III. The Mad Mad Theatre
III.I The Mad Songs and the Theatre
The Mad Songs are one of the many manifestations of Bedlam and madness in the theatre. These days (October 2024), “The Rake’s Progress” by Stravinskij is being performed in the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. The opera is based on William Hogarth’s (1697 - 1764) eight paintings, dated from 1733 until 1735. The plot of the paintings, as well as the opera, is partly taking place behind the bars of Bedlam, illustrating my point of the institution’s continued influence on art, and even on art that is performed today. It is from this influence that the Mad Songs develop. In his article on the history of the Mad Songs1, Anthony Rooley starts off by describing what might have been the first Mad Song: “Mad Tom o’ Bedlam” - a broadside ballad that found its way into the song collections of the time, telling the story of one of Bedlam’s poor souls. In Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, one of the characters refers to himself as “Tom o’ Bedlam,” connecting Shakespeare, The Globe Theatre and Bedlam. However, Shakespeare’s, and perhaps the world’s most famous portrayal of madness is undoubtedly Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and even though Hamlet’s insanity is up for debate, Ophelia’s is not. This madness culminates when Ophelia in act 4 actually starts singing, and this makes Ophelia maybe history’s most famous Mad Singer!
“How should I your true love know
From another one?
By his cockle hat and staff
And his sandal shoon.”2
In the early 17th century, Jacobean playwrights explored Bedlam as a setting for plays and inspiration for characters, contributing to the notion that art and life mirrored each other. This led to the development of anti-masques, plays outside of the court’s reach, portraying mad characters and “maintaining a curious balance between order and chaos.”3 To illustrate the conception of madness in these plays, Rooley uses an example from The Duchess of Malfi, written in 1612 by John Webster (1578-1632), here, in Act IV, Scene II, a servant is describing “several sorts of madmen”4:
There’s a mad lawyer, and a secular priest,
A doctor that has forfeited his wits
By jealousy; and astrologian,
Who foretold the day of doom was
Last week, and failing of’t
Ran mad; an English tailor, craz’d i’th’brain
With the study of new fashion; a gentleman usher
Quite beside himself with care to keep in mind
The number of his lady’s salutations.
Remembering the list of symptoms from Dr. Napier’s patient catalog5, it’s tempting to make some connections between the characters amongst the “several sorts of madmen” and Dr. Napier’s patients’ symptoms: “a mad lawyer” could be reflected in Napier’s diagnosis “Can’t follow his/her business” (95 cases) or “Mad” (88); “a secular priest” in the diagnosis “Refuses to pray” (6),“Tempted to blaspheme” (27) or “Religious change” (11); and “A doctor that has forfeited his wits by jealousy” could be diagnosed as being “Distracted” (124) or “Jealous” (22)6.
The concept of the theatre as a balancing factor between order and chaos, came to stay. The rule of Cromwell (1653-1658) and other disturbing factors during the 17th century limited an organic development of the genre, however, in the 1690s, the Jacobean plays made their comeback, customized for the public of the time. With composers such as Henry and Daniel Purcell, John Eccles and John Blow, the Mad Song genre reached its height, both in popularity and in craft. It now held a self-evident place in the mainstream theatre. The close cooperation between playwrights, composers and actresses (sometimes actors as well), made it possible to develop Mad Songs that fitted each performer perfectly. The actresses had to be skilled singers as well to execute the Mad Songs, but it is likely that the singing and declamating/speaking must have blended to a much higher degree than we do today. Numerous plays from this time contained a Mad Song or Mad Scene, and several Mad Songs were also written without a clear connection to any play, such as the already discussed Henry Purcell’s “Bess of Bedlam” - a song where the narrating voice constantly switches from storyteller to the lunatic7.
The peak of the Mad Song genre was in the 1690s, and its development stagnated shortly after. The famous story about the madman Don Quixote8 was put on in 1694 in three parts, much like any popular book series is adapted to the screens today. The playwright Tomas D’Urfey organized each part of The Comical History of Don Quixote around three Mad Songs, respectively composed by Henry Purcell (“Let the dreadful Engines of Eternal Will”), John Eccles (“I burn, my brain consumes to ashes”) and Henry Purcell (“From Rosie Bowers”) again. All three of them are excellent examples of word painting and a huge emotional palette, always with the lyrics in front, and represent the very peak of the genre, even though it still had ten good years of “creative development.”9 During the first decade of the 17th century, the Italian influence on the theatre began dominating, and the chaotic musicality in the Mad Songs no longer fitted into the operatic landscape. Even though attempts were made to develop the genre, they were politely executed, but lacked the disturbing elements that earlier made the Mad Songs such good entertainment. The good taste of the time didn’t allow for the “old” English theatricality to sustain on stage, and it was up to zealots and enthusiasts to keep up the practice.
