The London Prodigal is an English Renaissance play, most notable for its inclusion among among the Shakespeare apocrypha. A city comedy set in London, it tells the story of a prodigal son learning the error of his ways. It was published 1605 as a play by William Shakespeare but the attribution is regarded as spurious by most scholars.
The London Prodigal has been dated as early as c. 1591, and as late as 1603–04. It is one of a long series of "prodigal son" plays that reach back as far as the Bible for inspiration and precedent; but it is also an example of the evolving Elizabethan genre of domestic dramas, and is "one of the first naturalistic dramas in English". [1]
The play was not entered into the Stationers' Register. It was published in quarto in 1605 by the stationer Nathaniel Butter, and printed by Thomas Creede. The title states that it is "By William Shakespeare", and that it was performed by the King's Men's, the company for whom Shakespeare worked. The attribution to Shakespeare is generally rejected by scholars as the play does not read like his other work.
It was not included in the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare's collected plays. However, in 1664 it was one of the seven plays that publisher Philip Chetwinde added to the second impression of his Third Folio of Shakespeare's plays. In modern times, the play has been published in two editions. An old-spelling edition appears in C.F. Tucker-Brooke's The Shakespeare Apocrypha. A modern-spelling edition appears in the 2013 anthology William Shakespeare and Others: Collaborative Plays, whose editors state that it is "almost certainly not by Shakespeare". [2]
Individual scholars have attributed the play to Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker, John Marston, and Michael Drayton, [3] Thomas Heywood, George Wilkins, [4] and John Fletcher. [2] None of these attributions, however, has been accepted by a significant proportion of the critical community. In 1994, Jonathan Hope proposed, based on linguistic evidence that the play is a collaboration by two authors. [5]
Matthew Flowerdale, the prodigal son of a merchant, Flowerdale Senior, is a libertine, gambler, swearer, brawler, drinker and thief. Flowerdale Senior's brother, Flowerdale Junior, warns him about Matthew's dissolute behaviour but Flowerdale Senior dismisses his fear, believing that "youth must have its course" and that his son will soon make amends. In order to spy on his son, Flowerdale Senior feigns death and appears disguised as a servant. He is soon appalled by the sum of his son's vices. Matthew Flowerdale forges a will in which he pretends to be a wealthy man bequeathing all his fortune to Sir Lancelot Spurcock. When the latter discovers the will, he decides to marry his daughter Luce with Matthew. They are quickly married but Matthew is arrested for debt on his wedding day. He becomes poorer and poorer and robs one of Luce's sisters. Although she is abominably treated by her husband (he even asks her to become a whore), Luce remains loyal to him and finally moves her dissolute husband to repentance and reform. Flowerdale Senior reveals his true identity and congratulates his son for his new resolutions.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
George Chapman was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. William Minto speculated that Chapman is the unnamed Rival Poet of Shakespeare's sonnets. Chapman is seen as an anticipator of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century. He is best remembered for his translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and the Homeric Batrachomyomachia.
Rollo Duke of Normandy, also known as The Bloody Brother, is a play written in collaboration by John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Ben Jonson and George Chapman. The title character is the historical Viking duke of Normandy, Rollo. Scholars have disputed almost everything about the play; but it was probably written sometime in the 1612–24 era and later revised, perhaps in 1630 or after. In addition to the four writers cited above, the names of Nathan Field and Robert Daborne have been connected with the play by individual scholars.
Thomas Lord Cromwell is an Elizabethan history play, depicting the life of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, the minister of King Henry VIII of England.
Locrine is an Elizabethan play depicting the legendary Trojan founders of the nation of England and of Troynovant (London). The play presents a cluster of complex and unresolved problems for scholars of English Renaissance theatre.
A Yorkshire Tragedy is an early Jacobean era stage play, a domestic tragedy printed in 1608. The play was originally assigned to William Shakespeare, though the modern critical consensus rejects this attribution, favouring Thomas Middleton.
The Merry Devil of Edmonton is an Elizabethan-era stage play; a comedy about a magician, Peter Fabell, nicknamed the Merry Devil. It was at one point attributed to William Shakespeare, but is now considered part of the Shakespeare Apocrypha.
Fair Em, the Miller's Daughter of Manchester, is an Elizabethan-era stage play, a comedy written c. 1590. It was bound together with Mucedorus and The Merry Devil of Edmonton in a volume labelled "Shakespeare. Vol. I" in the library of Charles II. Though scholarly opinion generally does not accept the attribution to William Shakespeare, there are a few who believe they see Shakespeare's hand in this play.
The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England, commonly called The Troublesome Reign of King John is an Elizabethan history play, probably by George Peele, that is generally accepted by scholars as the source and model that William Shakespeare employed for his own King John.
Blurt, Master Constable, or the Spaniards' Night Walk is a late Elizabethan comedy, printed anonymously in 1602 and usually attributed to either Thomas Middleton or Thomas Dekker.
Lust's Dominion, or The Lascivious Queen is an English Renaissance stage play, a tragedy written perhaps around 1600, probably by Thomas Dekker in collaboration with others and first published in 1657.
Poetaster is a late Elizabethan satirical comedy written by Ben Jonson that was first performed in 1601. The play formed one element in the back-and-forth exchange between Jonson and his rivals John Marston and Thomas Dekker in the so-called Poetomachia or War of the Theatres of 1599–1601.
The Case is Altered is an early comedy by Ben Jonson. First published in 1609, the play presents a range of problems for scholars attempting to understand its place in Jonson's canon of works.
Cupid's Revenge is a Jacobean tragedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. It was a popular success that influenced subsequent works by other authors.
The Coronation Triumph is a Jacobean era literary work, usually classed as an "entertainment," written by Ben Jonson for the coronation of King James I and performed on 15 March 1604. Jonson's work was half of a total performance, the other half written by Thomas Dekker. The work was especially significant in the developing literary career of Jonson, in that it marked the commencement of his role as a writer of masques and entertainments for the Stuart Court, a role he would fill for the next three decades.
The Beaumont and Fletcher folios are two large folio collections of the stage plays of John Fletcher and his collaborators. The first was issued in 1647, and the second in 1679. The two collections were important in preserving many works of English Renaissance drama.
Caesar and Pompey is a Jacobean era stage play, a classical tragedy written by George Chapman. Arguably Chapman's most obscure play, it is also one of the more problematic works of English Renaissance Drama.
Thomas Creede was a printer of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, rated as "one of the best of his time." Based in London, he conducted his business under the sign of the Catherine Wheel in Thames Street from 1593 to 1600, and under the sign of the Eagle and Child in the Old Exchange from 1600 to 1617. Creede is best known for printing editions of works in English Renaissance drama, especially for ten editions of six Shakespearean plays and three works in the Shakespeare Apocrypha.
Thomas Pavier was a London publisher and bookseller of the early seventeenth century. His complex involvement in the publication of early editions of some of Shakespeare's plays, as well as plays of the Shakespeare Apocrypha, has left him with a "dubious reputation."
The True Tragedy of Richard III is an anonymous Elizabethan history play on the subject of Richard III of England. It has attracted the attention of scholars of English Renaissance drama principally for the question of its relationship with William Shakespeare's Richard III.
Egerton MS 1994 is a manuscript collection of English Renaissance plays, now in the Egerton Collection of the British Library. Probably prepared by the actor William Cartwright around 1642, and later presented by him to Dulwich College, the collection contains unique copies of several Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline dramas, including significant works like Edmund Ironside and Thomas of Woodstock.
The London Prodigal public domain audiobook at LibriVox | International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
