect was the cessation of authorized playing for eighteen years. Very soon, this began to create problems for the members of what was now a well-organized profession, heavy with obligations to hirelings and landlords (Trussler 114-115)

Antitheatrical measures imposed during the 1640s and continued during the 1650s were not as absolute as they may have appeared. Plays were performed surreptitiously as part of an oppositional culture in a variety of venues. Moreover, dramatic works produced between the two “monoliths” of Renaissance and Restoration represent far more that the survival of drama in attenuated form. Drama continued to be written, published, translated, bought and read – and even performed. Even though many actors and companies decided rather to leave for the Continent and perform in Paris or the Hague, there still were troupes in London willing to entertain the people during the uneasy times. Janet Clare identifies three distinct groups of plays that never ceased to be produced: pamphlet plays, closet drama, and interludes, drolls and farces. Live theatre, which still longed to be performed before the crowds, had to find a new way of advertising, writing and performing. Here enter the drolls, as they seem to be an ideal form for the limited stage – drolls were short, entertaining, and did not need many props, costumes or actors (Škrobánková 8-11).