Refashioning Italian Theatrical and Dramatic Conventions: Prologues, Epilogues and Inductions in Early Modern English Drama
Elizabethan drama used a variety of introductory scenes which can be defined as inductions,[1] provided that we distinguish their dramatic and theatrical functions. In the theatre, the induction is a dramatic device, metatheatrical and metadramatic, which emphasizes the nature of the play. Richard Hosley argues that it is “a short dramatic action introducing a full-length play, normally performed by two or more actors and creating a fictional situation different from that of the play itself.”[2] According to Harbage,[3] before 1594 twenty-one plays with introductory scenes were performed or simply entered in the Stationer’s register. Eight of these plays, such as George Gascoigne’s Jocasta (1566) and George Peele’s The Battle of Alcazar (1597), present a dumb-show[4] as introductory scene; the other eight plays have what Thelma Greenfield defines as “occasional inductions,”[5] such as that of The Spanish Tragedy (1582-92). Only four plays have the induction as a frame play: the anonymous The Taming of a Shrew (1594), William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (1592), George Peele’s The Old Wives Tale (1588-1594), and Robert Greene’s The Scottish History of James IV (1590-1591). After 1594, the forms of induction registered by Harbage are forty-nine: eight in a dumb show form (such as John Marston’s Sophonisba or the Wonder of Women, 1605-1606), and only three in the form of frame play, Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607-1610), Beaumont and Fletcher and Field’s Four Moral Representations (1608-1613), and Thomas Randolph’s The Muses Looking-Glass (1630). Seventeen inductions have mainly an introductory function, presenting the play, and sometimes with its characters appearing throughout the play. One example is Thomas Dekker’s If This Be Not a Good Play the Devil Is in It (1611-1612), where the characters in the induction open and close the play. This kind of induction, is similar to the frame play, but it lacks the dramatic development of it – see, for instance, the induction to Thomas Middleton’s Michaelmas Term (1604-1606) and that to Laelia (1595), an adaptation in Latin of the French translation of Gli Ingannati and Charles Estienne’s Les Abusez (1540), performed at Queen’s College, Cambridge, in 1595. The other inductions after 1594 to the Restoration have been classified as “critical inductions,” where “human spectators appear on stage to watch a play and criticize it. Actors and tiremen rush about it in a last minute flurry before the play opens”[6] (Greenfield [1969]: 67).
The induction as dramatic and theatrical device was a way to overcome the gap between stage and audience, between make-believe and actuality, aiming at making the audience accept dramatic illusion. The induction, even though it possibly followed the Italian custom of turning prologues into a conversation, seems to gather and develop the characteristics of other introductory forms such as prologue and dumb show. The former, normally, does not contain dramatic action, whereas the latter lacks dialogue. The induction could have been influenced by the Italian prologues and epilogues, in particular by the dialogical prologues, such as Bibbiena’s La Calandria, even though in Italian Renaissance plays prologues were mainly used to disclose sources and plot, in the Terencian and Plautine traditions. Until the end of 16th century, prologues and epilogues of the Plautine and Terencian kind model themselves after Italian comedy, if not through a physical contact or a direct borrowing, then through what Louise George Clubb calls “theatergrams,” that is, “a common process based on the principle of contamination of sources, genres, and accumulated stage-structures”.[7]
Prologues and Epilogues. The Italian Comedic Tradition.
In the Italian Renaissance, the imitation of Latin literature became a principle of literary composition. Renaissance dramatists considered Plautus and Terence the supreme degree of perfection to be imitated. Not only were Latin comedies the sources for the dramatic composition (structure, plot, and characters), but also for their prologues. Both Plautus and Terence use extensively a variety of prologues:[8] four of Plautus’s comedies[9] have an expository dialogue and no narrative prologue, eight have a narrative prologue,[10] six open with a prologue,[11] which deals mainly with the “argumentum”. Unlike Plautus, Terence made the prologue independent of the play and gradually eliminated the argumentum. The prologues of commedie erudite have many similarities with those of the two Latin dramatists.
Giraldi Cinthio, in his essay Intorno al comporre delle commedie e delle tragedie (1543), emphasized how the prologue is independent of the fabula:
non si può dire tal prologo parte della favola; perché non ha legamento alcuno coll'azione che nella favola si tratta, né a quel modo si recita che si recitano l'altre parti; perocché colui che fa il prologo il fa “o” in persona del poeta, “o in commendazione della favola”, il quale non si può né si dee introdurre nell'azione.[12]
[The prologue cannot be considered part of the fabula, because it has no connections with the action treated in it; and it is not acted in the same manner as the other parts of the play. Therefore, whoever reads the prologue does it either to praise the fabula, or to act as the poet himself, who cannot and must not intrude in the action]
Whoever reads the prologue must not intrude in the action, as he speaks on behalf of the poet. The prologue is an addition made by the Romans to draw the attention of the audience and to favour their appreciation of the poet:
non imitando il prologo l'azione, riman chiarissimo ch'egli della favola non è parte, ma è una giunta postavi da' Romani per disporre gli animi degli spettatori alla attenzione, o per conciliare insieme benevolenza al poeta: “o per le altre cagioni già dette”, il che mostra il voltar del parlare che fa colui “che ha la cura” del prologo agli spettatori, la qual cosa non si può fare negli atti della favola, se non con riprensione.[13]
[as the prologue does not imitate the action, it is clear that it is not part of the fabula, but it is an addition made by the Romans to draw the attention of the spectators’ minds, or to give the poet their benevolence, or for the reasons I have already given. This is shown by the address to the audience made by the reader of the Prologue, something that cannot be done in the action of the fabula, without disapproval]
In that spirit, Ariosto prepared two different prologues to the Negromante, one for the performance to be given in Rome in 1520,[14] and another for the performance at Carnival in Ferrara in 1528, as if the circumstances affected the way the prologue had to be written and spoken. The Rome prologue contains direct references to the Pope (“De la soma virtù di Leon decimo,” “The high virtues of Leo 10th” and the city (“[Ferrara] sen’era sin qui in Roma venuta integra,” “[Ferrara] had arrived intact here in Rome”);[15] the prologue for the Ferrara performance contains both references to Ariosto’s hometown and to his plays, which were very popular at the court of Ferrara (“Autor da chi Ferrara ebbe di prossimo / La Lena; e già son quindici anni o sedeci,/ Ch’ella ebbe la Cassaria and li Suppositi,” “The author from whom recently Ferrara had La Lena, and la Cassaria e li Suppositi fifteen or sixteen years ago”.[16] Giovanni Francesco Loredano in Lo Incendio (1597) was more explicit about it when he wrote that it is a good thing to vary the Prologue according to the circumstances in which the play is given:
Sopra questa scena qual volta è accaduto far più rappresentationi di una favola, si è osservati variar prologo, sapendo che in tal materia ogni novità fatta con disegno suole apportare grandezza alla Commedia, diletto al popolo, & lode ai recitanti, & per mantenere questo buon ordine, sempre habbiamo usato diligenza di trovare invenzioni meritevoli di essere ascoltate, di ciò ne sete certi, quanto nella prova di questa, che è intitolata lo INCENDIO, vi si recitò Prologo non ingrato, & hora ne havereste un’altro, che di stile, & di materia saria stato non meno vago del primo se al nostro buon volere non si fosse opposta la presunzione di un maligno Pedagogo.[17]
[When on stage it happened that a fabula had to be performed more than once, we had also to change the prologue, knowing that in doing this every change made on purpose would bring greatness to the Comedy, amusement to the people, and praise to the players; in order to keep this order we have always tried to find inventions worthy of being heard, be sure of this; as far as this play entitled The Fire is concerned, a pleasant Prologue was performed, and now you will have another one, which, for the style and the subject, would be no less vague than the first if a spiteful Pedagogue’s presumption had not opposed to our good intentions.]
The prologue was, in the majority of cases, spoken by an actor – sometimes by the author himself, as in the prose version of Ariosto’s I Suppositi or Machiavelli’s Mandragola. Nevertheless, the prologue could be also given by two or more actors. This is the case of Pietro Aretino’s Ipocrito and La Cortigiana; or Ludovico Dolce’s Fabritia, where “due fanciulli fanno il prologo” (“two children say the prologue”),[18] or Alessandro Piccolomini’s L’amor costante. It could happen that the characters of the prologue were abstract characters, such as “la gelosia” (“Jelousy”), “il Riso” (“The Laugh”), “L’ubbidienza” (“The Obedience”), “La verità” (“The Truth”), “Tragedia” and “Commedia” (“Tragedy” and “Comedy”), “Prologo” and “Argomento” (“Prologue” and “Argument”).[19]
English Renaissance dramatists seem to have followed this two-actors kind of induction, which has been defined as allegorical,[20] which developed also from the late moralities. The Italian Renaissance prologue was an excellent inducement for English dramatists to introduce in their plays allegorical figures.[21] Between 1582 and 1604, we have a good number of plays beginning with an allegorical induction. For instance, in the anonymous A Warning to Fair Women (1599) History, Comedy, and Tragedy appear in bodily form on the stage discussing about the theme of the play.[22] In the anonymous The True Tragedy of Richard III (1594), the speakers are Truth and Poetrie who, starting from the appearance of the ghost of Clarence, first give the historical frame, then inform the audience about the events which brought Richard to the crown, and finally they present Richard. [23]
In Middleton’s Michaelmas Term (1604), allegorical representatives of the four terms of the legal year[24] are present in the induction, explaining the general purpose of the play. The induction ends with Michaelmas Term’s address to the audience.[25]
It was principally before 1600 that this kind of introductory scene was very popular.
Afterwards, starting from Marston’s Antonio and Mellida and Jonson’s Every Man Out of His Humour they had mainly the form of satirical inductions, a vehicle of criticism and satire which contributed to the so called “war of the theatres”. For example in the induction to Every Man Out of His Humour, Ben Jonson first attacks the audience:
Now gentlemen I goe
To turne an Actor, and a Humorist,
Where (ere I doe resume my present person)
We hope to make the circles of your eies
Flow with distilled laughter: if we faile,
We must impute it to this onely chance,
Art hath an enemie cal’d Ignorance.[26]
Then he considers the theory of comedy, illustrating its development:
Mit. Does he observe all the lawes of Comedie in it?
Card. Wathe lawes meane you?
