Re-capturing the Dance and Drama of the English Court Masque

The English Court masques of the early 17th century were performances where dance and drama were intricately woven and interdependent. They have been explored under the umbrella of theatre studies, literary criticism and dance studies but rarely have researchers and practitioners been able to work together and re-stage the works in the actual spaces they were originally performed. If one is to re-stage these works, can one convey a sense of 'drama' and 'dramatic movement' without compromising the historical integrity? Using three recent practise-as-research projects as case studies, this paper will examine how successful the re-stagings were. I will examine the outcomes of two re-stagings of performances in the Banqueting House - The Masque of Augers in 2017 and Tempe Restor'd in 2013; and Loves Welcome, an entertainment as choreographer on each of these pieces, I will examine how we used the existing sources, how we filled in the missing information and how successfully we were able to convey the drama to the modern audiences.