Thomas Heywood's Theatre, 1599–1639

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Thomas Heywood's Theatre, 1599–1639 THOMAS HEYWOOD’S THEATRE, 1599-1639 In this major reassessment of his subject, Richard Rowland restores Thomas Heywood – playwright, miscellanist and translator – to his rightful place in early modern theatre history. Rowland contextualizes and historicizes this important contemporary of Shakespeare, locating him on the geographic and cultural map of London through the business Heywood conducts in his writing. Arguing that Heywood’s theatrical output deserves the same attention and study that has been directed towards Shakespeare, Jonson, and more recently Middleton, this book looks at three periods of Heywood’s creativity: the end of the Elizabethan era and the beginning of the Jacobean, the mid 1620s, and the mid to late 1630s. By locating the works of those years precisely in the political and cultural conflicts to which they respond, Rowland initiates a major reassessment of the remarkable achievements of this playwright. Rowland also pays attention to Heywood in performance, seeing this writer as a jobbing playwright working in an industry that depended on making writing work. Finally, the author explores how Heywood participated in the civic life of London in his writings beyond the playhouse. Here Rowland examines pamphlets, translations, and the sequence of lord mayor’s pageants that Heywood produced as the political crisis deepened. Offering close readings of Heywood that establish the range, quality and theatrical significance of the writing,Thomas Heywood’s Theatre, 1599-1639 fits a fascinating piece into the emerging picture of the ‘complete’ early modern English theatre. Richard Rowland is Senior Lecturer in Drama and English, University of York, UK. Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama General Editor’s Preface Helen Ostovich, McMaster University Performance assumes a string of creative, analytical, and collaborative acts that, in defiance of theatrical ephemerality, live on through records, manuscripts, and printed books. The monographs and essay collections in this series offer original research which addresses theatre histories and performance histories in the context of the sixteenth and seventeenth century life. Of especial interest are studies in which women’s activities are a central feature of discussion as financial or technical supporters (patrons, musicians, dancers, seamstresses, wigmakers, or ‘gatherers’), if not authors or performers per se. Welcome too are critiques of early modern drama that not only take into account the production values of the plays, but also speculate on how intellectual advances or popular culture affect the theatre. The series logo, selected by my colleague Mary V. Silcox, derives from Thomas Combe’s duodecimo volume, The Theater of Fine Devices (London, 1592), Emblem VI, sig. B. The emblem of four masks has a verse which makes claims for the increasing complexity of early modern experience, a complexity that makes interpretation difficult. Hence the corresponding perhaps uneasy rise in sophistication: Masks will be more hereafter in request, And grow more deare than they did heretofore. No longer simply signs of performance ‘in play and jest’, the mask has become the ‘double face’ worn ‘in earnest’ even by ‘the best’ of people, in order to manipulate or profit from the world around them. The books stamped with this design attempt to understand the complications of performance produced on stage and interpreted by the audience, whose experiences outside the theatre may reflect the emblem’s argument: Most men do use some colour’d shift For to conceal their craftie drift. Centuries after their first presentations, the possible performance choices and meanings they engender still stir the imaginations of actors, audiences, and readers of early plays. The products of scholarly creativity in this series, I hope, will also stir imaginations to new ways of thinking about performance. Thomas Heywood’s Theatre, 1599-1639 Locations, Translations, and Conflict RICHARD ROWLAND University of York, UK First published 2010 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © Richard Rowland 2010 Richard Rowland has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Rowland, Richard, 1955- Thomas Heywood’s theatre, 1599-1639 : locations, translations, and conflict. – (Studies in performance and early modern drama) 1. Heywood, Thomas, d. 1641–Criticism and interpretation. 2. Heywood, Thomas, d. 1641–Settings. 