Mit. Why the equall devision of it into Actas and Scenes,
According to the Terentian manner, his true number of Actors: the furnishing of the scene with Grex or Chorus, and that the whole Argument fall within compasse of a daies efficience powee: but ‘tis extant, that that which wee call Comedia, was at first nothing but a simple and continues Satyre, sung by one only person, till Susario, invented a second, after him Epicharmus a third, Phormus (long after) added a fifth and sixt: Eupolis more, Aristophane more than they: every man in the dignitie of his spirit and judgement, supplied something: and (though that in him this kind of Poeme appeared absolute, and fully perfected) yet how is the face of it chang’d since, in Menander, Philemon, Cecilius, Plautus, and the rest; who have utterly excluded the Chorus, altered the propertie of the persons, their names, and natures, and augmented it with all libertie, according to the elegancie and disposition of those times wherein they wrote. I see not then but we should enjoy the same Licentia or free power, to illustrate and heighten our invention as they did; and not to be tied to those strict and regular forms, which the nicenesse of a fewe (who are nothing but Forme) would thrust upon us.[27] (STC 14767, B4v)
Another kind of induction is the framing induction. It developed partly from the allegorical kind, and partly from the framed tale and the play-within-the play. These inductions differ from the allegorical ones, as the characters which appear in it are not allegorical but human. In general, these inductions provide a framework for the presentation of the play. Among them the anonymous The Taming of a Shrew; Robert Greene’s The Scottish History of James IV, with the return of Bohan from tomb, his conversation with Oberon and his invitation to the King of Fairies to see a play he has written about King James IV, which explains why he hates all the world; and George Peele’s The Old Wives Tale, where Frolick, Antick and Fantastic lost in the wood meet an old woman, Madge, who is asked to tell a story, but she cannot remember it and the characters of the story act it out for her; Anthony Munday’s The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, with an induction which starts from the idea that the play is a rehearsal for a performance to be given before Henry VIII. The function of the induction in all these plays is that of providing a framework to the main plot of the play.
The induction seems to have some relationship with Italian prologues, both from a dramatic and theatrical perspective. It is in the dialogic prologue that we can find a kind of relation with the theatrical form of the induction. The above quoted prologues to Piccolomini’s L’amor costante, with a Spaniard commenting the on organization of the performance and his involvement in the production, and the prologue to Pietro Aretino’s La cortigiana with a Forestiero and a Gentiluomo discussing the “pomposo apparato” could have offered more than a mere example to Early Modern English drama. Also the introductory part to Lasca’s La strega, as Marvin Herrick has noted, has an introduction-like structure “similar to those later used by Ben Jonson, Shakespeare, and other Elizabethan playwrights”.[28] (Herrick [1960]: 137).
The popularity of these introductory scenes is witnessed also by University[29] drama and by the so called “closet plays”, never published or never performed. The importance of the University plays[30] in the transition of the Italianate comedic tradition goes beyond their aesthetical value. These plays, amateurish and duly imitative, extensively used prologues, choruses, songs, and epilogues.
The anonymous Laelia, which is extant in MS.,[31] was acted at Queen’s College, Cambridge probably on March 1st, 1595. Even if it is a translation, in Latin, of Charles Estienne’s French translation of Gli Ingannati, Les Abusez, the prologue is not that of the Italian play, nor is the epilogue. The prologue, probably written for the performance before the noble visitors of 1595, is a dialogue between Panneus and Sericus. It is meant to introduce the plot of the play: “Pan. Prologus sum. Venio narratum argumentum fabulae” (l. 3) (“Pan. I am the Prologue. I come to tell the argument of the play”).[32] The epilogue, spoken by Petrus is the classical Plautus-like epilogue meant to invite the audience to applaud:
“Petrus Nostrae extremum iam actum tanquam Audiuisti comediae […] (Honoratissimi viri, onoratissimi, inquam, et grauissimi viri)/ Cum meo Cicerone plausum date,/ Vel potius cum Plauto, plaudite” (l. 78, 81-83)
[“Petrus You have heard the final act of this comedy, most noble men, most noble I say, and most notable men, give your applause with my Cicero, or rather applaud with Plautus”].[33]
Another example is the anonymous Philomela, performed on 29th December 1607, at St. John’s College, Oxford, which survives only in MS.[34] The St. John’s anonymous dramatist took his material directly from Book VI of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. The play, a comedy of the neo-Plautine type, is set in Athens and Megara, a university town, a transparent disguise for Oxford. The first act is preceded by an “Induction Fortunae” and by a chorus (Terra and Unda). The plays ends with a speech by Fortuna (not headed as epilogue).
William Percy’s plays, which survive only in a Ms,[35] housed at the Huntington Library, present both prologues and epilogues. Among them is A Country Tragedy in Vacunium or Cupid’s Sacrifice (ca. 1602), which was probably privately acted. The play opens with a chorus of eight lovers, who sing a hymn to Cupid. Then the Presenter addresses a prayer to Cupid. The Chorus sits on either side of the stage, and the Presenter speaks the prologue, a mere plea for favour towards the play. The chorus intervenes at the end of each act with a song. The play ends with an epilogue divided into two parts: the argument between the Presenter and the Chorus whether the classical rules have been violated or not, and the songs sung by the Chorus.
Periander[36] is a tragedy based at first hand on a Greek original, such as Herodotus or Diogenes Laertius. The play opens with a chorus, a dialogue between The Master of the Revels, The Master of the Revels boy, Detraction and Resolution. The Master of the revels asks the boy “What’s your play nowe”, and the boy presents the play as a tragedy in English. Detraction, seated among the spectators shouts “Hisses” in disapproval (and continues: “Poxe: begin your play, and leaue your pratinge”). The Master of Revels and Detraction start to argue:
D. I haue heard your play repeated man, tis not so worshipfull stuffe as is expected
Mr. T’is to good for you sir.
D. And to bad for this Audience.[37]
Then Resolution intervenes, sent by His Lord (“My lorde sends to knowe what noyse this is.”). The Master of Revels accuses Detraction not to let the play begin, but Resolution says that “He is indeed an Epitome of all the fowle mouthe’s in a whole vniversity”. Then The Master of Revels exits. Resolution invites Detraction to act with him as chorus: “Thou and I wil be Chorus, they shall not hold: they’l speake to gravely for vs, and to wisely for the tyme”.
These introductory scenes seem to have been influenced by the allegorical prologues of Italian comedy. The University plays, but also the closet plays, which should be seen as a sort of cultural phenomenon, had an important role in the diffusion of Italian Renaissance dramatic and theatrical conventions. Both professional and academic playwrights were, in large number, coming from Oxford and Cambridge, where, both as spectator and as actors, when not as dramatists, they had experienced college plays.
What I have tried to show in this essay is how also theatrical conventions such as prologues and inductions can be indebted to Italian theatre. Even though the introductory scenes so popular in Early modern English drama such as prologues and inductions (along with epilogues and choruses), have certainly developed from a medieval tradition, they represent a device which derives also from Italianate comedic conventions.
WORKS CITED
Anonymous, The True Tragedy of Richard III, London, 1594.
Anonymous, A Warning to Fair Women, London, 1599.
Anonymous, Laelia, edited by George C. Moore Smith, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1910.
Anonymous, Laelia edited by Horst-Dieter Blume, Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 1991.
Ariosto, Ludovico, Opere minori, edited by Luigi Polidori, Firenze, Le Monnier, 1857.
Ariosto, Ludovico, Opere Minori, edited by Cesare Segre, Milano-Napoli, Ricciardi, 1964.
Boas, Frederick S., University drama in the Tudor age, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1914.
Boas Frederick S., The Christmas Prince, The Malone Society reprints, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1922.
Cioni, Fernando, “Stages at the University of Cambridge in Tudor England”, in English Renaissance Scenes, edited by Paola Pugliatti and Alessandro Serpieri, Oxford, Peter Lang, 2006, pp. 127-154.
Clubb, Louise George, Italian Drama in Shakespeare’s Time, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1989.
Creizenach, Willheim, The English drama in the age of Shakespeare, London, Sidwick & Jackson, 1916, pp. 276-277.
Dolce, Ludovico, Fabritia, Venezia, 1549.
Fabia, Philippe, Les Prologues de Terence, Ernest Thorin, Paris 1888.
Giraldi Cinthio, Giovan Battista, Intorno al comporre delle commedie e delle tragedie (1543), in Commedie del Cinquecento, edited by Aldo Borlenghi, Rizzoli, Milano 1959, vol. I.
Goggio, Emilio, “The Prologue in the Commedie Erudite of the Sixteenth Century”, Italica, 18 (1941) pp. 124-132.
Greenfield, Thelma, The Induction in Elizabethan Drama, Eugene, The University of Oregon Press, 1969.
Harbage, Alfred, Annals of English Drama, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1940.
Herrick, Marvin T., Italian comedy in the Renaissance, Urbana, Illinois University Press, 1960.
Hillebrand, Harold N., “William Percy: An Elizabethan Amateur”, The Huntington Library Quarterly 1 (1938), pp. 391-416.
Hosley, Richard, “Was There a ‘Dramatic Epilogue’ to The Taming of the Shrew?, Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 1 (1961), pp. 17-34.
Jonson, Ben, Every Man Out of His Humour, London 1600.
Loredano, Giovanni Francesco, Lo Incendio, Venezia, 1597.
Mehl, Dieter, The Elizabethan Dumb Show, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 1966.
Middleton, Thomas, Michaelmas Term, edited by Theodore B. Leinwand, in The Collected Works, edited by Gary Taylor and John Lavagnino, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2007.
Moore Smith, George C., College plays performed in the university of Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1923.
Taylor, Michael, “Notes”, in Thomas Middleton, A Mad World, My Master and other plays, edited by Michael Taylor, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 318).
APPENDIX
The following table summarizes the presence of introductory scenes (such as inductions, dumb shows, choruses, prologues, epilogues, etc.) in early modern English drama from 1516 to 1642: 308 plays written and/or performed before the closing of the theatres (including ten manuscripts, seventeen Latin plays, and a play not classified by Greg, Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, that have the same entry of the anonymous The Taming of a Shrew), from a total of 836 plays in English – including manuscripts – and 22 in Latin.
The first column is devoted to the name of the author, or the authors. When is a collaborative play the names are indicated with surname and the initials. When an author has the main hand, he is placed in the first place, followed by “with” (i.e. “Fletcher, with Beaumont”). Anonymous is used when the authorship is unknown.
The second column is devoted to title as they appear on the front page of a published playtext, or on the first page of a manuscript. When a play is an adaptation of another play, the title of the adapted play is given in brackets.
The third column supplies the year of publication (or the only extant early edition) and of the first performance (A). When a play was not published individually, “collection” follows the year of publication. When a play has been revised, the date is supplied after the date of the first publication and performance. For manuscripts, the approximate date of the manuscript is given.
