The Staple of News

Last updated

The Staple of News is an early Caroline era play, a satire by Ben Jonson. The play was first performed in late 1625 by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre, and first published in 1631. [1]

Contents

Publication

The Staple of News was entered into the Stationers' Register in Feb. 1626, but was not published till five years later. Like The Devil is an Ass,The Staple of News was intended to be part of the second folio collection of Jonson's works that was being readied for publication in 1630, as a follow-up to the first collection in 1616. The project was abandoned, apparently because Jonson grew dissatisfied with the quality of the printing (done by John Beale). The Staple of News, again like Devil is an Ass, was published separately in 1631 in folio format from the existing typesetting, by the bookseller Robert Allot – though it is unclear whether this was ever a commercial publication, or whether Jonson privately distributed copies of the play among friends, acquaintances, and admirers. The play next appeared in print in 1640, in the Volume 2 of the second folio of Jonson's works. [2]

Content

Among the late comedies that some critics have dismissed as Jonson's "dotages," The Staple of News has often been regarded as "the most admirable of Jonson's later works." [3] It has attracted scholarly attention for its satire on the newspaper and news agency business that was a recent and rapidly evolving innovation in Jonson's era. The first semi-regular news serials in English (then called "corantos"), printed in the Netherlands, had appeared in 1620 in response to the start of the Thirty Years' War; over the next year London publication of English translations of foreign-news pamphlets increased; and in 1622 Nathaniel Butter formed syndicate for supplying and printing news serials in English. [4] In Jonson's play, the News Staple is a parody of these developments. Jonson may have had a political motive for his satire: the new business in news concentrated on war news from Europe, which fed the popular urge for England's involvement on the Protestant side of the conflict. Jonson is thought to have sympathised with King James's strong reluctance to become involved in a European war. [5]

The play, however, is more than a simple and direct satire on the incipient newspaper business, a sort of 1620s anticipation of The Front Page . The News-Staple material comprises only a few scenes in the play as a whole. The main plot, about the Pennyboy family and Lady Pecunia, is a satire on the emerging ethic of capitalism; and the play features a complex threefold satire on abuses of language, in the News Staple, the society of jeerers, and the project for a Canting College. The play also provides an expression of the females-out-of-control theme that is so central and recurrent in Jonson's plays, from the Ladies Collegiate in Epicene (1609) to the three bad servants in The Magnetic Lady (1632).

Sources

As is usual for Jonson, The Staple of News is well-grounded in precedents from Classical literature. As The Case is Altered drew plot materials from two plays by Plautus, so The Staple of News borrows from no less than five plays by Aristophanes. The main plot, about Lady Pecunia and her suitors, derives from Plutus, while the language cabals draw upon The Clouds, Assemblywomen, and Thesmophoriazusae. [6] And when the mad Pennyboy Senior puts his dogs on trial, the debt is to The Wasps . Scholars have also noted borrowings from the dialogue Timon by Lucian, as well as links with earlier English plays, including The Contention Between Liberality and Prodigality (printed 1601) and The London Prodigal (1605).

Jonson also re-used some material from his unproduced 1624 masque Neptune's Triumph for the Return of Albion in the play. The anti-masque in that work contained a dialogue between a poet and a cook, which is one instance in the pattern of Jonsonian ridicule of his partner in creating masques, Inigo Jones. Jonson ridiculed Jones in works spanning two decades, from Bartholomew Fair (1614) to Love's Welcome at Bolsover (1634). This recycling of material from the poet-and-cook dialogue in Neptune's Triumph makes The Staple of News another instance in this pattern of mockery of Jones. [7]

Synopsis

The play begins with the entrance of the actor who speaks the Prologue — quickly followed by four audience members seeking seating on the stage. (The practice of selling seats on the periphery of the stages in the private theatres of the era is exploited for commentary and comedy in a variety of plays, from Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607) to Jonson's Magnetic Lady.) In this case the four are the Gossips Mirth, Tattle, Expectation, and Censure. They interrupt the Prologue with their comments, and continue this through the four entr'actes that Jonson calls "Intermeans" — a structure he would employ again in The Magnetic Lady. The gossips have a number of criticisms of the play as it proceeds (mainly that it contains neither a devil nor a fool).