3. Heywood, Thomas, d. 1641– Political and social views. I. Title II. Series 822.3-dc22 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rowland, Richard, 1955- Thomas Heywood’s theatre, 1599-1639 : locations, translations, and conflict / by Richard Rowland. p. cm. – (Studies in performance and early modern drama) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7546-6925-8 (alk. paper) 1. Heywood, Thomas, d. 1641–Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. PR2577.R69 2010 822’.3–dc22 2009027383 ISBN 9780754669258 (hbk) For three remarkable Rowlands Don 1921-1987 Rene 1917-2003 Marjorie 1919-2008 Contents List of Figures ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 PART I Heywood’s English Landscapes 1 A ‘London that yee see hourely’: Heywood, Stow, and the Invention of the City Staged 21 2 Moving inside(s): Heywood’s Divided Households 85 PART II Staging Roman Comedy in Stuart London Introduction: Stages of Translation in Early Modern England 157 3 Of ‘coyne and prtious marchandyse’: Trade and Slavery in The Captives 173 4 ‘Some Mirth, some Matter’: The Innovative Tragicomedy of The English Traveller 203 5 Out of the Dripping Pan, into the Fire: Loves Mistris 233 PART III Street Theatre 6 London’s Peaceable Estate? The Pageants 301 Index 371 List of Figures 1.1 Heywood’s hand in The Book of Sir Thomas More: British Library MS Harley 7368, fol. 7a By permission of the British Library 32 1.2 Detail from the ‘Agas’ map: laundering in Moorfields, also featuring Gresham House, the Royal Exchange, and Drapers’ Hall By permission of the City of London Libraries and Archives 33 1.3 Interior of Crosby Place By permission of English Heritage, NMR 53 1.4 Detail from the ‘Agas’ map: Bishopsgate and St Helen’s (S. Elen), Crosby Place, and Leathersellers’ Hall; the Boar’s Head lay about 500 metres east of ‘Cry chur’ By permission of the City of London Libraries and Archives 55 2.1 Kenn Sabberton (Jenkin) in the RSC production of A Woman Killed With Kindness, 1991 By permission of Leah Gordon 113 2.2 Anthony Hopkins (Frankford) and Joan Plowright (Anne), in the National Theatre production of A Woman Killed With Kindness, 1971 By permission of Zoe Dominic Photography 124 2.3 Michael Maloney (Frankford) and Saskia Reeves (Anne) in the RSC production of A Woman Killed With Kindness, 1991 By permission of Leah Gordon 132 2.4 The humiliation of Anne: Joan Plowright in the National production of A Woman Killed With Kindness, 1971 By permission of Zoe Dominic Photography 133 2.5 Servants and gentry mourn separately in the Northern Broadsides production of A Woman Killed With Kindness, 2003 By permission of Nobby Clark 148 x Thomas Heywood’s Theatre, 1599–1639 3.1 The manuscript of The Captives, British Library MS Egerton 1994, fol. 70b By permission of the British Library 175 5.1 Apollo and Marsyas, from Antonio Tempesta, Metamorphoseon sive Transformationum Ovidianarum ([Antwerp]: 1606) By permission of Stephen Orgel 263 5.2 Apollo and Midas, from Antonio Tempesta, Metamorphoseon sive Transformationum Ovidianarum ([Antwerp]: 1606) By permission of Stephen Orgel 271 Acknowledgments First, the institutions. I would like to acknowledge that the completion of this book was greatly facilitated by the award of an Arts and Humanities Research Council grant. Parts of Chapter Four appeared in Michael Cordner, Peter Holland and John Kerrigan (eds), English Comedy (1994), and I am grateful to Cambridge University Press for granting permission to reproduce some of that material here. An earlier and shorter version of Chapter Three appeared in Modern Language Review, 90:3 (1995), published by the Modern Humanities Research Association. This book has been a long time in the making, and perhaps inevitably some of those to whom I owe a serious debt of gratitude are no longer around to receive due thanks. I mentioned Don Fowler, Don McKenzie and Jeremy Maule in my last book, and do so again, but sadly two more figures who have been important influences have disappeared recently. When I did my Masters’ degree I was taught by Tony Nuttall, and not only did I learn something really significant in every class but in the TLS he described my first publication (the essay out of which Chapter Four of this book eventually evolved) as ‘thumpingly good’ – not a moment any budding academic would easily forget. John Stephens was a fine scholar of eighteenth-century philosophy and bibliography, and he taught me much of what I know about the materiality of early printed books, but at the end of hours spent wrestling with those texts he would also provide welcome relaxation with discussions of music, and on really difficult days would simply place a CD of Klemperer or Schnabel next to the drinks he’d already bought. His acts of kindness are sorely missed, and the Bodleian seems empty without him. I have three very long-standing debts.