The fourth column supplies a rough classification of the play as classified in Alfred Harbage’s Annals of English Drama, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 1940;
The fifth column supplies the place of the first performance (theatre, college, etc.), or the name of the professional company that performed the play; “closet” means the plays was not written to be performed;
The sixth column gives the entry in the “Short title catalogue”, the catalogue of printed texts published in England until 1700.
The seventh column gives the entry as in W.W. Greg’s A Bibliography of the English Printed Drama to the Restoration, The Bibliographical Society, London 1939-59, 4 vol. (MS stands for manuscript, L for plays in Latin);
The eight column describes the kind of introductory scene in each play; “conclusion” means a not headed epilogue; “in form of a dialogue” means a prologue or epilogue with more than one actor performing them.
Prologues, inductions, choruses, dumb shows in Early Modern English drama (1512-1642)
Author |
Title |
Year |
Dramatic genre |
Place of performance |
STC |
Greg |
Notes |
|
|
1. |
Merbury, Francis (?) |
The Marriage between Wit and Wisdom |
1579 |
Moral Interlude |
Unknown |
MS |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
|
2. |
Anon. |
Revival of Three Plays in One? (Seven deadly sin) |
1590 c. |
Moral |
Strange’s |
MS |
Two introductory scenes, conclusion and epilogue |
|
|
3. |
Anon. |
Laelia |
1595 MS |
Latin comedy |
Queen’s College, Cambridge |
MS |
Prologue (dialogue between Penneus and Sericus), Epilogue (not headed) |
|
|
4. |
Anon. |
Philomela |
1607 A 29 Dic. 1607 |
Latin tragedy |
St. John’s College, Oxford |
MS |
Induction and conclusion by Fortuna |
|
|
5. |
Percy William |
A Country Tragedy in Vacunium or Cupid’s Sacrifice |
1602 |
Tragedy |
Privately acted? |
MS |
Chorus, prologue, chorus at the end of each act, epilogue in form of a dialogue |
|
|
6. |
Sansbury, John |
Periander |
1608 |
Tragedy |
St. John’s Col., Oxford |
MS |
Induction (Chorus), chorus at the end of each act, with epilogue an conclusion |
|
|
7. |
Willmot, R. Stalford, Hatton, Noel, G. Al. |
Gismond of Salerne |
1566 or 1568 P 1591 |
Tragedy |
Inner Temple |
MS |
Prologue spoken by Cupid, epilogue |
|
|
8. |
Anonymous |
Narcissus. A Twelfth Night Merriment |
1603 |
Farce |
St. John College, Oxford |
MS |
Induction, song, prologue, epilogue |
|
|
9. |
Anonymous |
The Dead Man’s Fortune |
1590 c. |
Romantic Comedy |
Admiral’s |
MS |
Prologue |
|
|
10. |
Anonymous |
Frederick and Basilea |
1597 |
Romance |
Admiral’s performed at the Rose |
MS |
Prologue and epilogue spoken by Richard Alleyn |
|
|
11. |
Gager, William |
Meleager |
1592 A 1582 |
Latin Tragedy |
Christ Church, Oxford |
STC 11515 |
L2 |
Chorus at the end of each act, two prologues and one epilogue (+ two prologues for the performance before Queen Elizabeth in 1592) |
|
12. |
Gager, William |
Ulysses Redux |
1592 A 1592 |
Latin Tragedy |
Christ Church, Oxford |
STC 11516 |
L4 |
Chorus, Prologue and epilogue |
|
13. |
Gwinne, Matthew |
Nero Tragoedia Nova |
1603 A 1603 |
Latin tragedy |
St. John’s Col., Oxford |
STC 12553 |
L5 |
Prologue and epilogue spoken by Nemesis, chorus and introductory dumb show |
|
14. |
Gwinne, Matthew |
Vertumnus |
1607 A 1605 |
Latin Play |
St John’s men at Christ Church, Oxford |
STC 12555 |
L6 |
Epilogue and a dialogue for the King’s entrance |
|
15. |
Ruggle, George |
Ignoramus |
1630 A 1615 |
Civic pageant |
London |
STC 21445 |
L8 |
Two prologues in form of a dialogue, epilogue |
|
16. |
Stub, Edmund |
Fraus Honesta |
1632 A 1619 |
Latin Comedy |
Trinity College, Cambridge |
STC 23374 |
L10 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
17. |
Alabaster, William |
Roxana (Adapt. Groto La Dalida) |
1632 A 1592 |
Latin Tragedy |
Trinity College, Cambridge |
STC 249 |
L11 |
Chorus in each act |
|
18. |
Hausted, Peter |
Senile Odiu, |
1633 A 1631 |
Latin Comedy |
Queen’s College, Cambridge |
STC 12936 |
L12 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
19. |
Hutton, Leonard (?) |
Bellum Grammaticale |
1635 A 1582 |
Latin Allegory |
Christ Church, Oxford in 1592 |
STC 12418 |
L13 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
20. |
Hawkesworth, Walter |
Labyrinthus (adap. Della Porta La Cintia) |
1636 A 1603 |
Latin Comedy |
Trinity College, Cambridge |
STC 12956 |
L14 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
21. |
Cowley, Abraham |
Naufragium Ioculare |
1638 A 1638 |
Latin Comedy |
Trinity College, Cambridge |
STC 5905 |
L15 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
22. |
Randolph, Thomas (?) completata da Richard Brathwait (?) |
Cornelianum Dolium |
1638 A 1638 |
Latin Comedy |
Unknown |
STC 20691 |
L16 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
23. |
Snelling, Thomas |
Thibaldus (Pharamus) |
1640 A 1640 |
Latin Tragedy |
St John’s College, Oxford |
STC 22888 |
L17 |
Chorus at the end of each act, except the last one |
|
24. |
Brathwait, Richard |
Mercurius Britannicus |
1641 A 1641 |
Latin Political Comedy |
Closet |
STC B4269 |
L18 |
Epilogue |
|
25. |
Hacket, John |
Loyola |
1648 A 1623 |
Latin Comedy |
Trinity College, Cambridge |
H170 |
L19 |
Praeludium, two prologues |
|
26. |
Anonymous |
Stoicus Vapulans |
1648 A 1618 |
Latin Moral |
St John’s College, Cambridge |
H170 |
L20 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
27. |
Anonymous |
Cancer (adapt. . Salviati Il Granchio) |
1648 A 1612 |
Latin Comedy |
Trinity College, Cambridge |
H170 |
L21 |
Prologue |
|
28. |
Anonymous |
Paria |
1648 A 1628 |
Latin Comedy |
Trinity College, Cambridge |
H170 |
L22 |
Two prologues, one epilogue, one prologue-like argomentum |
|
29. |
Medwall, Henry |
1 Fulgens and Lucrece |
1512-1516 A 1497 |
Romantic interlude |
Morton’s house (?) |
STC 17778 |
1 |
Dialogue between A and B, probable Induction |
|
30. |
Medwall, Henry |
2 Fulgens and Lucrece |
1512-1516 A 1497 |
Romantic interlude |
Morton’s house (?) |
STC 17778 |
2 |
Dialogue between A and B, probable Induction |
|
31. |
Rastell, John |
The Nature of Four Elements |
1526-1527 A 1517 |
Didactic interlude |
Unknown |
STC 20722 |
6 |
Prologue |
|
32. |
Rastell, John |
1 Gentleness and Nobility |
1529 A 1527 |
Dialogue |
Rastel’s stage (?) |
STC 20723 |
8 |
Epilogue |
|
33. |
Rastell, John |
2 Gentleness and Nobility |
1529 A 1527 |
Dialogue |
Rastel’s stage (?) |
STC 20723 |
9 |
Epilogue |
|
34. |
Anonymous |
Andria (tr. Terence) |
1530 c. A 1520 |
Comedy |
Closet |
STC 23894 |
12 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
35. |
Bale, John |
The Chief Promise of God |
1547-1548 A 1538 |
Anthi-Catholic Mystery |
St. Stephen, Canterbury |
STC 1305 |
22 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
36. |
Bale, John |
The Temptation of Christ |
1547-1548 A 1538 |
Anthi-Catholic Mystery |
St. Stephen, Canterbury |
STC 1279 |
23 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
37. |
Bale, John |
The Three Laws |
1547-1548 A 1538 |
Anthi-Catholic Mystery |
St. Stephen, Canterbury |
STC 1287 |
24 |
Prologue |
|
38. |
Heywood, Jasper |
Troas |
1559 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 22227 |
28 |
Chorus at the end of each act, except the last one, Prologue |
|
39. |
Heywood, Jasper |
Thyestes |
1560 A 1560 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 22227 |
29 |
Chorus at the end of each act, except the last one |
|
40. |
Anonymous |
Nice Wanton |
1560 A 1550 |
Unknown |
Paul’s at Court |
STC 25016 |
31 |
Prologue |
|
41. |
Anonymous |
Godly Queen Hester |
1561 A 1527 |
Biblical Interlude |
Unknown |
STC 13251 |
33 |
Prologue |
|
42. |
Heywood, Jasper |
Hercules furens (tr. Seneca) |
1561 A 1561 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 22223 |
34 |
Chorus at the end of each act, except the last one |
|
43. |
Neville, Alexander |
Oedipus (tr. Seneca) |
1563 A 1563 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 22225 |
36 |
Chorus at the end of act I, III, IV |
|
44. |
Sackwille T. and T . Norton |
Gorboduc (Ferrex and Porrex) |
1565 A 1562 |
Tragedy |
Inner Temple |
STC 18684 |
39 |
dumb show before each act, Chorus at the end of each act, except the last one |
|
45. |
Anonymous |
King Darius |
1565 1565 |
Protestant Moral |
Unknown |
STC 6277 |
40 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
46. |
Wever, R. |
Lusty Juventus |
1565 a. A 1550 |
Anti-Catholic moral interlude |
Unknown |
STC 25149 |
41 |
Prologue |
|
47. |
Studley, John |
Agamemnon |
1566 A 1566 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 22222 |
42 |
Chorus at the end of each act, except the last one |
|
48. |
Studely, John |
Medea (tr. Seneca) |
1566 a. A 1566 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 22224 |
44 |
Chorus at the end of each act, except the last one |
|
49. |
Nuce, Thomas |
Octavia (tr. Seneca) |
1566 A 1566 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 22229 |
45 |
Chorus at the end of act I and IV |
|
50. |
Udall, Nicholas |
Ralph Roister Doister |
1566 ? A 1552 |
Comedy |
Unknown (Windsor Boys?) |
STC 24508 |
46 |
Prologue, final song |
|
