ABSTRACT
The characteristic element of religion in late sixteenth-century England was its elusiveness, or rather, its ubiquity: it was everywhere, yet it came in many different guises. The pervasiveness of religion in early modern England was discursive in nature. The heterogeneity of religious belief in late sixteenth-century England in itself might well have been one of the decisive factors in fostering national thought. At first sight, one might assume that strong religious belief runs counter to an emphatic sense of national identity. Issues of religion therefore impinged directly on questions of national identity, and the individual's religious belief largely shaped his or her stance towards the nation. Richard Helgerson observes, in early modern England the language of politics was most often the language of religion. Theatre not only presents religion as performance, it also presents performance as religion we witness not only the secularization of religion but also the sacralization of theatre.
