ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book demonstrates that playmakers’ varying degrees of success in calibrating potentially dangerous or offence-giving elements to local performance contexts. It suggests that drama’s capacity to adapt itself to new contexts, and shows playwrights ready to preserve the elements in the drama that they deemed most important. The fact that playmakers often sought to please their audiences by making their performance fit what was deemed permissible in a particular performance context, does not mean, however, that performance contexts were static; quite the contrary. Playwrights across the denominations allowed spectators to enjoy playful sexuality but sought to protect them from moral discomforts or social embarrassment. The playmakers in Wells defended their perceived right to their local dramatic traditions, making use of the fluid dynamic context of street theatricality, but in this process antagonised opponents of the traditions, leading to legal repercussions.
