i was interested to read that, as early as april 1559, queen elizabeth drafted a proposal that for the first time set out a plan to review and regulate the performance of plays.
it doesn't appear to have been made law, but it shows that the idea of censorship is very deep rooted.
queen elizabeth tried to make a distinction between those who are entitled to address issues like religion and politics - so that only people of 'authority, learning and wisdom' could talk to audiences of 'grave and discreet persons'.
but in the london theatre of shakespeare's time, playwrights were generally the sons of shoemakers, or glovers, and the audiences a mixture of titled people and rowdy apprentices and servants.
the end result of queen elizabeth's censorship was to impose a national system which restricted just about all licensed theatre to a handful of authorised london theatre companies, who would have to submit their plays for scrutiny.
thank goodness we have moved on...?
or is there a case for reintroducing some form of control over the way we are 'entertained'?
eggbod
No I hope not.
I feel I wouldn't want to live here if there was control over our entertainment. I lived in a country that endorsed censorship and it was certainly detrimental to an informed society