Recommended publications
  • From Sidney to Heywood: the Social Status of Commercial Theatre in Early Modern London
    From Sidney to Heywood: the social status of commercial theatre in early modern London Romola Nuttall (King’s College London, UK) The Literary London Journal, Volume 14 Number 1 (Spring 2017) Abstract Thomas Heywood’s Apology for Actors (written c. 1608, published 1612) is one of the only stand-alone, printed deFences of the proFessional theatre to emerge from the early modern period. Even more significantly, it is ‘the only contemporary complete text we have – by an early modern actor about early modern actors’ (Griffith 191). This is rather surprising considering how famous playwrights and drama of that period have become, but it is revealing of attitudes towards the profession and the stage at the turn of the sixteenth century. Religious concerns Formed a central part of the heated public debate which contested the social value oF proFessional drama during the early modern era. Claims against the literary status of work produced for the commercial stage were also frequently levelled against the theatre from within the establishment, a prominent example being Sir Philip Sidney’s Defence of Poesie (written c. 1579, published 1595). Considering Heywood’s Apology in relation to Sidney’s Defence, and thinking particularly about the ways these treatises appropriate the classical idea oF mimesis and the consequent social value of literature, gives fresh insight into the changing status of drama in Shakespeare’s lifetime and how attitudes towards commercial theatre developed between the 1570s and 1610s. The following article explores these ideas within the framework of the London in which Heywood and his acting company lived and worked.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dramaturgy of Thomas Heywood 1594-1613 Carson, R
    The dramaturgy of Thomas Heywood 1594-1613 Carson, R. Neil The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author For additional information about this publication click this link. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/jspui/handle/123456789/1390 Information about this research object was correct at the time of download; we occasionally make corrections to records, please therefore check the published record when citing. For more information contact [email protected] THE DRAMATURGYOF THOMAS HEYWOOD 1594-1613 THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR JANUARY, 1974 OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE R. NEIL CARSON UNIVERSITY OF LONDON WESTFIELD COLLEGE I)IN 1 ABSTRACT This dissertation is an attempt to describe the characteristics of Thomas Heywood's dramatic style. The study is divided into three parts. The first deals with the playwright's theatrical career and discusses how his practical experience as actor and sharer might have affected his technique as a dramatic writer. The second part defines the scope of the investigation and contains the bulk of the analysis of Heywood's plays. My approach to the mechanics of playwriting is both practical and theoretical. I have attempted to come to an understanding of the technicalities of Heywood's craftsmanship by studying the changes he made in Sir Thomas Moore and in the sources he used for his plays. At the same time, I have tried to comprehend the aesthetic framework within which he worked by referring to the critical ideas of the period and especially to opinions expressed by Heywood him- self in An Apology for Actors and elsewhere.
    [Show full text]
  • English 9127B: Performance Conditions in Shakespeare’S Time Wednesdays 12:30-3:30 Weldon Library 257
    THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO Department of English http://www.uwo.ca/english English 9127B: Performance Conditions in Shakespeare’s Time Wednesdays 12:30-3:30 Weldon Library 257 Dr M.J. Kidnie AHB 0N05 x85830 [email protected] Description: This course focuses on the creation and staging of professional theatre in the age of Shakespeare. Students will study architectural evidence of performance spaces and consider how these spaces might have been put to use in practice, they will be introduced to practical theatrical concerns such as company organisation, payments for scripts, theatrical collaboration, rehearsal, and censorship, and they will examine and discuss surviving textual evidence of the revision and transmission of dramatic manuscripts through to performance. 6 January Introduction to the course Plus seminar assignments. 