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I'd suggest looking at the possibility of a partial London Midsummer Watch pageant reference. In the 1512 Watch, e.g., one of the pageants was a Castle of War; and although we haven't much in the way of detail about this particular pageant, in other Midsummer Watch pageants in other years a Castle of War can involve a sultan: see, e.g., 1521. (REED: Civic London, vol. 1) Both the 1512 pageant and the 1521 pageant were Drapers' Company pageants, but participants in the pageant were hired and so need not have been Drapers--and More's reference is general in any case. The 1521 pageant involved wildfire and darts. Also usually there were no speeches in MSW pageants; and the reference is to a sultan as standing, not speaking. The MSW does not, however, involve stages; Watch pageants are not stage plays. More, however, could be making a general point about acting rather than a specific reference to one type of "playing" only. Anne Lancashire > I would like to ask the list about the theater-historical context of > remarks made by Thomas More in his history of Richard III, whe > commenting on the invented drama of Richard scheming his way to the > crown in 1483. (Textual notes are at the bottom.) > > "And in a stage plaie, the people knowe right well that he that plaieth > the sowdain [soldan, sultan], is percase a souter [shoemaker], yet if > one of acquaintaunce perchaunce of litle nurture should call hym by his > name while he standeth in his maiestie one of his tourmentours might > fortune breke his hed for marryng the plaie. And so thei saied, these > matters be kynges games, as it were staige playes, and for the moste > part plaied vpon scaffoldes [execution platforms], in which poore menne > be but lookers on, and thei that wise bee will medle no ferther, for > thei that steppe vp with them when thei cannot plaie their partes thei > disorder the plaie and do theim selues no good." > > Now, More was writing about 1513, and apparently as a boy in the service > of Cardinal Morton 1492-94 had not only been in London audiences for > miracle plays, interludes, and the like but also would "step up and > play" with the players. (See the early life by More's son-in-law William > Roper and Richard Marius' modern biography, p.22). My specific question > is about the skit (or whatever) about a shoemaker pretending to be a > sultan. Can anyone identify that and point me to any theater-history > about it? > > Note on the text: The textual history of More's history is amazingly > complicated, and those who are very interested should refer to Richard > S. Sylvester, ed., /The Complete Works of St. Thomas More/, Vol. 2 > (Yale, 1963). In brief, the text quoted above is the earliest English > version (1543) of what More wrote (ca. 1513 in English and Latin), from > a corrupted MS used in the continuation by chronicler/publisher Richard > Grafton (d.ca. 1572) of /Hardyng's Chronicle/. This is transcribed from > fol. 76r in STC 12766, available at EEBO; the most convenient > transcription is in Sir Henry Ellis' edition (London, 1812), p. 515, > online at > https://archive.org/details/chronicleofiohnh00harduoft/page/515/mode/1up > These sentences appear at the very end of the Edward V chapter in Hall's > Chronicle (1548, 1550), where More's history appeared second in English. > > Cheers, > Al Magary > Hall's Chronicle Project > SF >