The Delightful Interlude Of Medieval And Tudor Drama: 20 Resources

An interlude was typically a short dramatic piece, often comic (usually farcical) in nature, placed between more serious material, then later between courses at a banquet. It began during the Middle Ages as a form of lighthearted stuffing (hence interlude) between miracle and morality plays. These were typically short satires or farces. There is even evidence of interludes being used as propaganda in times of religious conflict. There is also proof of interludes functioning as morality plays. The form matured into witty performances enacted at Court during the Tudor period, entertaining royalty and courtiers, alike. John Heywood’s The Four P’s (c.1543) is a typical example of an interlude. – Justin Cash

Interlude Resources

Excellent analysis of the interlude in Medieval drama.

Entry on the interlude and its characteristics from Encylopedia Britannica.

Interlude: Short theatrical piece, prominent in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, which provided entertainment during royal and noble banquets. Performed by a small travelling company, it combined moral messages with clowning, and is sometimes seen as the starting point for English drama. It was the immediate precursor of Elizabethan comedy.

World Encyclopedia

Short, but useful explanation of this form during the Medieval and Elizabethan periods.

Very handy entry on the interlude discusses its lack of distinction with morality plays, dramatic form, performance and purpose.

Interlude: in theatre, early form of English dramatic entertainment, sometimes considered to be the transition between medieval morality plays and Tudor dramas. Interludes were performed at court or at “great houses” by professional minstrels or amateurs at intervals between some other entertainment, such as a banquet, or preceding or following a play, or between acts. Although most interludes were sketches of a nonreligious nature, some plays were called interludes that are today classed as morality plays.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITTANICA

Interlude is an imprecise term, since it was at various times applied to almost every type of play presented in the Middle Ages. Today it is normally used to designate the plays first presented indoors as a part of the entertainment of rulers, nobles, or rich merchants … The interlude might be of any type: religious, moral, farcical, historical. Often there was singing and dancing as well.

History of the Theatre

OSCAR G. BROCKETT

Very good historical account of the origins and growth of the interlude (slides 25 and 26).

A useful explanation of the interlude in Medieval England.