The May Masque at Apethorpe was an entertainment written by Rachel Fane and performed at Apethorpe Hall in 1627.Edel Lamb, "Drama and Entertainments by Rachel Fane", The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Early Modern Women's Writing (Springer Nature, 2026), pp. 344–350.
Theatre at Apethorpe Rachel Fane was a daughter of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland and Mary Mildmay Fane, Countess of Westmorland. There was a tradition of Christmas and New Year entertainments and other private theatricals at their home in Northamptonshire. In January 1627, Rachel's mother, the Countess of Westmorland, wrote to her daughter, Grace, Countess of Home, in Scotland, describing their entertainments, "my lo: of Rutland came hither on Twelf day to see our maske, which was a very fine on[e] & excellent well performed, you shall have a booke of it when I can meete with a messenger that will carry it".Marion O'Connor, "Rachel Fane's May Masque at Apethorpe, 1627", English Literary Renaissance, 36:1 (Winter 2006), p. 97: Moray papers NRAS 217, 5:304.
The manuscript Rachel Fane copied some details or excerpts into a green manuscript notebook, including The May Masque.Kathryn. A. Morrison, Apethorpe: The Story of An English Country House (Yale, Historic England, 2016), p. 98. Internal evidence suggests she wrote The May Masque for performance with her siblings in 1627 when she was about 13 or 14 years old. The manuscript includes a short Christmas Prologue, The Wishing Chair Entertainment, and other items.Erin Julian, '"Of no consequence"? Rachel Fane's Manuscripts and Archival Erasure', Shakespeare Bulletin, 42:2 (Summer 2024), pp. 135-162. Marion O'Connor, "Entertainments and Poems by Lady Rachel Fane", Malone Collections, 17 (2016), pp. 151–196.Deanne Williams, "My Lady Rachells booke", Shakespeare and the Performance of Girlhood (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), pp. 173–188.Caroline Bowden, "The Notebooks of Rachael Fane: Education or Authorship?", in Victoria E. Burke and Jonathan Gibson, Early Modern Women's Manuscript Writing (London: Ashgate, 2004), pp. 157–80.
Performance
The May Masque includes pastoral elements which would have been dramatised with props from the Apethorpe estate farms. The masques were either performed in the Long Gallery at Apethorpe,Alison Findlay, Playing Spaces in Early Women's Drama (Cambridge, 2006), p. 97. or the older Great Hall, spaces which still exist. The audience included Rachel's parents, other family members, and presumably guests at the house.Julie Sanders, 'Daughters of the House', Elizabeth Scott-Baumann, Danielle Clarke, Sarah C. E. Ross, Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Women's Writing in English, 1540–1700 (Oxford, 2022), p. 342: Marion O'Connor, 'Rachel Fane's May Masque at Apethorpe, 1627', English Literary Renaissance, 36:1 (Winter 2006), p. 101.Marion O'Connor, 'Rachel Fane's May Masque at Apethorpe, 1627', English Literary Renaissance, vol. 36, No. 1 (Winter 2006), pp. 90–113.
In the manuscript, the text of the masque is preceded by a cast list which includes Rachel Fane's brothers and sisters, and others who may have been the children of local people, estate workers, and tenants.Marion O'Connor, "Entertainments and Poems by Lady Rachel Fane", Malone Collections, 17 (2016), pp. 164–165: Marion O'Connor, "Rachel Fane's May Masque at Apethorpe, 1627", English Literary Renaissance, 36:1 (Winter 2006), p. 99.
Summary A jester and a shepherd set up a maypole and dance a Morris. The jester presents gifts to the audience. Francis Fane is handed a book, upside-down, as a warning against too much study. Rachel's sister-in-law, Grace Thornhurst, Lady Despencer, was pregnant, and a stage direction indicates that the jester addressed "her great belly".Marion O'Connor, "Entertainments and Poems by Lady Rachel Fane", Malone Collections, 17 (2016), pp. 166, 169–170.Marion O'Connor, "Rachel Fane's May Masque at Apethorpe, 1627: Text", English Literary Renaissance, 36:1 (2006), p. 108.
The shepherd packs the maypole away. A nymph in a rich petticoat, waistcoat, and scarf, with a garland of flowers on her head, brings in a perfuming pan as a harbinger of Venus. Venus is persuaded to enter the refreshed room and dances a "canary". Urania summons the nymphs of woods and streams as "A flower of May is sprung today". They dance a dance of Rachel Fane's making.Marion O'Connor, "Entertainments and Poems by Lady Rachel Fane", Malone Collections, 17 (2016), pp. 167–175.
References
External links Rachel Fane Household Entertainments: Shakespeare and his Sisters, Site specific early modern drama Lady Rachel Fane's Household Masque (Behind the Scenes): Beyond Shakespeare Lucy Munro: Political Immaturity: "Minor" Literature and the Work of Rachel Fane Lady Rachel Fane's May Masque: Girls on the page and stage A Christmas masque at Apethorpe: A letter from the Countess of Westmorland