51. |
Wager, Lewis |
The Repentance of Mary Magdalene |
1566 A 1558 |
Moral-biblical interlude |
Unknown |
STC 24932 |
47 |
Prologue |
|
52. |
Wager, W. (?) |
The Trial of Treasure |
1567 A 1567 |
Moral interlude |
Unknown |
STC 24271 |
49 |
Prologue |
|
53. |
Fulwell, Ulpian |
Like Will to Like |
1568 a. A 1568 |
Moral interlude |
Unknown |
STC 11473 |
50 |
Prologue, final song |
|
54. |
Udall, Nicholas (?) or Hunnis, W. (?) |
Jacob and Esau |
1568 A 1554 |
Biblical interlude |
Unknown (boys) |
STC 14327 |
51 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
55. |
Phillip, John |
Patient and Meek Grissil |
1569 A 1559 |
Comedy |
Unknown |
STC 19865 |
52 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
56. |
Wager, W. |
The Longer thou Livest the More Fool thou Art |
1569 A 1559 |
Protestant Moral |
Unknown |
STC 24935 |
53 |
Prologue |
|
57. |
Ingeland, Thomas |
The Disobedient Child |
1569 A 1560 |
Interlude |
Unknown |
STC 14085 |
54 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
58. |
Preston, Thomas |
Cambises |
1569 A 1561 |
Tragedy |
Corte (?) |
STC 20287 |
56 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
59. |
Wager, W. |
Enough is as Good as a Feast |
1565-1570 A 1560 |
Protestant moral |
Unknown |
STC 24933 |
57 |
Prologue |
|
60. |
Edwards, Richard |
Damon and Pithias |
1571 A 1564 |
Tragicomedy |
Merton College Oxford |
STC 7514 |
58 |
Prologue, final song |
|
61. |
Anonymous |
New Custom |
1573 A 1571 |
Protestant moral |
Unknown |
STC 6150 |
59 |
Prologue |
|
62. |
Gascoigne, George |
Supposes |
1573 collection A 1566 |
Comedy |
Gray’s Inn |
STC 11635 |
60 |
Prologue |
|
63. |
Gascoigne, George Kinwelmershe, F. |
Jocasta |
1573 collection A 1566 |
Tragedy |
Gray’s Inn |
STC 11635 |
61 |
Each act is preceded by a dumb show and followed by a chorus, epilogue |
|
64. |
Anon. |
Comoedia. A work in ryme contayning an Interlude of Minds |
1574 c. A c 1574 |
Protestant moral |
Closet |
STC 18550 |
64 |
Seventeen chapters, the first one headed as prologue, and the last three form the conclusion. |
|
65. |
B[ower?], R[ichard] |
Appius and Virginia |
1575 A 1564 |
Classical moral |
Westminster boys (?) |
STC 1059 |
65 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
66. |
Stevenson, W. (?) |
Gammer Gurton’s Needle |
1575 A 1553 |
Comedy |
Christ’s College Cambridge |
STC 23263 |
67 |
Prologue |
|
67. |
Gascoigne, George |
The Glass of Government |
1575 A 1575 |
Moral allegory |
Closet |
STC 11643 |
68 |
Prologue and epilogue, chorus after each act except the last one |
|
68. |
Anonymous |
Common Conditions |
1576 A 1576 |
Heroical moral |
Unknown |
STC 5592 |
69 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
69. |
Wapull, George |
The Tide Tarrieth no Man |
1576 A 1576 |
Moral |
Unknown |
STC 25018 |
70 |
Prologue |
|
70. |
Golding, Arthur |
Abraham’s Sacrifice |
1577 A 1575 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 2047 |
71 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
71. |
Lupton, Thomas |
All for Money |
1578 A 1577 |
Satirical moral |
Unknown |
STC 16949 |
72 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
72. |
Woodes, Nathaniel |
The Conflict of Conscience |
1581 A 1572 |
Protestant moral |
Unknown |
STC 25966 |
78 |
Prologue, act VI as a sort of chorus/epilogue, single speech by Nuntius |
|
73. |
Studley, John |
Hyppolitus |
1581 (collection) A 1567 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 22221 |
80 |
Chorus at the end of each act, except the last one |
|
74. |
Studley, John |
Hercules Oeataeus |
1581 (collection) A 1566 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 22221 |
81 |
Chorus |
|
75. |
Lyly, John |
Sappho and Phao |
1584 A 1583 |
Classical legend (comedy) |
Oxford’s boys |
STC 17086 |
82 |
Two prologues and one epilogue |
|
76. |
Peele, George |
The Arraignment of Paris |
1584 A 1581 |
Classical legend (pastoral) |
Chapel at Court |
STC 19530 |
83 |
Prologue and epilogue. Epilogue in Latin |
|
77. |
Lyly, John |
Campaspe |
1584 A 1583 |
Classical legend (comedy) |
Oxford’s boys |
STC 17047.5 |
84 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
78. |
R.W. (Robert Wilson) |
The Three Ladies of London |
1584 A 1581 |
Moral |
Unknown |
STC 25784 |
85 |
Prologue |
|
79. |
Munday, Anthony |
Fedele e Fortunio |
1585 A 1584 |
Comedy |
At Court |
STC 19447 |
86 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
80. |
Hughes T. with Bacon, Trotte, Fullwek, Lancaster, Yelverton, Penroodocke and Flower |
The Misfortunes of Arthur |
1587 A 1588 |
Tragedy |
Gray’s Inn at Court |
STC 13921 |
89 |
Epilogue, chorus at the end of each act except the last one, dumb show before each act |
|
81. |
Anonymous |
Love and Fortune |
1589 A 1582 |
Mythological moral |
Derby’s at Court |
STC 24286 |
92 |
First act has the structure of an induction, its characters act as a sort of chorus at the end of the next three acts and join the other characters in the last one |
|
82. |
R.W. (Robert Wilson) |
The Three Lords of London |
1590 A 1588 |
Moral |
Queen’s |
STC 25783 |
93 |
Prologue |
|
83. |
Marlowe, Christopher |
1 Tamburlaine |
1590 A 1587 |
Heroical romance |
Admiral’s |
STC 17425 |
94 |
Prologue |
|
84. |
Marlowe, Christopher |
2 Tamburlaine |
1590 A 1588 |
Heroical romance |
Admiral’s |
STC 17425 |
95 |
Prologue |
|
85. |
Fraunce, Abraham |
Amynta’s Pastoral (tr. Tasso) |
1591 A 1591 |
Pastoral |
Closet |
STC 11340 |
97 |
Chorus and epilogue |
|
86. |
Lyly, John |
Endymion |
1591 A 1588 |
Classical legend (comedy) |
Paul’s at Court |
STC 17050 |
99 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
87. |
Anonymous |
1 The Troublesome Raigne of King John |
1591 A 1588 |
History |
Queen’s |
STC 14644 |
101 |
Prologue |
|
88. |
Anonymous |
2 The Troublesome Raigne of King John |
1591 A 1591 |
History |
Queen’s |
STC 14645 |
102 |
Prologue |
|
89. |
Wilmot R., Stafford, Hatton, Noel, Al.,G. |
Tancred and Gismund |
1591 A 1566 |
Senecan Tragedy |
Innert Temple |
STC 25764 |
104 |
Two prologues, one epilogue, chorus at the end of each act except the last one |
|
90. |
Lyly, John |
Gallathea |
1592 A1585 |
Classical legend (comedy) |
Paul’s |
STC 17080 |
105 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
91. |
Lyly, John |
Midas |
1592 A 1589 |
Comedy |
Paul’s |
STC 17083 |
106 |
Prologue |
|
92. |
Anonymous |
Arden of Feversham |
1592 A 1591 |
Realistic tragedy |
Unknown |
STC 733 |
107 |
Epilogue |
|
93. |
Herbert, Mary |
Antonius |
1592 A 1590 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 18138 |
108 |
Chorus at the end of each act except the last one |
|
94. |
Anon. (T. Kyd?) |
The Tragedy of Soliman and Perseda |
1592 A 1589 |
Tragedy |
Unknown |
STC 22894 |
109 |
Chorus |
|
95. |
Kyd, Thomas |
The Spanish Tragedy |
1592 A 1587 |
Tragedy |
Strange’s, Admiral’s |
STC 15086 |
110 |
Chorus in form of a dialogue between Revenge and the ghost of Andrea at the beginning and at the end of each act. |
|
96. |
Kyd, Thomas |
Cornelia |
1594 A 1594 |
Tragedy |
Closet (?) |
STC 11622 |
116 |
Chorus at the beginning and at the end of each act except the last one. |
|
97. |
Lodge, Thomas, Greene, Robert |
A Looking-Glass for London and England |
1594 A 1590 |
Biblical moral |
Queen’s (?) |
STC 16679 |
118 |
Chorus |
|
98. |
Shakespeare, William |
The Taming of the Shrew |
1623 collection A 1594 |
Comedy |
Sussex’s? Chamberlain’s |
STC 22273 |
120a |
Induction |
|
99. |
Anonymous |
The Taming of a Shrew |
1594 |
Comedy |
Queen’s? |
STC 23667 |
120 |
Induction, interludes, conclusion |
|
100. |
Anon. |
The True Tragedy of Richard the Third |
1594 A 1591 |
History |
Queen’s |
STC 21009 |
126 |
Induction and conclusion |
|
101. |
Peele, George |
The Battle of Alcazar |
1594 A 1589 |
Foreign History |
Admiral’s |
STC 19531 |
127 |
Prologue and dumb show |
|
102. |
Greene, Robert (?) |
1 Selimus |
1594 A 1592 |
Heroical romance |
Unknown |
STC 2310a |
130 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
103. |
Anonymous |
The Wars of Cyrus |
1594 A 1588 |
Classical history |
Chapel |
STC 6160 |
131 |
Prologue (misplaced ten pages after the beginning of the play) |
|
104. |
Daniel, Samuel |
Cleopatra |
1594 A 1593 Revised 1607 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 6254 |
132 |
Chorus at the end of each act, except the last one |
|
105. |
Anonymous |
Pedlar’s Prophecy |
1595 A 1561 |
Protestant Moral |
Unknown |
STC 25782 |
134 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
106. |
W. S.” (Peele? Greene?) |
Locrine |
1591 A 1594 |
Pseudo‑history |
Unknown |
STC 21528 |
136 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
107. |
Peele, George |
The Old Wives Tale |
1595 A 1590 |
Romance |
Queen’s |
STC 19545 |
137 |
Induction |
|
108. |
Shakespeare, William |
Romeo and Juliet |
1597 A 1595 |
Tragedy |
Chamberlain’s |
STC 22322 |
143 |
Prologue and chorus |
|
109. |
Lyly, John |
The Woman in the Moon |
1597 A 1593 |
Comedy |
Unknown |
STC 17090 |
144 |
Prologue |
|
110. |
Brandon, Samuel |
The Virtuous Octavia |
1598 A 1598 |
Tragicomedy |
Closet |
STC 3544 |
147 |
Chorus at the end of each act except the last one |
|
111. |
