On September 2,
1642,
Parliament, where the
Puritans had gained the upper hand, acted to close all
playhouses by issuing the
First Ordinance against Stage Plays and Interludes. During the
English Civil War period, there was a good deal of surreptitious play-acting. The staging of full-length plays, however, had become too risky a venture for the harrassed
actors. Short
farces, called drolls, and variety acts seemed to be the fare most suitable under the circumstances. Francis Kirkman, in
1672, had this to say concerning the origin of the genre:
"When the publique Theatres were shut up... then all that we could divert ourselves with were these humours and pieces of Plays, which passing under the name of a merry conceited Fellow, called Bottom the Weaver, Simpleton the Smith, John Swabber, or some such title, were only allowed us, and that but by stealth too, and under the pretence of Rope-dancing, or the like; and these being all that was permitted to us, great was the confluence of the Auditors; and these small things were as profitable as any of our late famed Plays. I have seen the Red Bull Play-House, which was a large one, so full, that as many went back for want of room as had entered; and as meanly as you may think these Drols, they were then acted by the best Comedians then and now in being; and I may say, by some exceeded all now living..."
A.M. Nagler -- A Source Book In Theatrical History