Believe as You List
Believe as You List is a Caroline era tragedy by Philip Massinger, famous as a case of theatrical censorship.
Censorship
The play originally dealt with the legend that
The revised play was licensed by the Master of the Revels on 6 May 1631, and was premiered the next day, 7 May, by the King's Men. (If the play was intended for the winter season, it was meant for the Blackfriars Theatre. The troupe's summer season at the Globe Theatre is thought to have begun in May, and the play may have been staged there instead.)
Non-history
In place of the genuine contemporary history of Sebastian, Massinger had to concoct a substitute story in the ancient world. He imagined
In the first version, Sebastian was counselled by a hermit, suggestive (perhaps) of Massinger's (alleged)
Possible sources
Massinger's source for the original drama about Sebastian was likely Edward Grimeston's General History of Spain (1612). The original version of the play must have treated one of the Sebastian pretenders as genuine. There were at least four such pretenders, and men were executed in 1594 and 1605 for claiming to be the Portuguese king.[1] For the revised version, Massinger used Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World and Plutarch's Life or Titus Flaminius.[2]
Scholars and critics have remarked on the play's debt to the political thought of Niccolò Machiavelli, and have observed a close relationship between Massinger's play and John Ford's Perkin Warbeck, though it is uncertain which play preceded the other.[3]
Manuscript
The play was entered into the Stationers' Register twice, on 9 September 1653 and 29 June 1660, but never printed in the 17th century. For several decades in the later 18th and early 19th centuries, it was generally believed that the play was lost, destroyed in John Warburton's kitchen; but a manuscript of the play was discovered in 1844, and published in 1849. Massinger re-copied the play into its second Antiochus version; but still-extant autograph manuscript, now MS. Egerton 2828 in the collection of the British Museum, reveals the play's revision. At a few points, Massinger lapsed and used the original names of characters and settings, and then corrected them – with "Sebastian" twice, and "Venice" instead of "Carthage." Damage from damp makes portions of the MS. illegible.
The manuscript is annotated with notes by Edward Knight,[4] the company's prompter, to allow its use as the promptbook that guided performances of the play. Knight added notes like "2 Chairs set out," "Table ready and 6 chairs to sett out," and "All the swords ready" as reminders of needed props. Near the end of the MS., Knight wrote,
- Be ready: ye 2 Marchants: Wm. Pen: Curtis: & Garde.
William Penn and Curtis Greville were the actors who played the two Merchants.
In Act IV, Knight placed a cue for music:
- Harry: Willson: & Boy ready for Song at ye Arras.
Henry Wilson was one of the company's regular musicians.
In the notes, two men have to stand ready to raise
Cast
In one reconstruction, the play's 44 speaking roles were performed by 17 actors, seven "sharers" or permanent members of the company supported by ten hired men and boys.[5]
The casting details in the MS. are not always clear or consistent,[6] but the main role assignments in the original production are evident:
Role | Actor |
---|---|
Antiochus | Joseph Taylor
|
Flaminius | John Lowin |
Berecinthius | Thomas Pollard |
Lentulus | Richard Robinson
|
Marcellus | Robert Benfield |
Chrysalus | Eliard Swanston |
1st Merchant | John Honyman |
2nd Merchant | William Penn |
3rd Merchant | Curtis Greville |
Captain | William Patrick |
Minor roles were doubled by other actors, including Richard Baxter, Thomas Hobbs, Rowland Dowle and "Nick" (who could have been Nicholas Burt or Nicholas Underhill).
Synopsis
The action of the play begins in 169 BC, 22 years after Antiochus's defeat in the Battle of Thermopylae. (The historical Antiochus III died in 187). As the first scene opens, Antiochus is approaching the city of Carthage, accompanied by the Stoic philosopher who is his counsellor, and three servants. After living concealed and in obscurity since the battle, Antiochus is now trying to regain his lost crown; he has come to Carthage, a traditional enemy of Rome, in search of support. He discusses his thoughts and feelings with the philosopher.