Greene, Robert |
The Scottish History of James I V |
1598 A 1590 |
History |
Queen’s? |
STC 12308 |
149 |
Induction and chorus |
|
112. |
Anon. |
Mucedorus and Amadine |
1598 rev. 1610 A 1590 |
Romantic comedy |
Unknown (Queen’s men? Pembroke’s ? Sussex’s ?) (King’s 1610) |
STC 18230 |
151 |
Induction and epilogue, Prologue added later |
|
113. |
Heywood, Thomas (?) and others (?) |
1 Edward IV |
1599 A 1599 |
History |
Derby’s |
STC 13341 |
153 |
Chorus |
|
114. |
Heywood, Thomas (?) and others (?) |
2 Edward IV |
1599 A 1599 |
History |
Derby’s |
STC 13341 |
154 |
Chorus |
|
115. |
Anon. (T. Heywood ?) |
A Warning for Fair Women |
1599 A 1599 |
Tragedy |
Chamberlain’s |
STC 25089 |
155 |
Induction, prologue, dumb show, epilogue |
|
116. |
Greene, Robert |
Alphonsus King of Aragon |
1599 A 1587 |
Heroical romance |
Unknown |
STC 12233 |
156 |
Induction and conclusion |
|
117. |
Anonymous (T. Preston?) Peele |
Clymon and Clamydes |
1599 A 1570 |
Heroical romance |
Revived by Queen’s (?) |
STC 5450a |
157 |
Prologue |
|
118. |
Peele, George |
The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe |
1599 A 1587 |
Heroical romance |
Unknown |
STC 19540 |
160 |
Prologue and chorus |
|
119. |
Porter, Henry |
The Two Angry Women of Abingdon |
1599 A 1598 |
Comedy |
Unknown |
STC 20123 |
161 |
Prologue |
|
120. |
Dekker, Thomas |
The Pleasant Comedy of Old Fortunatus |
1600 1599 |
Comedy |
Admiral’s |
STC 6517 |
162 |
Prologue in forma of a dialogue (at court), final song, epilogue (at court) |
|
121. |
Jonson, Ben |
Every Man out of his Humour |
1600 A 1599 |
Comedy |
Chapel |
STC 14767 |
163 |
Induction (frame play), epilogue |
|
122. |
Anonymous (Day?, Lyly?) |
The Maid’s Metamorphosis |
1600 A 1600 |
Comedy |
Paul’s |
STC 17188 |
164 |
Prologue |
|
123. |
Shakespeare, William |
Henry V |
1600 A 1599 |
History |
Chamberlain’s |
STC 22289 |
165 |
F1 1623: Prologue and chorus |
|
124. |
Drayton, Hathway, Munday, Wilson |
Sir John Oldcastle |
1600 A1599 |
History |
Chamberlain’s |
STC 18795 |
166 |
Prologue |
|
125. |
Shakespeare, William |
2 Henry IV |
1600 A 1597 |
History |
Chamberlain’s |
STC 22288 |
167 |
Induction |
|
126. |
Anon. (T. Dekker in part?) |
The Weakest Goeth to the Wall |
1600 A 1600 |
Pseudo‑history |
Oxford’s |
STC 25144 |
171 |
Prologue |
|
127. |
Nash, Thomas |
Summer’s Last Will and Testament |
1592 A 1592 |
Comedy |
Whitgift’s house (?) |
STC 18376 |
173 |
Induction, including prologue, and epilogue, with conclusion. Will Summer acts as a chorus or commentary throughout the play |
|
128. |
Dekker, Thomas |
The Shoemaker’s Holiday |
1600 A 1599 |
Comedy |
Admiral’s |
STC 6523 |
175 |
Prologue |
|
129. |
Jonson, Ben |
Everyman in His Humour |
1601 A 1598 |
Comedy |
Chamberlain’s |
STC 14766 |
176 |
F 1616: Prologue |
|
130. |
Marston, John |
John/Jack Drum’s Entertainment, or Pasquil and Catherin |
1601 A 1600 |
Comedy |
Paul’s |
STC 7243 |
177 |
Induction, Morris dance, music, and songs |
|
131. |
Munday, Anthony (& Chettle) |
The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Hunting |
1601 A 1598 |
History |
Admiral’s |
STC18721 |
179 |
Induction and conclusion, Dumb show masque |
|
132. |
Chettle, H, Munday, Anthony |
The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington |
1601 A 1598 |
History |
Admiral’s |
STC 18271 |
180 |
Epilogue |
|
133. |
Jonson, Ben |
Cynthia’s Revels |
1601 A 1600 |
Comedy |
Chapel |
STC 14773 |
181 |
Induction, masque, epilogue |
|
134. |
Yarington, R. |
Two Lamentable Tragedies in One |
1601 A 1594 |
Tragedy |
Admiral’s? |
STC 26076 |
182 |
Induction and conclusion |
|
135. |
Dymock, John (?) |
Il pastor fido |
1602 A 1601 |
Pastoral |
Closet |
STC 12415 |
183 |
Chorus at the end of each act |
|
136. |
Marston, John |
Antonio and Mellida |
1602 A 1599 |
Tragicomedy |
Paul’s |
STC 17473 |
184 |
Induction, prologue and epilogue |
|
137. |
Marston, John |
Antonio’s revenge |
1602 A 1600 |
Tragedy |
Paul’s |
STC 17474 |
185 |
Prologue |
|
138. |
Jonson, Ben |
Poetaster |
1601 A 1601 |
Comedy |
Chapel |
STC 14781 |
186 |
Induction and prologue |
|
139. |
Anonymous (by “W.S.”) |
Thomas Lord Cromwell |
1602 A 1600 |
History |
Chamberlain’s |
STC 21532 |
189 |
Chorus |
|
140. |
Anonymous |
The Contention between Liberality and Prodigality |
1602 A 1601 |
Moral interlude |
Chapel |
STC 5593 |
190 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
141. |
Anonymous |
A Larum for London |
1602 A 1599 |
History |
Chamberlain’s |
STC 16754 |
192 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
142. |
Dekker, Thomas (with John Marston?) |
Satiromastix |
1602 A 1601 |
Comedy |
Chamberlain’s and Paul’s |
STC 6521 |
195 |
Epilogue |
|
143. |
Alexander, William |
Darius |
1603 A 1603 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 349 |
196 |
Chorus at the end of each act |
|
144. |
Anonymous (Montgomery?) |
Philotus |
1603 A 1603 |
Comedy |
Closet (?) |
STC 19888 |
199 |
Epilogue |
|
145. |
Marston, John |
The Malcontent |
1604 A1604 |
Tragicomedy |
Queen’s revels e King’s |
STC 17479 |
203 |
Induction (by John Webster), dumb show, masque |
|
146. |
Marlowe, Christopher |
Dr Faustus |
1604 A 1592 |
Tragedy |
Admirals |
STC 17429 |
205 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
147. |
Anonymous |
The Wit of a Woman |
1604 A 1604 |
Comedy |
Not performed (?) |
STC 25868 |
206 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
148. |
Alexander, William |
Croesus |
1604 collection A1604 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 343 |
209 |
Chorus at the end of each act |
|
149. |
Marston, John |
The Dutch Courtesan |
1605 A 1605 |
Comedy |
Queen’s Revels |
STC 17475 |
214 |
Prologue |
|
150. |
Jonson, Ben, George Chapman, John Marston |
Eastward Ho |
1605 A 1605 |
Comedy |
Queen’s Revels |
STC 4970 |
217 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
151. |
Chapman, George |
All Fools |
1605 A 1601 |
Comedy |
Queen’s Revels |
STC 4963 |
219 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
152. |
Anon. (Kyd?) |
The First Part of Ieronimo |
1605 A 1604 |
Pseudo‑history |
King’s? |
STC 15085 |
221 |
Ieronimo ends the play (“Enter Ieronimo Solus”) |
|
153. |
Daniel, Samuel |
Philotas |
1605 collection A 1604 |
Tragedy |
Queen’s Revels |
STC 6239 |
223 |
Chorus |
|
154. |
Heywood, Thomas |
If you Know Me You Know Nobody |
1606 A 1605 |
History |
Queens’ Anne |
STC 13336 |
224 |
1633: chorus |
|
155. |
Anonymous (Gwyn in part?) |
I & 2 Return from Parnassus |
1606 A 1603 |
Satirical comedy |
St. John’s College, Cambridge |
STC 19039 |
225 |
Induction and epilogue |
|
156. |
Anonymous |
Nobody and somebody |
1606 A 1605 |
Pseudo-history |
Queen’s Anne |
STC 18597 |
229 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
157. |
Marston, John |
Parasitaster |
1606 A 1604 |
Comedy |
Queen’s Revels |
STC 17483 |
230 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
158. |
Marston, John |
The Wonder of Women or Sophonisba |
1606 A 1605 |
Tragedy |
Queen’s Revels |
STC 17488 |
231 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
159. |
Anon. (probably Simon Rowley) |
Wily Beguiled |
1606 A 1602 |
Comedy |
Paul’s |
STC 25818 |
234 |
Induction, masque, two prologues, epilogue |
|
160. |
Day, John |
The Isle of Gulls |
1606 A 1606 |
Comedy |
Queen’s Revels King’s Revels |
STC 6412 |
235 |
Induction, prologue and epilogue |
|
161. |
Dekker, Thomas |
The Whore of Babylon |
1607 A 1607 |
Allegorical History |
Prince Henry’s |
STC 6532 |
241 |
Prologue |
|
162. |
Middleton, Thomas |
Michaelmas Term |
1607 A 1606 |
Comedy |
Paul’s |
STC 17890 |
244 |
Induction |
|
163. |
Day J., W. Rowley, G. Wilkins |
The Travels of Three English Brothers |
1607 A 1607 |
Topical |
Queen Anne’s |
STC 25635 |
248 |
Prologue and epilogue, chorus |
|
164. |
Marston, John |
What You Will |
1607 A 1601 |
Comedy |
Paul’s |
STC 17487 |
252 |
Induction, prologue |
|
165. |
Barnes, B. |
The Devil’s Charter |
1607 A 1606 |
Tragedy |
King’s |
STC 1466 |
254 |
Prologue and epilogue , chorus |
|
166. |
Jonson, Ben |
Volpone |
1607 A 1606 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 14783 |
259 |
Prologue + Volpone’s final speech similar to an epilogue |
|
167. |
Middleton, Thomas (and Thomas Dekker?) |
The Family of Love |
1608 A 1603 |
Comedy |
Admiral’s (?) (King’s Revels in 1607) |
STC 17879 |
263 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
168. |
Anon. (T. Dekker?) |
The Merry Devil of Edmonton |
1608 A 1602 |
Comedy |
Chamberlain’s |
STC 7493 |
264 |
Prologue |
|
169. |
Middleton, Thomas |
Your Five Gallants |
1608 A 1607 |
Comedy |
Paul’s (S.R. : Chapel) |
STC 17907 |
266 |
Dumb shows, prologue |
|
170. |
Day, John (with Wilkins, G ?) |
Law Tricks |
1608 A 1604 |
Comedy |
King’s Revels |
STC 6416 |
267 |
Epilogue |
|
171. |
Chapman, George |
The Conspiracy of Charles Duke of Byron |
1608 A 1608 |
Tragedy |
Queen’s Revels |
STC 4968 |
274 |
Prologue |
|
172. |
Greville, Fulke |
Mustapha |
1609 A 1596 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 12362 |
278 |
Chorus |
|
173. |
Anonymous |
Every Woman in her Humour |
1609 A 1607 |
Comedy |
King’s Revels (?) |
