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>Dear REEDers: > I'm writing on Tudor political drama & I remember once coming >across an account of Henry VIII riding, perhaps overnight, >perhaps two nights in a row, to see a play of some sort. >My even fainter memory associates this event with John Bale, >but whether the King was going to see a work by the bilious >agitprop maker or if it's simply recounted in a book or >essay pertaining to Bale, I don't recall. >If anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'd love to get >a reference, either to the primary account or a mention >in modern scholarship. Bale and his fellows were paid for performing a play, probably Bale's *King Johan*, before Thomas Cromwell in Canterbury in January 1539. It's not clear whether Henry was present, but the play was notoriously written to flatter him in his battles with Rome, and this is considered a court performance by William Streitberger in his *Court Revels 1485-1559* (see p. 280, and also pp. 147-8) and by Ian Lancashire in his *Dramatic Texts and Records of Britain* (pp. 104 and 201). This performance is also discussed in Peter Happe's *John Bale* (1996), p. 90, and the political implications of the play (if not the specific performance) are discussed in David Bevington's *Tudor Drama and Politics*, pp. 97-105, and in various editions of the play, among other places. I'm not sure if this is what you're thinking of, but it's the best possibility that comes to mind. Dave Kathman [log in to unmask]