The Towneley Manuscript and Performance: Tudor Recycling?

Abstract

When early dramatic texts are recorded in manuscript form rather than in print, textual editors and students of historical performance must be sensitive to the materiality, conventions and specificities of manuscript culture as a whole and to the nature of the particular manuscript. The relationship of a manuscript drama to the probable scene of performance must often be reconstructed in the absence of explicit performance records, and in doing such reconstruction minute examination of the manuscript can provide unexpected help. This chapter examines the Towneley manuscript of biblical plays,¹ its codicology, construction, sequence of copying and marginalia. The picture that emerges is one that might conceivably influence both the future editorial treatment of the plays and discussion of their likely performance history.