Shakespeare A to Z | Censorship, Licensing, and Copyrights
State and church officials played significant roles in determining the content, licensing, and publication of plays in Shakespeare’s England. A royal official, known as the MASTER OF THE REVELS, read every play before it was staged to determine whether it contained any unacceptable material, such as sedition* or profanity*. Plays that were approved by the master of the revels received a license permitting them to be performed in public. Fewer rules existed for controlling the content of printed materials. Most dramatists did not publish their works, however, because play scripts normally...
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