STC 25948 |
283 |
Prologue |
|
174. |
Shakespeare, William |
Pericles |
1609 A 1608 |
Tragicomedy |
King’s |
STC 22334 |
284 |
Chorus (Gower) |
|
175. |
Mason, John |
The Turk (Muleassees the Turk) |
1610 A 1607 |
Tragedy |
King’s Revels |
STC 17617 |
286 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
176. |
Fletcher, John |
The Faithful Shepherdess |
1608 |
Pastoral |
Queen’s Revels? |
STC 11070 |
287 |
Q 1634: Prologue in form of a dialogue |
|
177. |
Barry, Lording |
Ram Alley |
1611 A1608 |
Comedy |
King’s Revels |
STC 1502 |
292 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
178. |
Heywood, Thomas |
The Golden Age |
1611 A 1610 |
Classical legend |
Queen’s Anne’s |
STC 13325 |
294 |
Chorus at the end of each act |
|
179. |
Jonson, Ben |
Catiline his Conspiracy |
1611 A 1611 |
Tragedy |
King’s |
STC 14759 |
296 |
Chorus at the end of each act except the last one; F 1616 Chorus at the end of each act |
|
180. |
Dekker, Thomas, Middleton, Thomas |
The Roaring Girl |
1611 A 1611 |
Comedy |
Prince Henry’s |
STC 17908 |
298 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
181. |
Daborne, Robert |
A Christian Turned Turk |
1612 A 1610 |
Tragedy |
King’s (?), Queen’s Revels (?) |
STC 6184 |
300 |
Prologue and epilogue, dumb show |
|
182. |
Jonson, Ben |
The Alchemist |
1612 A 1610 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 14755 |
303 |
Prologue |
|
183. |
Jonson, Ben |
Epicoene |
1612 A 1609 |
Comedy |
Queen’s Revels |
STC 14761 |
304 |
Two prologues |
|
184. |
Dekker, Thomas |
If This Be Not a Good Play, the Devil Is in It |
1612 A 1611 |
Comedy |
Queen Anne’s |
STC 6507 |
305 |
Induction and conclusion, prologue and epilogue |
|
185. |
Carey, Elizabeth |
Mariam |
1613 A 1604 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 4613 |
308 |
Chorus at the end of each act |
|
186. |
Heywood, Thomas |
The Brazen Age |
1613 A 1611 |
Classical Legend |
Queen’s and King’s |
STC 13310 |
313 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
187. |
Beaumont, Francis |
The Knight of the Burning Pestle |
1613 A 1607 |
Burlesque romance |
Queen’s Revels |
STC 1674 |
316 |
Induction and epilogue in form of a dialogue |
|
188. |
Heywood, Thomas |
The Silver Age |
1613 A 1611 |
Classical Legend |
Queen’s and King’s |
STC 23248 |
317 |
Chorus, dumb show |
|
189. |
Tailor, Robert |
The Hog hath Lost his Pearl |
1614 A 1613 |
Comedy |
Whitefriars |
STC 23658 |
321 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
190. |
Daniel, Samuel |
Hymen’s Triumph |
1615 A 1614 |
Pastoral court |
Unknown. |
STC 6257 |
325 |
Prologue in form of a dialogue |
|
191. |
R. A. (Robert Armin? Robert Anton?) |
The Valiant Welshman |
1615 A 1612 |
History |
Prince’s Men |
STC 16 |
327 |
Epilogue |
|
192. |
Tomkins, Thomas |
Albumazar |
1614 A 1615 |
Comedy |
Trinity College Cambridge |
STC 24100 |
330 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
193. |
Heywood, Thomas |
The Four Prentices of London |
1615 A 1594 |
Heroical romance |
Admiral’s |
STC 13321 |
333 |
Induction (headed “The prologues”) among three prologues |
|
194. |
S.S. |
The Honest Lawyer |
1616 A 1615 |
Comedy |
Queen’s Anne’s |
STC 21519 |
337 |
Epilogue |
|
195. |
Holyday, Barten |
Technogamia, or The Marriages of the Arts |
1618 A 1618 |
Moral |
Christ Church, Oxford |
STC 13717 |
353 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
196. |
Belchier, Daubridgcourt |
Hans Beer-Pot (See me and see me not) |
1618 A 1618 |
Dialogue |
Not performed (?) |
STC 1803 |
354 |
Prologue |
|
197. |
Anonymous |
Two Wise Men and all the Rest Fools |
1619 A 1619 |
Dialogues |
Privately acted (?) |
STC 4991 |
361 |
Prologue, two epilogues |
|
198. |
Anonymous |
Swetnam Arraigned by Women |
1620 A 1618 |
Comedy |
Queen’s Anne’s |
STC 23544 |
362 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
199. |
Cumber, John? (or Cobbes, James?) |
The Two Merry Milkmaids or The Best Words Wear the Garland |
1620 A 1619 |
Comedy |
Red Bull Company (Revels) |
STC 4281 |
364 |
Prologue |
|
200. |
Middleton, Thomas Rowley, William |
The World tossed at tennis |
1620 A 1620 |
Masque |
Prince’s men |
STC 17909 |
365 |
Induction and prologue, epilogue, masque |
|
201. |
Markham, G., Sampson, W. |
Herod and Antipater |
1622 A 1622 |
Tragedy |
Red Bull Company (Revels) |
STC 17401 |
382 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
202. |
May, Thomas |
The Heir |
1622 A 1620 |
Comedy |
Red Bull Company (Revels) |
STC 17713 |
384 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
203. |
Shakespeare, William |
The Tempest |
1623 collection A 1611 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 22273 |
390 |
Epilogue |
|
204. |
Shakespeare, William |
Henry VIII |
1623 collection A 1613 |
History |
King’s |
STC 22272 |
400 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
205. |
Middleton, Thomas |
A Game at Chess |
1625 A 1624 |
Political satire |
King’s |
STC 17882 |
412 |
Induction, prologue and epilogue |
|
206. |
Hawkins, W. |
Apollo Shroving |
1627 A 1627 |
Comedy |
Hadleigh School, Suffolk |
STC 12963 |
414 |
Introduction , prologue and epilogue |
|
207. |
Newman, Thomas |
The Andrian Woman |
1627 A 1627 |
Comedy |
For acting in schools |
STC 23897 |
415 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
208. |
Newman, Thomas |
The Eunuch |
1627 collection A 1627 |
Comedy |
For acting in schools |
STC 23897 |
416 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
209. |
Reynolds, Henry |
Aminta |
1628 A 1628 |
Pastoral |
Closet |
STC 23696 |
417 |
Chorus at the end of each act, prologue and epilogue |
|
210. |
Gomersall, Robert |
Lodovick Sforza |
1628 A 1628 |
Tragedy |
Not performed |
STC 11995 |
418 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
211. |
Ford, John |
The Lover’s Melancholy |
1629 A 1628 |
Tragicomedy |
King’s |
STC 11163 |
420 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
212. |
Carlell, Lodowick |
The Deserving Favourite |
1629 A 1629 |
Comedy |
For acting in schools |
STC 4628 |
423 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
213. |
Shirley, James |
The Wedding |
1629 A 1626 |
Comedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 22460 |
425 |
Epilogue |
|
214. |
Randolph, Thomas |
Aristippus, or the Jovial Philosopher |
1630 A 1626 |
Comic show Comedy |
Trinity College, Cambridge |
STC 20686 |
431 |
Praeludium |
|
215. |
Shirley, James |
School of compliment (Love Tricks) |
1631 A 1625 |
Comedy |
Lady Elizabeth’s |
STC 22456 |
441 |
Prologue , conclusion, epilogue |
|
216. |
Jonson, Ben |
The New Inn |
1631 A 1629 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 14780 |
442 |
Prologue , two epilogues |
|
217. |
Fletcher, Phineas |
Sicelides |
1631 A 1615 |
Piscatory |
King’s College, Cambridge |
STC 11083 |
443 |
Chorus at the end of each act except the first, prologue and epilogue |
|
218. |
Heywood, Thomas |
1 The Fair Maid of West |
1631 A 1604 |
Comedy |
Anne’s (Queen Henrietta’s in 1631) |
STC 13320 |
445 |
Prologue |
|
219. |
Heywood, Thomas |
2 The Fair Maid of West |
1631 A 1631 |
Comedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 13320 |
446 |
Chorus at the end of each act except the first, dumb show at the end of act 3, epilogue |
|
220. |
Knevet, Ralph |
Rhodon and Iris |
1631 A 1631 |
Pastoral |
Florists’ Feast, Norwich |
STC 15036 |
449 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
221. |
Jonson, Ben |
Bartholomew Fair |
1631 A 1614 |
Comedy |
Lady’s Elizabeth’s |
STC 14753-5 |
455 |
Induction, puppet show |
|
222. |
Jonson, Ben |
The Staple of News |
1631 collection A 1626 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 14753-5 |
456 |
Induction, prologue for the theatre, prologue for the court, epilogue |
|
223. |
Jonson, Ben |
The Devil Is an Ass |
1631 collection A 1616 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 14753-5 |
457 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
224. |
Goffe, Thomas |
The Courageous Turk |
1632 A 1619 |
Tragedy |
Christ Church, Oxford |
STC 11977 |
458 |
Prologue |
|
225. |
Massinger, Philip |
The Emperor of the East |
1632 A 1631 |
Tragicomedy |
King’s |
STC 17636 |
459 |
Two prologues and an epilogue |
|
226. |
Marmion, Shakerly |
Holland’s Leaguer |
1632 A 1631 |
Comedy |
Prince’s Charles |
STC 17443 |
461 |
Prologue |
|
227. |
Shirley, James |
Changes, or Love in a Maze |
1632 A 1632 |
Comedy |
King’s Revels (Prince Charles’s?) |
STC |
462 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
228. |
Brome, Richard |
The Northern Lass |
1632 A 1629 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 3819 |
463 |
Prologue |
|
229. |
Hausted, Peter |
The Rival Friends |
1632 A 1632 |
Tragicomedy |
Queen’s College, Cambridge |
STC 12935 |
465 |
Introduction, prologue and epilogue |
|
230. |
Heywood, Thomas |
1 The Iron Age |
1632 A 1612 |
Classical Legend |
Queen’s (and King’s?) |
STC 13340 |
467 |
Epilogue |
|
231. |
Randolph, Thomas |
The Jealous Lovers |
1632 A 1632 |
Comedy |
Trinity College, Cambridge |
STC 20692 |
469 |
Epilogue in form of a dialogue |
|
232. |
Rowley, William |
All’s Lost by Lust |
1633 A 1619 |
