Master of the Revels

American  

noun

1. an English court official from the late 15th to early 18th centuries responsible to the Lord Chamberlain for overseeing and paying for court entertainments.

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Example Sentences

Plays were approved by the master of the revels, a sort of civil servant with the power of censorship, said Dickson, author of “Worlds Elsewhere: Journeys Around Shakespeare’s Globe” and “The Globe Guide to Shakespeare.”

From Seattle Times

She was also related to the Master of the Revels, the man in charge of entertaining the Royal Court.

From BBC

Consequently, all plays were vetted by the master of the revels.

From Salon

In England, the monarchs and nobles also held the licenses to play, without which actors could not perform, and they had significant control over the official censor, known as the “master of the revels.”

From Salon

Yet Shakespeare was able to write, produce, and stage his history plays, with their jaundiced view of the queen’s most vaunted ancestor, at a time of official censorship, when all plays had to be submitted to the Master of the Revels who could amend or ban plays outright at his discretion.

From Slate