13 January Early modern stages Dramatists and actors had a shared understanding of the theatres in which their plays would be performed, and the opportunities these spaces provided. This week we’ll explore the stage space of the outdoor amphitheatres in terms of live performance. Tiffany Stern, “Text, Playhouse and London,” Making Shakespeare (Routledge, 2004): 6-33 *Peter Thomson, “Playhouses and Players,” Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies, ed. Stanley Wells (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 67-83 *Andrew Gurr, ‘The Staging’, The Shakespearean Stage, 1574-1642, 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 172-211 *Peter Stallybrass, “Properties in Clothes: The Materials of the Renaissance Theatre,” Staged Properties in Early Modern English Drama, ed. Jonathan Gil Harris and Natasha Korda (Cambridge UP, 2002): 177- 201 *Shakespeare’s Globe: A Theatrical Experiment, ed. Christie Carson and Farah Karim-Cooper (Cambridge UP, 2008) – select essays 20 January Thomas Heywood, A Woman Killed with Kindness Heywood was a contemporary of Shakespeare, and one of the most prolific playwrights of the age – he claimed to have a “hand or main finger” in 220 plays.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mermaid Series Thomas Hey Wood
    THE MERMAID SERIES THOMAS HEY WOOD LONDON ERNEST BENN, LTD. THE MERMAID SERIES THOMAS HEYWOOD EDITED BY A. WILSON VERITY WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY J. ADDINGTON SYMONDS •1 lie and dream of your full mermaid wine."—Beawnoni. LONDON ERNEST BENN LIMITED NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS " What things have we seen Done at the Memtiaid ! heard words that have been So nimble, and so full of subtle flame, As if that every one from whence they c&me Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest, i\nd had resolved to live a fool the rest Of his duU life." Master Francis Beaurmmt to Ben fonson. •* Souls of Poets dead and gone, What Elysium have ye known, Happy field or mossy cavern, Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern ?"' Kmts. Pritiied in Great Britain PAGE THOMAS HEYWOOD. ........ vii A WOMAN KILLED WITH KINDNESS i THE FAIR MAID OF THE WEST .75 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER. .151 THE WISE WOMAN OF HOGSDON 249 THE RAPE OF LUCRECE 327 The world's a theatre, the earth a stage, * Which God and nature doth with actors fill: Kings have their entrance in due equipage, And some their parts play well, and others ill. The best no better are (in this thedtre), Where every humour's fitted in his kind ; This a true subject acts, and that a traitor, The first applauded, and the last confined ; This plays an honest man, and that a knave, A gentle person this, and he a clown, One man is ragged, and another brave : All men have parts, and each one acts his own.
    [Show full text]
  • Thomas Heywood Was One of Shakespeare's Most Successful and Prolific Contemporaries. Charles Lamb Describes Him As a “Prose Sh
    ENGLISH 9114A: THE STAGECRAFT OF THOMAS HEYWOOD DR MARGARET JANE KIDNIE COURSE DESCRIPTION Thomas Heywood was one of Shakespeare's most successful and prolific contemporaries. Charles Lamb describes him as a “prose Shakespeare” and Heywood claims, probably truthfully, to have had “a hand or at least the main finger” in 220 plays of the period. His plays, some of them collaborative, show a sustained intertextual engagement with the drama and poetry of his contemporaries, and with Shakespeare, in particular. This course will study Heywood’s writings for the stage with close attention to his dramaturgy, his professional association with the popularist Red Bull Theatre, and to his recurrent interest in the politics of marriage and authority. The class meets on Thursdays 9:30-12:30 in ????. INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION My office is in the Old Ivey building, 3G01. Phone: 519-661-2111, ext. 85830. Office hours: Tuesdays 1:30-2:30; Wednesdays 12:30-1:30. TEACHING PROGRAMME SEPTEMBER 4 Introduction Heywood’s career on the professional English stage and the various theatrical companies with which he was associated; surviving manuscript and print drama; critical resources; available editions (with close discussion of EEBO and early modern print conventions). Assignment of seminars. 11 The Four Prentices of London The play is available online through the Weldon catalogue, either through EEBO or Tudor facsimiles. 18 Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle The New Mermaids edition is available at the Bookstore. Ten-minute seminar presentations. 25 How a Man May Choose a Good Wife from a Bad The play is available online through EEBO (Weldon catalogue).
