Thank you so much for organising this, Nora. Getting other people’s takes definitely showed me things that I would not have picked up reading on my own.

My final thought is probably that I’m surprised at the 1622 date for this play. Its overall ‘feel’ for me is that it owes heaps to medieval morality plays, and if I’d read it without knowing I…[Read more]

Like most others here, I’m picking up this final act as a fantasy of purging the country of women. Donobert’s opportunity to bequeath his estate to two men, now his daughters have removed themselves from the picture. The installation of Uther as king and foretelling of his having a son without any mention, unless I missed it somewhere, of Igraine.…[Read more]

Alas, some aspect of my system absolutely refuses to let me post a picture, so instead of a witty, thowaway visual I am forced to included a laboured attachment, that hopefully is still worth a laugh.

I am completely staggered in this play by how they chose to use a pair of nubile ingénues. I kept expecting them to turn up again and have some…[Read more]

Luddite alert: I don’t have a button for inserting an image. How can I insert an image? It must be possible because Pete just did it above.

Still baffled by what a decent chap the Devil appears to be.

Since there’s been some discussion of Webster and his potential influence, Edol reminded me of Webster’s Sir Thomas Wyatt (play and character). Wyatt “would run through fire” for the sake of the true Queen, but transforms into fury and martial resolve when she follows her hormones (like Aurelius) and marries a Spaniard. I haven’t made a lines…[Read more]

I’m sorry, I broke one of the three cardinal rules and forgot to introduce myself before we got started. I’m Anna, and I want to expand my reading of Early Modern plays by playwrights other than Shakespeare. This one sounds gloriously outré enough to shoot right up to the top of the list. I’m in Sydney, so will probably post at odd times,…[Read more]

I’ve never read this, and so am finding it great fun (and surprisingly rare) to read an EM play without knowing in advance what is going to happen.

I love that Modestia is given a soliloquy, and a deeply philosophical reason, to desire a spiritual path for herself, in preference to marriage.

That is one hell of an entrance Artesia gets, and I…[Read more]