Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain is a historical court official in the British monarchy, primarily responsible for overseeing royal entertainments. His role expanded significantly in 1737, when he was granted extensive censorship powers over theatrical performances, largely as a response to antigovernment satires that troubled the government of Robert Walpole. The Licensing Act of 1737 mandated that all theaters in Britain obtain licenses from the Lord Chamberlain and his Examiner of Plays, who had the authority to approve or ban scripts based on their content. This included the power to censor themes deemed offensive, such as political dissent, violence, and moral issues. Over time, the Lord Chamberlain's oversight became entrenched in theater regulation, with no recourse for appeal against his decisions. The censorship practices remained in effect until public opposition led to the repeal of these powers through the Theatres Act of 1968, marking a significant shift in the regulation of theatrical expression in Britain. The legacy of the Lord Chamberlain's role reflects the tension between artistic freedom and governmental control in the realm of performance art.
Lord Chamberlain
Definition: British office established in the eighteenth century to oversee theaters
Significance: Through their power to license theaters, holders of this office were the chief forces of censorship over the British stage for more than two centuries
The Lord Chamberlain, a court official, had among his duties to oversee, with the Master of Revels, royal entertainments. In 1737 he was additionally given wide powers of censorship over the British stage. At that time, antigovernment dramatic satires by Henry Fielding and others bothered the government of Robert Walpole, moving it to take action against entertainments it considered seditious and dangerous. Parliament passed the Licensing Act of 1737, which required the Lord Chamberlain and his Examiner of Plays to license all theaters in Britain and granted them sweeping powers to suppress any dramatic performance. An 1843 revision of the act cleared up inconsistencies in the law and made the office less subject to the bribery and corruption that by then had become common.
According to the law, the scripts for all new plays had to be submitted to the Examiner of Plays for approval at least seven days before the opening performance. The Lord Chamberlain’s office could require that changes be made or could ban performance of a play outright. Once a script was approved, the actors were to perform the play exactly as written. There was no mechanism to appeal the Lord Chamberlain’s decisions, and the office was not responsible to Parliament. Over the years, plays were censored in part or in their entirety for religious, political, and moral reasons. Each historical period and each individual Lord Chamberlain redefined what was considered offensive or unacceptable. Among the most commonly censored items, however, were antigovernment or antiroyal sentiments, violence, indecency (including nudity, obscene language, and references to sexual acts), and such themes as atheism and homosexuality. After public sentiment turned quite sharply against this form of censorship, the Lord Chamberlain’s powers over the theater were ended by the Theatres Act of 1968.