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare and Heywood, 1603–4 an Actor, Poet, Playwright, And
    Issues in Review 175 27 Ibid, 257. 28 Throughout his career, Kemp defined his clown as a ‘plain man’. See Wiles, Shake- speare’s Clown, 100. 29 Orgel, The Authentic Shakespeare, 22. 30 John Lyly, Euphues, the Anatomie of Wit (1578), The Complete Works of John Lyly, R.W. Bond (ed.), 3 vols (Oxford, 1902), 1.180. 31 Robert Weimann, Author’s Pen and Actor’s Voice: Playing and Writing in Shakespeare’s Theatre (Cambridge, 2000), 23. 32 John Lyly, Midas (1589), The Complete Works, Bond (ed.), 3.115. 33 Arthur Brooke, The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet, 1562 (ll.161–2), repro- duced in William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, ed. Brian Gibbons (London, 1980), 244. 34 Frank Kermode, Shakespeare’s Language (London, 2001), 34. Actor, Poet, Playwright, Sharer … Rival? Shakespeare and Heywood, 1603–4 A person … competing with another for the same objective, or for superiority in the same field of activity. A person who … is arguably equal in quality or distinction to another. A person having the same objective as another, an associate. (OED: ‘Rival’, n.2 1–3: Range of definitions valid in 1603–4)1 An actor, poet, playwright, and sharer. A country boy, whose family acquired a grant of arms around the turn of the century giving him the right to be addressed as ‘gentleman’, he came to London in the early 1590s and gained work as an actor and a reputation as a playwright. In 1598 Francis Meres lauded him as among ‘the best for comedy’. He was among those who con- tributed additions and alterations to Munday’s Book of Sir Thomas More after Tilney censored it.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    Downloaded from the Humanities Digital Library http://www.humanities-digital-library.org Open Access books made available by the School of Advanced Study, University of London ***** Publication details: The Afterlife of Apuleius Edited by F. Bistagne, C. Boidin, and R. Mouren https://humanities-digital-library.org/index.php/hdl/catalog/book/afterlife-apuleius DOI: 10.14296/121.9781905670956 ***** This edition published in 2021 by UNIVERSITY OF LONDON SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom ISBN 978-1-905670-95-6 (PDF edition) This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. More information regarding CC licenses is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses THE AFTERLIFE OF APULEIUS EDITED BY F. BISTAGNE, C. BOIDIN, & R. MOUREN INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON THE AFTERLIFE OF APULEIUS BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SUPPLEMENT 140 DIRECTOR & EDITOR: GREG WOOLF THE AFTERLIFE OF APULEIUS EDITED BY FLORENCE BISTAGNE, CAROLE BOIDIN, AND RAPHAËLE MOUREN INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PRESS 2021 The cover image shows an initial letter from a manuscript in the Vatican Library: Vat. Lat. 2194, p. 65 v. Used with permission. ISBN 978-1-905670-88-8 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-905670-95-6 (PDF) ISBN 978-1-905670-96-3 (epub) © 2021 Institute of Classical Studies, University of London. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
    [Show full text]
  • University Microfilms International 300 N
    INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure you of complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark it is an indication that the film inspector noticed either blurred copy because of movement during exposure, or duplicate copy. Unless we meant to delete copyrighted materials that should not have been filmed, you will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., is part of the material being photo­ graphed the photographer has followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin filming at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to continue from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. If necessary, sectioning is continued again—beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. For any illustrations that cannot be reproduced satisfactorily by xerography, photographic prints can be purchased at additional cost and tipped into your xerographic copy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Repertory of Prince Charles's
    Early Theatre 9.2 David Nicol The Repertory of Prince Charles’s (I) Company, 1608–1625 In recent years, studies by Rosalyn L. Knutson, Scott McMillin and Sally-Beth MacLean, Mary Bly and Andrew Gurr have demonstrated that reading the repertories of individual playing companies with the plays grouped together can yield fresh insights into the companies, their plays, and the general theatre history of the period concerned.1 The first stage in such a study is determining the plays that belonged to a given company at any given time, and although much of this work was carried out in the early to mid-twentieth century by E.K. Chambers and G.E. Bentley, and has been carried forward since by others (most recently by those named above), new discoveries can still be made. In the course of an ongoing study of the actor-playwright William Rowley, I have found evidence that may expand the known repertory of one of the companies he acted for: Prince Charles’s Men, a Jacobean playing company that operated between 1608 and 1625. At present, twenty-six plays have been listed as belonging to this company, of which only eight have survived. However, fifteen more plays, eight of which are extant, may tentatively be added to the company’s repertory if the available evidence is looked at in a new light. In this article I outline the history of Prince Charles’s Men, and supply the evidence for possible additions to its repertory. The company The history of the company normally known as Prince Charles’s Men2 can be divided into four periods.3 The first period (1608–c1614), covers the early years of the company, which was formed in 1608, and by 1613 was probably performing at the Curtain in Shoreditch.
