68:. The title page provides the incorrect date of 1632 for the play's first performance – perhaps an error, or perhaps a deliberate misdirection regarding a still-controversial subject. The title page also specifies that the play was "Acted at the Cock-pit, by his Majesties Servants," that is by The King and Queen's Young Company, colloquially known as Beeston's Boys after their founder
145:, a plan that would only have added to the competition faced by a struggling dramatist like Brome. In the alignment of theatrical rivalries of the day, Davenant and Brome were on opposite sides; when William Beeston lost control of his theatres and acting companies as a result of the Brome's play, control of those resources was given to Davenant by a royal warrant (27 June 1640).
191:
Frederick to marry
Charissa. Since it is a comedy, the play ends happily: the final scene delivers a masque and a dance, in which the projectors are revealed to be clothed in rags under their robes. Lady Strangelove agrees to marry the newly sane Sir Ferdinando, and Sir Andrew gives up his quest for Courtly and speculative success.
40:. It has sometimes been identified as the seditious play, performed at the Cockpit in May 1640, which the Master of the Revels moved to have suppressed. However, the play's most recent editor, Marion O'Connor, dates it to "no earlier than the end of November 1640, and perhaps in the first months of 1641".
190:
Meanwhile, Frederick, disguised as a doctor, confronts the supposedly mad Sir
Ferdinando. Rather than fight a duel, the courtier admits that he is feigning madness in a scheme to seduce Charissa while maintaining his pursuit of Lady Strangelove. Ferdinando additionally offers hush money that enables
186:
Act II introduces subsidiary characters in the satire. Swain-wit is a "blunt country gentleman;" Cit-wit is "a citizen's son who supposes himself a wit," while Court-wit is a "complementer," a devoted player of the game of fashion. Lady
Strangelove likes to be courted, by figures like Sir Ferdinando
140:
and his compulsive gambling and womanising. The play alludes to an incident in which
Suckling accepted a beating rather than fight a duel; contemporary audiences could have had little doubt as to the target of the satire. Brome also targets Davenant as the courtly hanger-on Court-Wit. At the time,
170:
The play's opening scene introduces Sir Andrew
Mendicant and his daughter Charissa. Sir Andrew is a country gentleman who has come to London, neglecting his estates in the pursuit of wealth and preferment at Court. So far, however, his attempts have proved futile, and he is reduced to a last-gasp
174:
News arrives, however, that Sir
Ferdinando has gone mad – that is to say, "more mad than all the rest" of the courtiers – apparently as a result of having his romantic suit scorned by Lady Strangelove, a "humorous widow." Sir Andrew is beset by three "projectors," who assail him with absurd
171:
strategy of marrying his daughter to the prominent courtier Sir
Ferdinando. Charissa wants no part of Sir Ferdinando; she is in love with Frederick, a young man of "valor, wit, and honour" — but no estate, which earns the scorn of Sir Andrew.
187:
or the talkative old Sir
Raphael, who "would be thought wise." Add a Doctor and a pickpocket, and much of the middle portion of the play is dedicated to verbal interplay among the assembled forces.
113:
The play is set against the speculative financial mania of the time. Britain was then enjoying, or enduring, a vigorous, perhaps an overheated financial expansion: the success of the
84:
The first was the increasingly desperate and rapacious financial manipulations employed by
Charles's administration, against growing opposition in the years leading up to the
117:
and the foundation of colonies in North
America fed a fad for ever-wilder projects – a craze that Brome would mock in another play from the same era,
110:
also mocks King Charles for failing to deal effectively with the Scottish Presbyterians, which only added to the official ire against the play.
148:
Brome's play was one element in the so-called "Second War of the Theatres," a literary conflict between professional playwrights, most notably
123:. (As is sometimes the case in such expansions, the rich got richer while the poor got poorer – a subject Brome would address in his
25:
179:, like a monopoly on peruke wigs, nuisance taxes on new fashions and female children, and a floating theatre to be built on the
129:
of 1641.) The Court fed this speculative craze by the granting of "monopolies" to various parties, for substantial fees.
344:
329:
158:, though Jonson had died the previous year. Brome was a longstanding admirer of Jonson and a member of the so-called
334:
132:
The second aspect of the satire involves Queen Henrietta's circle. Sir John Suckling is readily recognisable in
349:
159:
152:, and courtly amateurs and dilettantes like Suckling. Suckling had ridiculed Jonson in his 1638 comedy
114:
92:
80:
Brome's satire was directed at two primary targets, two aspects of Court affairs in the late 1630s:
162:; he was also the most politically assertive and sceptical of the professionals of his generation.
