A play for the citizens-the aristocrats stayed home

The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a tribute to the common man and his trade. The citizen wanted to see a play “in honour of the commons of the city (Prologue 25-26)” and Beaumont delivers exactly that. If the actors are played by young boys, we can assume that there is a certain sense that the action of the play will not be as realistic as if it were played by adults. These young boys would not have had the skill set to meet the impromptu acting demands set on them by The Citizen and his Wife if this impromptu performance change we see in the play were real. We see Beaumont promote this absurdity by having the wife continually prescribe and intervene for the “health” of the children. “…withal carry him this stick of liquorice. Tell him his mistress sent it him, and bid him bite a piece; ‘twill open his pipes the better, say. (Act 1 69-72)” Almost all of the “real” action of the play surrounds the children attempting to meet the demands of the Citizen and Wife and the professions of the common man being presented in absurdity. This is a play about common people for common people. It’s strange to me to see such a blatant attempt at audience participation scripted directly into a play this early in history. I can imagine how easily this play could have flopped, having thrown all normal convention out of the door. Beaumont was beholden to his audience to either “participate” and enjoy the performance or look at it as a deviation from “normal plays” and try to look at it critically. History points to the more critical reception of the play and it can be easy to understand considering the way Beaumont sets the theatre itself on its head and not just the play being performed. If the Citizen and the Wife are to come on stage, sit and begin to direct-Where do the aristocrats who paid for seating on the stage as a means of show “fit in”. How uncomfortable would it be as a high paying customer to sit next to or even across from the Wife and Citizen? How might an aristocrat react to being put on display with the likes of the “common” Grocer and Citizen?