III.II What is a Mad Song and What Makes it Mad?
The journey of the Mad Songs, developing from broadside ballads to extravagant theatre songs, could also be a study in the development of word painting. In the 1690s, one could almost talk of a standardization when it comes to ways of illustrating emotions in a melodious manner. At the same time, it is relevant to ask: what makes the Mad Songs different from other English vocal music of the late 17th century? According to Rooley, the musical illustration of the extravaganza of its era, almost became so exaggerated that it reached a level of banality10. This can be exemplified with my chosen Mad Song, “Restless in thought”(1695) by John Eccles (1668-1735)11:
However, this standardized exaggeration is the case in a lot of English vocal music from the same period, so what makes the Mad Songs different? According to Rooley, a precise definition of the mad songs is difficult to give, as the genre is characterised by “variety, individuality and an intentional exploration of the bizarre.” Rooley describes how creative skill in almost equal amounts are required from both the poet, the composer and the performers, and besides, the x-factor of taste: “in addition, there is that ineluctable thing called fashionable taste – something so fleeting, so fickle, so fanciful that it amounts to a kind of madness itself!” Despite this fluidness, he concludes: “However, there may be something sufficiently stable as to masquerade as a definition of a mad song.”12
From the perspective of the performer, I will emphasize variety as a central keyword in this description, especially within the range of emotions. Speaking from experience, the Mad Songs are particularly demanding, and equally rewarding, because they command an extreme spontaneity from the performer. The ability to switch from one extreme emotion to its complete opposite in one breath, makes performing Mad Songs an extreme sport, and also a genre that resembles few others.
III.III The Obsession - Mad Anne Bracegirdle
The way the stage portrayed the mad, was unbreakably connected to the culture around the House of Bedlam, and the culture around the House of Bedlam prospered from the use of madness on stage. To try to understand the circumstances around the Mad Songs, it is hence worth taking a closer look at one of the biggest Mad Singers of their time: Anne Bracegirdle (1671-1748). Her story is a great mirroring of the way the Mad Songs existed in the vacuum of the Restoration Period, and also a mirroring of female sexualised madness.
The Restoration was the birth of the British female actresses. Female actresses appeared on the London stage from 1660 and onwards, mainly thanks to Charles II’s return from exile, who, after their closing under Cromwell’s rule, reopened them upon his return. The king, coming straight from exile in France, was used to female performers on stage and decided to introduce them in England as well. A new era began: The age of the Restoration actresses! Being a hot topic in high society, the actresses were objects of admiration and lust, and by playing their cards right, they could potentially gain enormous popularity.
Being a Restoration Actress, one constantly balances one’s performed self, with the character you are playing. That means that even though the actresses were constantly praised for their natural way of acting, this way of behaving was also an act, in fact! By creating a public selfthat was taken for being their private and genuine persona, they protected their private life. In his article, Thomas A. King13 explores the different roles that the Restoration Actress had to put on, he writes:
“The difference of the Restoration actresses from the characters they played, and from the majority of women in the audience, was the difference of their originary place and the place to which they allegedly aspired. To produce this effect on stage, the actresses had first to wear the mannerism and fashions of the not-other—their audiences. (…) As is well known, whether they played milkmaids or foreign princesses, the Restoration actresses wore the basic costume of an upper-class English woman, with a few minor accessories added.”14
By wearing “The basic costume of an upper-class English woman” as a base for every costume, they made the public feel like they got closer to the actresses, now that they resembled their own clothing and social rank. Through this use of recognisable elements that established the character in the social hierarchy, an unbreakable bond was created between the character and the actress’ public self. (Men, on the other hand, were always rewarded for overcoming the differences between themselves and the character15.) By creating their public self, the actresses could manipulate the public’s impression of them - a necessary tool of protection, since the actresses’ backgrounds were a topic for speculation and gossip, and their sex life or alleged virginity were hot stuff for the upper class.