61:
176:
244:
96:
8:
339:
240:
236:
69:
49:
316:
contains a scholarly edition of this play, including textual and critical introductions.
85:
33:
260:
100:
57:
37:
136:
in the character of the mad Sir Ferdinando, who shares Suckling's passion for
323:
125:
119:
29:
226:
Both Suckling and Davenant would be implicated in the Army Plot in May 1641.
180:
142:
65:
154:
149:
292:
Wars of the Theatres: The Poetics of Personation in the Age of Jonson.
239:, in 1599–1601, also involved Jonson against other playwrights,
314:
278:
215:
91:
The second was the circle of favourites that clustered around Queen
141:
Davenant was promoting the project of an enormous new theatre near
137:
267:
Third edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
285:
Richard Brome: Place and Politics on The Caroline Stage.
32:. It was first performed by the acting company known as
321:
287:Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2004.
43:
294:Victoria, BC, English Literary Studies, 1998.
301:Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
72:. Beeston's Boys did not exist until 1637.
299:The Cambridge History of British Theatre.
265:The Shakespearean Stage 1574–1642.
48:The play was first published during the
322:
13:
14:
361:
305:
52:, in the 1653 Brome collection
229:
220:
201:
1:
254:
16:Play written by Richard Brome
274:: A Critical Introduction",
211:: A Critical Introduction",
7:
165:
56:, issued by the stationers
44:Publication and performance
10:
366:
115:British East India Company
28:era stage play written by
345:Henrietta Maria of France
330:English Renaissance plays
75:
194:
297:Thomson, Peter, et al.
335:Plays by Richard Brome
177:get-rich-quick schemes
312:Richard Brome Online
276:Richard Brome Online
213:Richard Brome Online
350:Plays set in London
270:O'Connor, Marian. "
237:War of the Theatres
70:Christopher Beeston
290:Steggle, Matthew.
283:Steggle, Matthew.
207:Marion O'Connor, "
95:, especially Sir
86:English Civil War
357:
272:The Court Beggar
248:
233:
227:
224:
218:
209:The Court Beggar
205:
134:The Court Beggar
108:The Court Beggar
101:William Davenant
58:Humphrey Moseley
21:The Court Beggar
365:
364:
360:
359:
358:
356:
355:
354:
320:
319:
308:
257:
252:
251:
234:
230:
225:
221:
206:
202:
197:
168:
93:Henrietta Maria
78:
62:Richard Marriot
46:
38:Cockpit Theatre
17:
12:
11:
5:
363:
353:
352:
347:
342:
337:
332:
318:
317:
307:
306:External links
304:
303:
302:
295:
288:
281:
268:
256:
253:
250:
249:
228:
219:
199:
198:
196:
193:
167:
164:
105:
104:
89:
77:
74:
54:Five New Plays
45:
42:
34:Beeston's Boys
15:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
362:
351:
348:
346:
343:
341:
338:
336:
333:
331:
328:
327:
325:
315:
313:
310:
309:
300:
296:
293:
289:
286:
282:
279:
277:
273:
269:
266:
262:
259:
258:
246:
245:Thomas Dekker
242:
238:
235:The original
232:
223:
216:
214:
210:
204:
200:
192:
188:
184:
182:
178:
172:
163:
161:
157:
156:
151:
146:
144:
139:
135:
130:
128:
127:
126:A Jovial Crew
122:
121:
120:The Antipodes
116:
111:
109:
102:
98:
97:John Suckling
94:
90:
87:
83:
82:
81:
73:
71:
67:
63:
59:
55:
51:
41:
39:
35:
31:
30:Richard Brome
27:
23:
22:
311:
298:
291:
284:
275:
271:
264:
261:Gurr, Andrew
241:John Marston
231:
222:
212:
208:
203:
189:
185:
181:River Thames
173:
169:
153:
147:
143:Fleet Street
133:
131:
124:
118:
112:
107:
106:
79:
66:Thomas Dring
53:
47:
20:
19:
18:
160:Sons of Ben
155:The Goblins
50:Interregnum
340:1640 plays
324:Categories
255:References
150:Ben Jonson
166:Synopsis
138:cribbage
99:and Sir
26:Caroline
36:at the
76:Satire
64:, and
195:Notes
24:is a
243:and
326::
263:.
183:.
60:,
280:.
247:.
217:.
103:.
88:;
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.