{"id":2328,"date":"2025-03-19T12:05:20","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/?page_id=2328"},"modified":"2025-07-22T18:57:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T18:57:02","slug":"rachel-fane-household-entertainments","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/rachel-fane-household-entertainments\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Fane Household Entertainments"},"content":{"rendered":"

A stage play is a brilliant vehicle for the past because it is a hazardous, unstable form, enacting history as it happens, breath by breath<\/em> (Hilary Mantel)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On 8 March 2025 (<\/span>International Women\u2019s Day), <\/span>Alison directed a staging of Rachel Fane’s ‘May Masque’ (1627) one of several fragments of drama which she composed as a teenager. They are written a tiny manuscript, bound in green embroidery silk (MS U269\/F38\/3 which is preserved in the Sackville papers in the Kent History and Library Centre, Maidstone (UK).
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Lady Rachel Fane (1613-80), later Rachel Bourchier, Countess of Bath, was the daughter of Sir Francis Fane, first Earl of Westmorland (1580-1629) and Mary Mildmay Fane (d.1640), who lived at Apethorpe Hall, Northamptonshire. Their household was visited by James I and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. Rachel’s brother, Mildmay Fane, continued his younger sister’s tradition of writing drama for the household, with a stage constructed at Apethorpe Hall.<\/p>\n

All Rachel Fane’s dramatic entertainments were written for her extended family as performers and members of the audience. Her manuscript lists her brothers and sisters and household servants as performers and the May Masque addresses particular individuals of the extended household as spectators.<\/p>\n

The 2025 performance was staged in the Jacobean drawing room of Boston Manor House, built by Lady Mary Reade in 1623.<\/p>\n

Some stills taken from the day are presented below.<\/p>\n

\"Urania <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Shepherd <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Revels <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"perfuming <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Nymph <\/a> <\/div>
\"Nymph <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Meg <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Maypole <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Maypole <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Maypole <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Maypole <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Maypole <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Maypole <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Main <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Main <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jester <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jester <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jester <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Introduction <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Introduction <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Gift <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Cupid <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Cupid <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A stage play is a brilliant vehicle for the past because it is a hazardous, unstable form, enacting history as it happens, breath by breath (Hilary Mantel) On 8 March 2025 (International Women\u2019s Day), Alison directed a staging of Rachel Fane’s ‘May Masque’ (1627) one of several fragments of drama which she composed as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1202,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"nosidebar-page.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2328","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P7IR4b-By","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2328"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3017,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2328\/revisions\/3017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}