The play proper begins by introducing the situation of the Pennyboy family. Pennyboy Junior, a spendthrift, and Pennyboy Senior, an usurer and miser, are competing for the hand of the plutocratic Lady Pecunia. The nomenclature is somewhat misleading: Pennyboy Senior and Junior are not father and son, but uncle and nephew. The missing member of this family triangle, their brother and father, is present through the play, though he is disguised as a street singer; Pennyboy Cantor, as he is known, has faked his death (like Flowerdale Senior in The London Prodigal) to observe the conduct of his family.

Accompanied by Pennyboy Cantor, Pennyboy Junior, a man about town, pays a visit to the new curiosity, the News Staple. Cymbal, the manager (a caricature of Nathaniel Butter, pioneer of English newspapers), gives them a tour of the facility and explains its operation. They also encounter Picklock, a "Man o' Law," who plays a sinister role in the action to come.

Lady Aurelia Clara Pecunia is largely a symbol for the new society of capitalism that was developing at the time. She is served by her nurse, named Mortgage, her ladies in waiting, Statute and Band, and her chambermaid, Wax. Among her many wooers are the members of the society of jeerers. The members of this heterogeneous company – a sea captain, a poet, a doctor, and a courtier – have all gone bankrupt and now devote themselves to insulting and jeering at others, raising their practice to a pretended art form. Their leader is Cymbal, the manager of the News Staple. Pennyboy Senior attempts to enter Pecunia's good graces by conniving with her servants, Broker the gentleman usher and Lick-finger the cook. As a miser, however, he becomes a prime target for the jeerers. The uncle and nephew also conduct an acerbic rivalry over their prospects with Pecunia.

Act III begins, oddly enough, with a preface to the readers, asking them to approach the material that follows in a judicious frame of mind. Pennyboy Junior, still accompanied by his disguised father, escorts Pecunia and her attendants to the News Staple, where he spends foolishly on spurious news of the day. ("The art of drawing farts out of dead bodies,/ Is by the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross / Brought to perfection...," etc.) Meanwhile, Cymbal takes an opportunity to press his own suit to Pecunia; and he jeers his rival suitor Pennyboy Senior mercilessly.

Pennyboy Junior and Pecunia and her attendants adjourn to a nearby tavern – but they are tracked down by the jeerers. In an increasingly drunken state, they drive out Pennyboy Senior, and Junior proposes a plan for a Canting College. The Canting College will teach all the insider vocabularies that special interests use to maintain and advance their own self-interest and victimise the public. Pennyboy Cantor, disgusted by all that he has seen and heard, quarrels with the jeerers and finally doffs his disguise, revealing his true identity. He denounces his son and withdraws Pecunia to his own house.

The Pennyboys have to confront another hurdle, in the attempted cheat of the villain Picklock; but Pennyboy Junior's frustration of Picklock's scheme demonstrates his repentance and returns him to his father's good graces. Pennyboy Senior has by now been driven mad by the mockery of the jeerers; he puts his dogs on trial for scheming to cheat him. Yet a final victory over the jeerers, and his discovery that his brother Pennyboy Cantor is still alive, help to restore Pennyboy Senior's wits. Pecunia accepts Pennyboy Junior as her future husband, and amity and concord are restored.

Related Research Articles

Ben Jonson 17th-century English playwright, poet, and actor

Benjamin Jonson was an English playwright and poet, whose artistry exerted a lasting impact upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours. He is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone, or The Fox, The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. "He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I."

<i>The London Prodigal</i> play sometimes attributed to Shakespeare

The London Prodigal is a play in English Renaissance theatre, a city comedy set in London, in which a prodigal son learns the error of his ways. The play was published in quarto in 1605 by the stationer Nathaniel Butter, and printed by Thomas Creede. 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.

<i>Bartholomew Fair</i> (play) Play

Bartholomew Fair is a Jacobean comedy in five acts by Ben Jonson. It was first staged on 31 October 1614 at the Hope Theatre by the Lady Elizabeth's Men company. Written four years after The Alchemist, five after Epicœne, or the Silent Woman, and nine after Volpone, it is in some respects the most experimental of these plays.

<i>The Masque of Blackness</i> Masque by Ben Jonson

The Masque of Blackness was an early Jacobean era masque, first performed at the Stuart Court in the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1605. It was written by Ben Jonson at the request of Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of King James I, who wished the masquers to be disguised as Africans. Anne was one of the performers in the masque along with her court ladies, all of whom appeared in black face makeup.

