From Inns of Court Revels and Masques to John Playford’s The English Dancing Master
摘要
This chapter explores what happened to masques, revelry, and dancing after the end of the Civil War through an analysis of John Playford’s The English Dancing Master. Harris argues that Playford’s work reflects an inns of court culture and situates Playford there, both physically and artistically. Through exploring the tension between elite and non-elite elements of James Shirley’s The Triumph of Peace, and looking at the impact on the inns of the ban on revelling, dancing, and music during the Interregnum, the chapter concludes that the production of country dances on paper, like the publication of masque scripts, enabled a democratisation of what had previously been perceived as an elite art form.