Tragedy |
Prince’s (poi Lady Elizabeth’s) |
STC 21425 |
471 |
Prologue |
|
233. |
Anonymous |
The Costly Whire |
1633 A 1620 |
Pseudo-history |
Red Bull Company (Revels) (?), King’s Revels (?) |
STC 25582 |
472 |
Epilogue |
|
234. |
Massinger, Philip |
A New Way to Pay Old Debts |
1633 A 1625 |
Comedy |
Red Bull Company (?) (poi Queen Henrietta’s) |
STC 17639 |
474 |
Epilogue |
|
235. |
Marlowe, Christopher |
The Jew of Malta |
1633 A 1589 |
Tragedy |
Strange’s (by 1592) |
STC 17412 |
475 |
Three prologues and an epilogue |
|
236. |
Ford, John |
The Broken Heart |
1633 A 1630 |
Tragedy |
King’s |
STC 11156 |
480 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
237. |
Marmion, Shackerly |
A Fine Companion |
1633 A 1633 |
Comedy |
Prince Charles’s |
STC 17442 |
481 |
Prologue in form of a dialogue (author + critic) |
|
238. |
Fisher, Jasper |
Fuimus Troes. Æneid 2. The True Troanes |
1633 A 1625 |
History |
Magdalene Col. Oxford |
STC 10886 |
482 |
Induction and conclusion |
|
239. |
Heywood, Thomas |
The English Traveller |
1633 A 1627 |
Tragicomedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 13315 |
484 |
Prologue |
|
240. |
Goffe, Thomas |
Orestes |
1633 A 1617 |
Tragedy |
Christ Church, Oxford |
STC 11982 |
485 |
Prologue |
|
241. |
Greville, Fulke |
Alaham |
1633 A 1600 |
Tragedy |
Closet |
STC 12361 |
489 |
Chorus and prologue |
|
242. |
Ford, John |
Perkin Warbeck |
1634 A 1633 |
History |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 11157 |
491 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
243. |
Shakespeare, William e Fletcher, John |
The Two Nobles Kinsmen |
1634 A 1613 |
Tragicomedy |
King’s |
STC 11075 |
492 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
244. |
Heywood, Thomas |
A Maidenhead well Lost |
1634 A 1633 |
Comedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 13357 |
493 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
245. |
Rutter, Joseph |
The Shepherd’s Holiday |
1635 A 1634 |
Pastoral |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 21470 |
499 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
246. |
Jones, John |
Adrasta: or the Womans Spleene, and Loves Conquest |
1635 A 1635 |
Tragicomedy |
Not performed |
STC 14721 |
501 |
Induction, including prologue and epilogue |
|
247. |
Heywood, Thomas |
Love’s Mistress, or The Queen’s Mask |
1636 A 1634 |
Classical Legend |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 13352 |
504 |
Three prologues, one epilogue |
|
248. |
Davenant, William |
The Platonic Lovers |
1636 A 1635 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 6305 |
506 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
249. |
Davenant, William |
The Wits |
1636 A 1634 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 6309 |
507 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
250. |
Dekker, Thomas (& Day, John ?) |
The Wonder of a Kingdom |
1636 A 1631 |
Comedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 6533 |
508 |
Epilogue |
|
251. |
Heywood, Thomas |
A Challenge for Beauty |
1636 A 1635 |
Tragicomedy |
King’s |
STC 13311 |
509 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
252. |
Sampson, William |
The Vow Breaker, or The Fair Maid of Clifton |
1636 A 1625 |
Tragedy and history |
Unknown |
STC 21688 |
510 |
Prologue |
|
253. |
Nabbes, Thomas |
Hannibal and Scipio |
1637 A 1635 |
Tragedy |
Queen’s Henrietta |
STC 18341 |
513 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
254. |
Fletcher, John (revised by Massinger?) |
The Elder Brother |
1637 A 1625 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 11066 |
515 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
255. |
Heywood, Thomas (& Smith, Went. ?) |
The Royal King and the Loyal Subject |
1637 A 1602 |
Tragicomedy |
Worcester’s (?) (Queen Henrietta’s nel1637) |
STC 13364 |
516 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
256. |
Shirley, James |
The Example |
1637 A 1634 |
Comedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 22442 |
521 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
257. |
Ford, John |
The Fancies Chaste and Noble |
1638 A 1635 |
Comedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 11159 |
532 |
Prologue, epilogue in form of a dialogue |
|
258. |
Shirley, H. (& Heywood, Thomas?) |
The Martyred Soldier |
1638 A 1618 |
Tragedy |
Queen Anne’s (?) |
STC 22435 |
533 |
Epilogue |
|
259. |
Shirley, James |
The Duke’s Mistress |
1638 A 1636 |
Tragicomedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 22441 |
536 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
260. |
Killigrew, Henry |
The Conspiracy (Pallantus and Eudora) |
1638 A 1635 |
Tragicomedy |
York House (?) & King’s |
STC 14958 |
537 |
Introduction, chorus at the end of each act, prologue and epilogue |
|
261. |
Shirley, James |
The Royal Master |
1638 A 1637 |
Comedy |
I Ogilby’s Men & Queen’s |
STC 22454 |
538 |
Epilogue |
|
262. |
Cowley, Abraham |
Love’s Riddle |
1638 A 1633 |
Pastoral |
Not performed |
STC 5904 |
539 |
Epilogue |
|
263. |
Nabbes, Thomas |
Tottenham Court |
1638 A 1634 |
Comedy |
Prince’s Men, or King’s Revels |
STC 18344 |
540 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
264. |
Suckling, John |
Aglaura |
1638 A 1637 |
Tragedy |
King’s |
STC 23420 |
541 |
Two prologues e two epilogues |
|
265. |
Nabbes, Thomas |
Covent Garden |
1638 A 1633 |
Comedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 18339 |
542 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
266. |
Nabbes, Thomas |
The Spring’s Glory |
1638 A 1637 |
Mask |
Not performed (?) |
STC 18343 |
543 |
Epilogue |
|
267. |
Randolph, Thomas |
The Muses Looking‑Glass |
1638 collection A 1630 |
Comedy |
King’s Revels |
STC 20694 |
547 |
Epilogue |
|
268. |
Randolph, Thomas |
Amyntas |
1638 collection A 1630 |
Pastoral |
King’s Revels |
STC 20694 |
548 |
Prologue in form of a dialogue, epilogue |
|
269. |
Carlell, Lodowick |
1 Arviragus and Philicia |
1639 A 1636 |
Tragicomedy |
King’s |
STC 4627 |
551 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
270. |
Carlell, Lodowick |
2 Arviragus and Philicia |
1639 A 1636 |
Tragicomedy |
King’s |
STC 4627 |
552 |
Epilogue |
|
271. |
May, Thomas |
Julia Agrippina |
1639 A 1628 |
Tragedy |
unknown |
STC 17718 |
554 |
Induction |
|
272. |
Ford, John |
The Lady’s Trial |
1639 A 1638 |
Comedy |
Beeston’s Boys |
STC 11161 |
555 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
273. |
Zouche, Richard |
The Sophister (Fallacy, or The Troubles of Great Hermenia) |
1639 A 1614 |
Moral |
Oxford |
STC 26133 |
556 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
274. |
T. D. (Thomas. Drue?) |
The Bloody Banquet |
1639 A 1639 |
Tragedy |
Beeston’s Boys |
STC 6181 |
567 |
Induction (dumb show), chorus |
|
275. |
Myne, Jasper |
The City Match |
1639 A 1637 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 17750 |
568 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
276. |
Lower, William |
The Phoenix in her Flames |
1639 A 1639 |
Tragedy |
Not performed (?) |
STC 16873 |
569 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
277. |
Cartwright, William |
The Royal Slave |
1639 A 1636 |
Tragicomedy |
Christ Church, Oxford |
STC 4717 |
570 |
Three prologues e three epilogues |
|
278. |
Shirley, James |
The Chorusnation |
1640 A 1635 |
Comedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 22440 |
572 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
279. |
Nabbes, Thomas |
The Bride |
1640 A 1638 |
Comedy |
Beeston’s Boys |
STC 18338 |
576 |
Prologue |
|
280. |
Shirley, James |
The Humorous Courtier |
1640 A 1631 |
Comedy |
Queen Henrietta’s |
STC 22447 |
577 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
281. |
Sandys, George |
Christ’s Passion |
1640 A 1640 |
Neo-miracle |
Closet |
STC 12397 |
579 |
Chorus at the end of each act except the last one |
|
282. |
Gough, John |
The Strange Discovery |
1640 A 1640 |
Tragicomedy |
Closet |
STC 12133 |
584 |
Prologue |
|
283. |
Jonson, Ben |
The Gipsies Metamorphosed |
1640 A 1621 |
Mask |
Burley, Belvoir, e Windsor |
STC 14777a |
585 |
Prologue |
|
284. |
Brome, Richard |
The Antipodes |
1640 A 1638 |
Comedy |
Queen’s |
STC 3818 |
586 |
Prologue and epilogue in form of a dialogue |
|
285. |
Brome, Richard |
The Sparagus Garden |
1640 A 1635 |
Comedy |
King’s Revels |
STC 3820 |
587 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
286. |
Habington, William |
The Queen of Aragon |
1640 A 1640 |
Tragicomedy |
Amateurs at Court, & King’s |
STC 12587 |
588 |
Two prologues and one epilogue |
|
287. |
Chamberlain, Robert |
The Swaggering Damsel |
1640 A 1640 |
Comedy |
Beeston’s Boys |
STC 4946 |
589 |
Prologue |
|
288. |
Glapthorne, Henry |
The Ladies’ Privilege |
1640 A 1637 |
Tragicomedy |
Beeston’s Boys |
STC 11910 |
590 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
289. |
Glapthorne, Henry |
Wit in a Constable |
1640 A 1638 |
Comedy |
Beeston’s Boys |
STC 11914 |
591 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
290. |
Shirley, James |
1 Saint Patrick for Ireland |
1640 A 1639 |
Neo-miracle |
I Ogilby’s Men, Dublin |
