ABSTRACT
The court was not the only early performance site. In the greater world beyond, there were professional strolling entertainers like tumblers, rope-dancers and jugglers, for whom records go back beyond the sixteenth century, as well as performances by local people at festivals usually tied to the agricultural calendar. Evidence for these is often scantier even than for court performances, and what there is frequently partial or partisan. Nevertheless, we can glimpse some vibrant popular dramatic activity.
