Friday, December 16, 2011

What is a Hautboy in Elizabethan/Jacobean drama?

I read in Hamlet, during Act III Scene II, the stage directions for the dumbshow are read as follows: "Hautboys play. Dumbshow follows." and then ushers in a description of the dumbshow. Now, I will admit to researching what a dumbshow was prior to reading Hamlet. But this is one detail that escapes me. Is this just another word for players? Or something different?

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