The middle portion of the opening scene is illegible in the damaged MS. (pages 3–4), but the action is comprehensible: Antiochus's three servants, Chrysalus, Geta, and Syrus, decide to betray their master. They abscond with his gold; Chrysalus leaves a taunting message addressed to "the no king Antiochus" and signed "no more thy servant but superior, Chrysalus." Antiochus is wounded in spirit by the betrayal, but determined to carry on.
The second scene introduces the king's chief antagonist, the Roman Titus Flaminius. (The character is based on a Roman politician and general of the relevant period; but the real
Flaminius quickly learns of Antiochus's arrival. The three false servants, Chrysalus and company, come to him to inform on their ex-master; Flaminius accepts their information and ruthlessly has them put to death. Antiochus and Flaminius both appear before the Carthaginian Senate; Faminius accuses Antiochus of being a fraud, and demands the Carthaginians surrender him to Rome. Antiochus establishes his identity, with documents and through his eloquence and the majesty of his bearing. The Senators are not bold enough to give Antiochus direct help; but they allow him to leave the city and avoid the tentacles of Flaminius and Rome.
The scene shifts to
Flaminius now confronts the problem of what to do with the king. He persists in the fiction that the man is an impostor, though he himself knows that Antiochus is genuine. He has the king imprisoned for three days without food, then offers him a halter and a dagger; but Antiochus rejects suicide. Flaminius offers the king another choice: he can subsist on bread and water, or he can enjoy good food and comfortable conditions – if he admits he's a fraud. Antiochus is tempted to reject even the prison fare, but concludes that his cause would not be served by slow starvation. Finally, the Roman tries to tempt the king with a beautiful young courtesan. Through his three trials, Antiochus behaves with courage, discipline, and dignity.
The last Act opens with Marcellus, the Roman
- Then 'tis easy
- To prophesy I have not long to live,
- Though the manner how I die is uncertain.
- Nay, weep not, since 'tis not in you to help me;
- These showers of tears are fruitless. May my story
- Teach potentates humility, and instruct
- Proud monarchs, though they govern human things,
- A greater power does raise or pull down kings.[9]
Contemporary production
A production of the play was mounted at
Notes
- ^ Believe What You Will, pp. xv–xvi.
- ^ Believe What You Will, p. xvi.
- ^ Logan and Smith, p. 100.
- ^ The assignment to Knight is not unquestioned; an alternative possibility is the mysterious figure who signed his name "Jhon," who annotated some King's Men MSS.
- ^ R. A. Foakes, "Playhouses and players," in Braumuller and Hattaway, p. 48.
- ^ The MS. appears to indicate that two roles, Calistus and Demetrius, were split among multiple actors – a surprising arrangement. Believe What You Will, p. xix; Foakes, p. 48. "As long as the lines were said, it would not matter to the company, or to the audience, whether they were said by the nobleman Demetrius or the Senator Flavius or the Second Messenger." – Grote, p. 222.
- ^ The historical Prusias I granted sanctuary to Hannibal, as the fictional one does for Antiochus. In Bithynia, Hannibal either committed suicide or was murdered on orders of Flaminius. The historical Prusias I died in 182 BC.
- ^ There are several men named Philoxenus in ancient history, though the play's fictional character does not match any of them. The name means "foreign lover;" Flaminius plays upon the Bithynian tutor's desire to be a Roman gentleman.
- ^ Spelling and punctuation modernized in quotes.
References
- Braunmuller, A. R., and Michael Hattaway, eds. The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Drama. Second edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
- Clark, Ira. The Moral Art of Philip Massinger. Lewisburg, PA, Bucknell University Press, 1993.
- Gross, Allen. "Contemporary Politics in Massinger." SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900, Vol. 6 No. 2 (Spring 1966), pp. 279–90.
- Grote, David. The Best Actors in the World: Shakespeare and His Acting Company. Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, 2002.
- Guildersleeve, Virginia Crocheron. Government Regulation of the Elizabethan Drama. New York, Columbia University Press, 1908.
- Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. The Later Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama. Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1978.
- Massinger, Philip. Believe What You Will. RSC Classics; London, Nick Hern Books, 2005.
External links
- Believe as You List, full text at google books