STC 22455 |
593 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
291. |
Sharpe, Lewis |
The Noble Stranger |
1640 A 1639 |
Tragicomedy |
Queen’s |
STC 22377 |
597 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
292. |
Fletcher, John |
Rule A wife and Have a Wife |
1640 A 1624 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 11073 |
598 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
293. |
Harding, Samuel |
Sicily and Naples |
1640 A 1640 |
Tragedy |
Not performed |
STC 12757 |
599 |
Epilogue |
|
294. |
Tatham, John |
Love Crows the End |
1640 collection A 1632 |
Pastoral |
Bingham School, Nottinghamshire |
STC 23704 |
600 |
Prologue |
|
295. |
Burnell, Henry |
Landgartha |
1641 A 1640 |
Tragicomedy |
I Ogilby’s Men, Dublin |
STC B5751 |
604 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
296. |
Brathwait, Richard |
Mercurius Britannicus, or the English Intelligencer |
1641 A 1641 |
Latin Political Comedy |
Closet |
STC B4270 |
605 |
Epilogue |
|
297. |
Jonson, Ben |
The Magnetic Lady |
1641 collection A 1632 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC 14754 |
616 |
Induction, chorus at the end of each act. The chorus of act 5 “changed into an epilogue to the King for a court performance”. |
|
298. |
Jonson, Ben |
A Tale of a Tub |
1641 collection A 1596-1633 |
Comedy |
Admiral’s |
STC 14754 |
617 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
299. |
Jonson, Ben |
The Sad Shepherd |
1641 collection A 1637 |
Comic pastoral |
Not performed |
STC 14754 |
618 |
Prologue |
|
300. |
Denham, John |
The Sophy |
1642 A 1641 |
Tragedy |
King’s |
STC D10009 |
622 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
301. |
Fletcher, John |
The Noble Gentleman |
1647 collection A 1606 |
Comedy |
King’s |
STC B1581 |
641 |
Prologue and epilogue |
|
302. |
Fletcher, John |
The Captain |
1647 collection A 1612 |
STC SB1581 |
642 |
Prologue and epilogue |
||
|
303. |
Beaumont Francis or N. Field and J. Fletcher (induction by Beaumont or Field) |
Four plays in one (for Moral Representations) |
1647 A 1613 |
Moral |
Unknown |
STC B1581 |
670 |
Induction, dumb show, final song, epilogue |
|
304. |
Randolph Thomas (revised by ‘T. J.”) |
Plutophtalmia Plutogamia Hey for Honesty, Down with Knavery |
1651 A 1627 |
Comedy |
Trinity Col, Cambridge? |
A3685 Wing |
699 |
Induction, epilogue and argument |
|
305. |
Goffe, Thomas |
The Careless Shepherdess |
1656 A 1619 |
Pastoral |
Christ Church, Oxford (?) |
G 1005 Wing |
761 |
Induction (praeludium), Masque of Apollo (II,6), epilogue |
|
306. |
T. W. |
Thorney Abbey |
1662 collection Probably a 17th cent. play with later additions |
History |
unknown |
G 1580 Wing |
824 |
Prelude (Prologue in dialogue form between the Fool and the prompter) |
|
307. |
Haughton W. (rev. for press by “I.T.”) |
Grim the Collier of Croydon |
1662 collection A 1600 |
Comedy |
Admiral’s? |
G1580 Wing |
826 |
Prologue |
|
308. |
Wild Robert |
The Benefice |
1689 A 1641? |
Comedy |
Cambridge? |
836 |
Induction (act 1)- characters: Shakespeare, Beaumont and Flecther, Comedy- songs, prologue and epilogue |
[1] See the appendix for tables that chart the presence of introductory scenes (such as induction, dumb shows, choruses, prologues, epilogues, etc.) in early modern English drama from 1516 to 1642.
[2] Richard Hosley, “Was There a ‘Dramatic Epilogue’ to The Taming of the Shrew?, Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 1 (1961), pp. 17-34, p. 21 . On induction in Elizabethan drama, see Thelma Greenfield, The Induction in Elizabethan Drama, Eugene, The University of Oregon Press, 1969.
[3] Alfred Harbage, Annals of English Drama, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1940.
[4] On dumb show in Elizabethan theatre see Dieter Mehl, The Elizabethan Dumb Show, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 1966.
[5] “These inductions characteristically account for and ‘present’ the plays. They explain why it appears; they sometimes provide onlookers”. (Thelma Greenfield, The Induction in Elizabethan Drama, cit. p. 39).
[6]Ibid., p. 67.
[7] Louise George Clubb, Italian Drama in Shakespeare’s Time, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1989, p.5).
[8] Philippe Fabia, Les Prologues de Terence, Ernest Thorin, Paris 1888, and Emilio Goggio, “The Prologue in the Commedie Erudite of the Sixteenth Century”, Italica, 18 (1941) pp. 124-132.
[9]Curculio, Epidicus, Persa e Stichus.
[10]Amphitri, Mercalor, Miles Gloriosus, Mostellaria, Aulularia, Rudens, Trinummus e Cistellaria.
[11]Asinaria, Casina, Captivi, Menoechmi, Poenulus, Pseudolus e Truculentus.
[12] Giovan Battista Giraldi Cinthio, Intorno al comporre delle commedie e delle tragedie (1543), in Commedie del Cinquecento, edited by Aldo Borlenghi, Rizzoli, Milano 1959, vol. I, pp. 1020-1021 (my translation).
[13]Ibid., p. 1021.
[14] The play, begun in 1509, was completed by Ariosto to accomplish Pope Leo X. See Ariosto’s letter to the Pope (16 January 1520) where the dramatist thanks him for having being invited to perform the play for Carnival (Ludovico Ariosto, Opere Minori, edited by Cesare Segre, Milano-Napoli, Ricciardi, 1964, p. 766-7). Eventually, the Pope did not authorize the performance of the play.
[15] Ludovico Ariosto, Opere minori, edited by Luigi Polidori, Firenze, Le Monnier, 1857, vol. II, p. 352.
[16]Ibid., p. 354-355.
[17] Giovanni Francesco Loredano, Lo Incendio, Venezia, 1597, p. 1-3 (my translation).
[18] Ludovico Dolce, Fabritia, Venezia, 1549, pp. 4-7 (my translation).
[19] See Giovanni Della Porta’s La Fantesca (1592), Giovan Battista Cini’s La Vedova (1567), Luigi Alamanni’s La Flora (1555), Giovanni Della Porta’s La Furiosa (1600), Alessandro Piccolomini’s L’Hortensio (1560), La Strega (1546) by Lasca respectively.
[20] Allegorical characters can be found in dumb shows. Thelma Greenfield, who classifies the inductions in four categories (“The inductive dumb show”, “The occasional induction”, “The critical induction” and “The frame play”) identifies allegorical characters in the first three categories (Thelma Greenfield, The Induction in Elizabethan Drama, cit. pp. 23-27, 40-44 e 116-117).
[21] See Willheim Creizenach, The English drama in the age of Shakespeare, London, Sidwick & Jackson, 1916, pp. 276-277. Beyond Creizenach a hundred years ago, no recent critics has analyzed these conventions from the point of view of influence.
[22] Anonymous, A Warning to Fair Women, London 1599, A2r-A3v.
[23] Anonymous, The True Tragedy of Richard III, London 1594, A3v-A4r.
[24] “Hilary was the winter term, Easter the early spring term, Trinity the late spring term. Michaelmas was the autumn term (beginning on 9 October), the first one of the legal year, and the longest). It was also the busiest of the four terms because of the harvest and the end-of-the-year litigations. Country litigants would come to London after bringing in the harvest; the money they earned from it would finance their lawsuit. (Michael Taylor, “Notes”, in Thomas Middleton, A Mad World, My Master and other plays, edited by Michael Taylor, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 318).
[25] Thomas Middleton, Michaelmas Term (1604), in edited by Theodore B. Leinwand, in The Collected Works, edited by Gary Taylor and John Lavagnino, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2007, p. 338.
[26] Ben Jonson, Every Man Out of His Humour, London 1600, B4r.
[27]Ibid., B4v.
[28] Marvin T. Herrick, Italian comedy in the Renaissance, Urbana, Illinois University Press, 1960, p. 137.
[29] On University Drama, see Frederick S. Boas, University drama in the Tudor age, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1914; George C. Moore Smith, College plays performed in the university of Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1923.
[30] See Fernando Cioni, Stages at the University of Cambridge in Tudor England, in English Renaissance Scenes, edited by Paola Pugliatti and Alessandro Serpieri, Oxford, Peter Lang, 2006, pp. 127-154.
[31] The manuscript, housed in the Lambeth Library (London), was reproduced by Horst-Dieter Blume for the series Renaissance Latin Drama in England, Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 1991.
[32] Anonymous, Laelia, edited by George C. Moore Smith, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1910, p. 3, v. 3.
[33]Ibid., p. 92 vv. 78 e 81-83.
[34] The text of the play was transcribed by Frederick S. Boas in The Christmas Prince, The Malone Society reprints, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1922, pp. 56-101.
[35] The manuscripts of William Percy’s plays are housed in the Huntington Library, San Marino (California). Percy’s plays, even if probably not meant to be performed, reveal interesting evidences of Elizabethn stage practice. See Harold N. Hillebrand, “William Percy: An Elizabethan Amateur”, in The Huntington Library Quarterly 1 (1938), pp. 391-416.
[36] The tragedy is extant in a manuscript housed in St. John’s College Library at Oxford. Frederick S. Boas transcribed the text in The Christmas Prince, cit., pp. 229-287.
[37]Ibid., p. 231.