THC: How did this reflect violence in the culture? During the Renaissance at least, there were public executions, particularly drawings and quarterings. Were these still a part of Restoration culture?

AT: Public executions were still a part of Restoration culture, but executions and torture are very different. Executions were going on a lot during the Restoration, but torture was another case. Even during the Renaissance, there weren't actually any legal processes to torture people in England unless the monarch or the privy council gave a specific order for a specific torture of a specific person for one time.

While there were lots of violent aspects of the culture and lots of horrible executions that seemed torturous because they could last for days, there was very little actual torture even then. And torture in England in this specified definition actually ended in 1640. There were the most tortures under Queen Elizabeth; she wrote the most writs for individual tortures. But there was a sudden turn against the idea of torture so that in the Restoration there was lots of violence but very little torture.

And then suddenly, once it had been outlawed, torture began showing up on stage. It seems like as soon as torture stopped occurring in society, it became safe to depict it on stage.

THC: Were these depictions of torture a big draw for audiences?

AT: We havent found any letters or articles or diary entries that say, "Oh, we went to see this great torture scene today," but stage torture was probably popular in the same way that activities like bear baiting were popular, as violent displays that appealed to the masses.