ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to establish what costumes were worn by the King's Men for their production of Middleton's play and demonstrate the religious and political significance this apparel had for contemporary audiences. Thomas Middleton's A Game at Chess, has long held a place of particular importance in studies of early modern English theatre history. The play's politics struck such a chord and the performance was deemed so significant that it was ultimately shut down by King James himself after he received an official complaint from the Spanish Ambassador Extraordinary, Don Carlos Coloma. Don Carlos de Coloma, writing to the Conde-Duque Olivares, favorite of the Spanish King, on 20 August 1624, notes that the characters in the play are clearly meant to represent actual individuals. Catholic religious apparel works to identify the clergy as intermediaries between God and man. The Protestant clergy's clothing in 1624 similarly identified the wearer's particular role in the lives of their congregations.
