The Department of English presents John Edwards

The music of the Blackfriars’ Theatre

27 March 2023

11:30am – 12:30pm

Room VC 104

The King’s Men’s use of the more exclusive Blackfriars’ Theatre (where admission prices were up to a whopping 2 shillings!) meant that a more discerning audience was going to demand more sophisticated and ‘court’-eous entertainment than the bloody heads and rustic jigs of the Globe Theatre. John Edwards discusses the importing of court masque instruments, vocal music techniques, and dance numbers into plays for the Blackfriars after 1600.