Hand to the Heart: Authenticity in Preacher and Player Portraiture

No discussion of antitheatrical polemics can escape mention of Stephen Gosson. His characterization of theatre as the “doctrine of the devil” is found in his last of a succession of pamphlets attacking the theatre. His polemics comprise one of the most theologically nuanced arguments against the Elizabethan stage—euphuistic though they may be. Indeed, others were far more concise. The preacher William Holbrooke, for instance, made his case with efficiency when he branded stage players “scumme of the world.”