Anne Bracegirdle, the most renowned mad singer from this period, started off as an actress specializing in tragedy, especially virgins in distress. Often portraying desired virgin heroins, (constantly balancing her virginal and yet sexually attractive appearance) the plot often included rape. Her enormous popularity rose when Bracegirdle, “broke with earlier portrayals of rape, depicting the crime consistently as the male character’s fault. Rape is no longer a crime of passion; her characters still appear as desirable objects, but the rapists are now portrayed as brutal.”16 But the balance between fantasy and reality was a fine line, especially behind the scenes of a Restoration theatre, and it was about to end very badly for Anne Bricegirdle. Two of her fans and brutal admirers, Captain Richard Hill and Charles Lod Mohun, attempted several times during 1692 to kidnap and rape Bricegirdle. Even though she managed to escape, William Mountfort, her handsome actor opponent, was killed from the wounds he got in a fight with Hill. The story is almost like a play itself, and it doesn’t stop there!
The rumors that were flourishing, now insinuating her state of unchastity, had to be handled, and the solution was, in many ways, to go mad. Solomon writes: “By playing characters threatened by rape, she both made herself a sexual spectacle and drew audience sympathy. (...) In mad songs, Bracegirdle again invited sympathy and sexualized herself (disarryed clothing can represent rape or madness). Her onstage portrayal of physical disorder ironically confirmed that offstage the actress did in fact control her own body–that despite the status of her virginity, she remained virtuous.”17 The playwright and librettist, Thomas D’Urfey, was one of those who (continued to) write her sympathetic lyrics in order to control and also manipulate the public opinion of her.
D'Urfey's play The Richmond Heiress from 1693, had the specific purpose of changing the public's perception of Bracegirdle. Through her character, Fulvia, she speaks to the audience, and it that way, she merges reality and the stage in an unbreakable alliance. The way Bracegirdle's persona becomes attached to the theatre and the madness of her characters is a great reflection of the way the Mad Songs existed in the Restoration Period. Not only reflected the Mad Songs and roles madness as spectacle and exaggeration of human unreason, they were also a tool that allowed the actresses to cross lines in their expression, even step out of their character, since they were protected by the unreason in the madness they were portraying. In the portrayal of Fulvia, Bracegirdle uses the character’s openness to speak through her, and thus strengthens the belief that the audience also gets to know the real Bracegirdle. In her exit-speech, Fulvia proclaims:
FULVIA: Nor shall the wretched customs of the World,
That change the sweets of love t’a sordid bargain,
Ever corrupt my Nature; wealth is a good addition,
And shall be given by me, a slave to Virtue,
And wait upon the kind brave Man I love,
Who weds a fool, affronts her human Nature;
Who can be kind to such a brutal creature,
’Tis wit with love improves the Marriage chorus,
And such a man is welcome to my arms. (Exit)”18
As Rooley puts it:
“This breathtaking speech challenges all her male admirers in the audience, accuses her fellow actresses of having sex for money and lays a foundation stone for female emancipation as well. That is a powerful mix, from a playwright who is supposedly a hack (...) directly addressing her public and admirers.”19
Singers such as Anne Bricegridle and the other performers of mad songs were trying to sound and look mad on stage. They represented madness in the context of the theatre. In order to restore the reputation of her public self, Anne Bracegirdle used her roles as a mad person to manipulate the audience's perception of her. One could almost say that she was no more than a Bedlamite Beggar - prospering from the flourishing culture and fascination around the House of Bedlam. Bracegirdle told her own story using the public’s sympathy and fascination for “loonatics,” and her portrayal contributed to the understanding of madness in her time - her artistic work is an example of life and art feeding off each other in an eternal spiral.
Footnotes:
1: Rooley 2021.
2: Shakespeare 1992, act 4, scene 5. The lyrics are now performed with folk melodies as well as in composed works, arranged by Strauss amongst others.
3: Rooley 2021, pp. 27-8.
4: ibid, p. 30.
5: MacDonald 1981, Appendix.
6:ibid.
7: See score in Appendix.
8: de Cervantes 1615, published in English in 1612 (Part 1) and 1620 (Part 2).
9: Rooley 2021, p. 60.
10: ibid,p. 45
11: See full score in Appendix
12: Rooley 2021, p. 44
13: King 1992
14: ibid, p. 79
15: ibid, p. 85
16: Solomon 2011, p. 2
17: ibid, p. 6
18: D'Urfey 1603