Elizabethan
Though less prevalent in the Elizabethan than in the Classical or Restoration periods, prologues of Renaissance plays are an interesting composite of styles and forms. As a direct audience from one actor to the assembled audience, the functions of the prologue were to quieten and appease the audience, introduce the themes and particulars of the play they are about to hear, and beg their indulgence for any imperfections in the writing and/or performance. Bruster and Weimann further argue that the prologue of the Early Modern period serves as a liminal entity. Firstly, a prologue is at once the text which is spoken, the actor who speaks that text, and the performance given by the actor in speaking. Secondly, in ushering the audience from the real world into the world of the play, the prologue straddles boundaries between audience, actors, characters, playwrights, the fiction of the play, the physical theatre and the outside world. Ben Jonson has been credited with using the prologue as a means to remind the audience of the complex relationships between themselves and all aspects of the performance they are about to view. In performance, the actor appeared dressed all in black. This is in contrast to the costume of the play proper, where elaborate and colourful costumes were worn, in the fashion of the day. The prologue removed his hat and wore no makeup. He probably carried a book or scroll, or a placard displaying the title of the play. He was introduced by three short trumpet calls, on the third of which he entered and took a position downstage. He made three bows in the current fashion of the court, and then addressed the audience. The Elizabethan prologue was unique in incorporating aspects of both classical and medieval traditions. In the classical tradition, the prologue conformed to one of four sub-genres: the sustatikos, which recommends either the play or the poet; the epitimetikos, in which a curse is given against a rival, or thanks given to the audience; dramatikos, in which the plot of the play is explained; and mixtos, which contains all of these things. In the medieval tradition, expressions of morality and modesty are seen, as well as a meta-theatrical self-consciousness, and an unabashed awareness of the financial contract engaged upon by paid actors and playwrights, and a paying audience.
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