    [Show full text]
  • Narcissus (1595) and the Affair at Blackfriars
    Winter 2007 Shakespeare Matters page 1 6:2 "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments..." Winter 2007 “Tilting Under Frieries”: Narcissus (1595) and the Affair At Blackfriars ver since the printing of W.E. Buckley’s 1882 Roxburghe Club limited edition1 of Thomas Edwardes’ Cephalus & EProcris and Narcissus,2 printed from the unique Peterborough copy of the 1595 quarto, the Narcissus L’envoy has posed an enigma for literary historians. Although convoluted syntax complicates analysis, the L’envoy unambiguously functions as an honorific catalogue of major Elizabethan poets: Spenser, Daniel, and Marlowe are all implicated under their respective sobri-quets, as Collyn Clout (v.1), Rosamond (vii.1), and Leander (vii.3).3 The Shakspere Allusion Book4 identifies the passage “Adon 5 6 7 Dr. Robin Fox, Professor of Social Theory at Rutgers University and deafly masking thro,/stately troupes rich conceited” (ix.1-2) as former director of the Guggenheim Foundation headlined the 2006 a reference to the 1593 satiric epyllion Venus and Adonis and, by Joint Conference of the Shakespeare Fellowship and the synecdoche, to Shakespeare himself, an identification followed by Shakespeare Oxford Society Katherine Duncan-Jones among others.8 Stanzas immediately following the Adonis passage have, however, puzzled scholars by reference to an unidentified poet-dramatist whose “golden art” and nd “bewitching pen” should have made him “of our rime/The only 2 Annual Joint Conference object and the star” (x.5-6). Ingleby includes these stanzas in his in Ann Arbor a Success excerpt but remarks that the poet “has not been identified”: 9 Eke in purple roabes distaind, Amid’st the Center of this clime, wo distinguished visitors — Brigham Young University I have heard saie doth remaine, Scholar-in-residence Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Thomas Heywood and the Portrayal of Female Benefactors in Post-Reformation England
    Early Theatre 11.1 (2008) Robert Tittler Thomas Heywood and the Portrayal of Female Benefactors in Post-Reformation England In a modern era of scholarship, in which urban history and feminist history have come to the fore, Thomas Heywood’s plays seem more relevant than ever: those two themes were critical to his work over the entire span of his long career. Though not a city-dweller by birth, some even of his earliest works, including an early version of The Four Prentices of London of the mid-1590s, exhibit the keen observation of the metropolitan milieu which marked all his subsequent work. The lost play Joan is as Good as My Lady, written in the winter of 1598–9 and just two years after the first reference to any of his writing, may have been his first substantial play heralding the role of women. That theme reached its ultimate, but far from last, expression in the better known The Fair Maid of the West. He was still exploring that theme in the last years of his active career. These and other works are filled with candid and often detailed obser- vations about his own times, the urban milieu, and the woman’s role. Thomas Heywood’s play If you Know Not Me, You Know Nobody has several times been cited as a social document of its time.1 Its central theme, most evident in the first part, is devoted to Queen Elizabeth, on whom the playwright doted. But the second part turns to other subjects close to his heart: charity, especially as exemplified by Hobson the noble haberdasher; civic benefactions, as exempli- fied by Sir Thomas Gresham’s building of the Royal Exchange; and — albeit less conspicuously — women as noble benefactors in their own right.
    [Show full text]
  • “Here Lay My Hope”: Attribution, Collaboration
    “HERE LAY MY HOPE”: ATTRIBUTION, COLLABORATION, AND THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE THIRD ADDITION TO THE SPANISH TRAGEDY Keegan Cooper Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in the Department of English, Indiana University October 2016 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Master’s Thesis Committee ______________________________________ Dr. Terri Bourus, Chair ______________________________________ Dr. Jonathan Eller ______________________________________ Dr. April Witt ii Dedication For Mom, who first introduced me to Shakespeare and inspired me to imagine and create. For Char, Beeg, and Pops. Without your company and counsel, this thesis might not have been completed. iii Acknowledgements A huge thank you to my thesis committee: Dr. Jonathan Eller and Dr. April Witt. Your feedback in and out of class has been vital these past few years. And I cannot thank my mentors enough: my thesis chair, Dr. Terri Bourus, and Dr. Gary Taylor. Without your support and guidance over the past three years, I would not have been able to finish my educational career as successfully as I have. (And thanks for employing me too!) iv Table of Contents Introduction 1 Part 1: Backstory 3 Part 2: Control Tests 19 First Segment 25 Second Segment 42 Part 3: Conclusion 50 Bibliography 52 Curriculum Vitae v Introduction The authorship of the five additions to Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy remains a conundrum. Ben Jonson was first thought responsible, but a majority of scholars argue against his involvement.
    [Show full text]