ABSTRACT
Sir David Lyndsay’s Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis is, notoriously, the lone surviving complete dramatic text of pre-Reformation Scotland. Yet scholars have often pointed out that a play which is so poised, inventive and theatrically confi-dent cannot have sprung fully-formed from a theatrical desert. Both the courtly interlude and popular performance leave their mark on the Thrie Estaitis. Although the play text itself is designed for a mixed and public audience and large-scale open-air performance, it draws on some of the key features of indoor, courtly interlude drama. The Thrie Estaitis shows a similar lively exploitation of the familiar topics and techniques of popular dramatic games. Most explicitly, the farce episode that enlivens the ‘Proclamatioun’ for the Cupar performance includes a scene almost identical to Lyndsay’s own performances for the child king.
