Episode 209:

After the failure of ‘Sejanus His Fall’ Jonson’s next play was a collaboration with John Marston and George Chapman, a new play for the Blackfriars’s theatre and it’s resident company of boy actors. Jonson maybe needed the collaboration to restore his confidence in his writing, although from what we know of his character perhaps more likely it was the hope of a decent payday that spurred him on. Returning to comedy must have been part of the attraction. Whatever the case the three playwrights managed to produce a comedy that was funny, thoughtful, moralistic and yet still controversial. The exact reasons for that controversy and the strength of reaction to the play from king James is now obscure to us, but at the time nearly cost the playwrights not only their liberty, but their ears as well.

The three authors of the play – who wrote what?

The first performance and printing of the play

A synopsis of the plot

The play as a response to ‘Westward Ho!’

The Prologue

The comparison of good and bad work ethics

The child acting companies and how their plays were received

Combining three types of play on ‘Eastward Ho’

The city comedy

The citizen comedy

The morality tale

Three journeys in the play

The voyage to Virginia

Gertrude’s journey

Golding’s rise in the city

Reference to the Roanoke settlement and the view of the New World

The fate of the adventurers after the shipwreck

The influence of the city of London and alchemy

The pairing of characters for dramatic effect

The theatrical nature of the play and Quicksilver’s redemption

The consequences of the play for the playwrights

The later performance history of the play

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