Monday, December 09, 2024
Holiday Festivities and Elizabethan Theater
Folger Shakespeare Library: Whether it’s trimming the tree or spinning the dreidel, preparing special foods for shared feasts or joining in community singalongs, many of us have holiday traditions. Ditto for people in Shakespeare’s time, whether it was crossdressing, roleplaying, acting in amateur theatricals, eating pancakes, or sports—which may sound familiar when you think of Shakespeare’s plays.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Okay, can we just pause and appreciate how fun Elizabethan holiday traditions sound? Robin Hood keggers, pancake feasts, crossdressing, and roleplaying games that feel like a mix between Monopoly and a Renaissance Faire? feel like Shakespeare’s plays make so much more sense when you realize they came from this kind of energy. It’s like the whole Elizabethan vibe was one big theater warm-up! What really struck me was how blurred the lines were between holiday festivities and what we now think of as theater. The roleplaying and crossdressing—where people literally stepped into characters for the sake of fun and bonding—reminds me of how actors dive into roles today. Except back then, the characters weren’t fully fleshed-out individuals with backstories; they were more like roles in a communal game. It’s wild to think about how that evolved into the complex characters we see in plays and films now. Tailgating, team mascots, even Halloween costumes—it’s all rooted in this same idea of coming together, playing roles, and sharing food and drinks. Honestly, it feels like these Elizabethan traditions were precursors to so much of what we still do today, from theater to sports fandoms.
Post a Comment