<i>Hymenaei</i> Play written by Ben Jonson

Hymenaei, or The Masque of Hymen, was a masque written by Ben Jonson for the marriage of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, and performed on their wedding day, 5 January 1606. The costumes, sets, and scenic effects were designed by Inigo Jones, and the music composed by Alfonso Ferrabosco.

The Magnetic Lady, or Humors Reconciled is a Caroline-era stage play, the final comedy of Ben Jonson. It was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on 12 October 1632, and first published in 1641, in Volume II of the second folio collection of Jonson's works.

A Tale of a Tub is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Ben Jonson. The last of his plays to be staged during his lifetime, A Tale of a Tub was performed in 1633 and published in 1640 in the second folio of Jonson's works.

Love's Welcome at Bolsover is the final masque composed by Ben Jonson. It was performed on 30 July 1634, three years before the poet's death, and published in 1641.

Ben Jonson folios Ben Jonsons bibliography collection

Ben Jonson collected his plays and other writings into a book he titled The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. In 1616 it was printed in London in the form of a folio. Second and third editions of his works were published posthumously in 1640 and 1692.

Chloridia: Rites to Chloris and Her Nymphs was the final masque that Ben Jonson wrote for the Stuart Court. It was performed at Shrovetide, 22 February 1631, with costumes, sets and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones.

Oberon, the Faery Prince was a masque written by Ben Jonson, with costumes, sets and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones, and music by Alfonso Ferrabosco and Robert Johnson. Oberon saw the introduction to English Renaissance theatre of scenic techniques that became standard for dramatic productions through the coming centuries.

Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, with music by Alfonso Ferrabosco. It was performed on 3 February 1611 at Whitehall Palace, and published in 1616.

<i>The Hue and Cry After Cupid</i> Play

The Hue and Cry After Cupid, or A Hue and Cry After Cupid, also Lord Haddington's Masque or The Masque at Lord Haddington's Marriage, or even The Masque With the Nuptial Songs at the Lord Viscount Haddington's Marriage at Court, was a masque performed on Shrove Tuesday night, 9 February 1608, in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace. The work was written by Ben Jonson, with costumes, sets, and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones, and with music by Alfonso Ferrabosco — the team of creators responsible for previous and subsequent masques for the Stuart Court.

The Golden Age Restored was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones; it was performed on 1 January and 6 January 1616, almost certainly at Whitehall Palace.

The Fortunate Isles and Their Union is a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, and performed on 9 January 1625. It was the last masque acted before King James I of England, and therefore the final masque of the Jacobean era.

Neptune's Triumph for the Return of Albion was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson, and designed by Inigo Jones. The masque is notable for the contradictory historical evidence connected with it and the confusion it caused among generations of scholars and critics.

The Masque of Augurs was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones. It was performed, most likely, on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1622.

The Weeding of the Covent Garden, or the Middlesex Justice of Peace, alternatively titled The Covent Garden Weeded, is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome that was first published in 1659. The play is a noteworthy satire on the emerging ethos of Capitalism as reflected in real estate and urban development in the early modern city.

Time Vindicated to Himself and to his Honours was a late Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and with costumes, sets, and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones. James's son and heir Prince Charles led the dances of the principal masquers, as he had in several previous masques at the Stuart Court.

News from the New World Discovered in the Moon was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson; it was first performed before King James I on 7 January 1620, with a second performance on 29 February the same year. Jonson's text comments on significant recent developments in astronomy and journalism. The text of the masque was first published in the second folio collection of Jonson's works in 1641.

References

  1. ↑ James Loxley, The Complete Critical Guide to Ben Jonson, London, Routledge, 2002.
  2. ↑ Anthony Parr, ed., The Staple of News, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2002; pp. 1–3.
  3. ↑ Richard Levin, The Multiple Plot in English Renaissance Drama. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1971; p. 184.
  4. ↑ Joad Raymond, Pamphlets and Pamphleteering in Early Modern Britain (Cambridge, 2003), ch. 4
  5. ↑ Parr, p. 22.
  6. ↑ Levin, p. 189.
  7. ↑ Michael Leapman, Inigo: The Troubled Life of Inigo Jones, Architect of the English Renaissance, London, Headline Book Publishing, 2003; pp. 216–17.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.