Thomas of Woodstock (play)
Thomas of Woodstock and Richard the Second Part One are two names for an untitled, anonymous and apparently incomplete manuscript of an
but new dating of the text brings that relationship into question.Characters
Dramatis Personae after Corbin and Sedge (2002)
- Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester– uncle to the king and Lord Protector
- John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster–uncle to the king
- Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York – uncle to the king
- Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel, Lord Admiral of England
- Earl of Surrey (possibly Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey)
- Sir Thomas Cheney, supporter of Woodstock and his brothers
- Nicholas Exton, Lord Mayor of London
- King Richard II of England
- Sir Henry Greene– favourite of Richard
- Sir Edward Bagot – favourite of Richard and Sheriff of Leicester
- Sir William Bushy – favourite of Richard, Sheriff of Lincoln, Speaker of the House of Commons
- Sir Thomas Scroop – favourite of Richard, Earl of Wiltshire, Treasurer of England
- Sir Robert Tresilian, a lawyer, subsequently Lord Chief Justice of England
- Nimble, his man
- A Servant to Tresilian
- Crosby, law officer to Tresilian
- Fleming, law officer to Tresilian
- Master Ignorance, the Baily of Dunstable
- A Farmer
- A Butcher
- Cowtail, a grazier
- A Schoolmaster
- A Serving-man
- A Whistler
- A Servant at Plashy House
- A Spruce Courtier
- His Horse
- Cynthia, prologue to the masque representing the Moon
- The Shrieve of Kent
- The Shrieve of Northumberland
- Governor of Calais
- Ghost of Edward the Black Prince
- Ghost of Edward III of England
- 1 Murderer
- 2 Murderer
- A Gentleman
- Soldiers of the Calais garrison
- Queen Anne O'Beame, Queen of England
- Eleanor de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester, wife of Thomas of Woodstock
- Robert de Vere, the King's former favourite
- A Maid-in-waiting to the Queen
- Courtiers, Masquers, Gentlemen, Servants, Maids, Soldiers, Archers
Text and origins
The play survives only as an anonymous, untitled and incomplete manuscript, part of a collection of fifteen plays in the
The collection was compiled by a seventeenth century actor in the King's Revels Men, William Cartwright (ca. 1606–1686; not to be confused with his contemporary poet/dramatist of the same name), who later became a bookseller and collector of plays during the English Civil War.[5]
There is no confirmed recorded production of the play during Shakespeare's lifetime, although the well-worn state of the Egerton manuscript, the presence of notations referencing specific actors' names, and the inclusion of instructions within the text's margins suggesting censorship by the
A transcript of the text was published by the Malone Society in 1929, and in fully edited texts by A. P. Rossiter in 1946, Peter Corbin and Douglas Sedge in 2002, and Michael Egan in 2003.
Title and subject matter
The play covers the events leading up to the murder of Richard II's uncle,
Authorship
Given the play's close relationship to the subject matter of Richard II, Shakespeare's authorship has been suggested, although few of the play's earlier editors supported this speculation. The Malone Society editor makes no reference to the Shakespeare theory.[11] A.P. Rossiter states "There is not the smallest chance that he was Shakespeare", citing the drabness of the verse, while acknowledging that the play's aspirations indicate that "There is something of a simplified Shakespeare" in the author.[12]
Other authors have been suggested. In 2001,
Corbin and Sedge argue that Thomas of Woodstock was written by an author of "considerable range and competence", but they regard any attribution to Shakespeare "or any other author" as "highly speculative". Nonetheless, they note that:
- Shakespeare is perhaps the one known dramatist in the 1590s whose dramatic style most closely resembles that of Thomas of Woodstock. The 'Shakespearian' characteristics of the play may be summarised as follows: a sophisticated handling of chronicle material; a careful and fruitful juxtaposition of low life scenes over and against court life; the sense of England as a significant 'character' throughout the play; a sure handling of dramatic technique as in the economical and engaging exposition; the careful drawing of effective female characters (specifically Anne O' Beame [i.e. Anne of Bohemia]); Nimble's malapropisms, anticipating Costard, Dogberry and Mrs. Quickley; the dramatist's ability to manipulate audience sympathy in a complex fashion towards Richard and to present Woodstock as a figure of conscience in a manner which anticipates Gaunt.[14]
In 2006,
An argument against Shakespeare's authorship is the fact that the character of
Date
The 1929 Malone Society editor states that most scholars place its composition between 1591 and 1595.[21] Ule and Baker date it more precisely to about 1582; they believe it was written by Christopher Marlowe while he was at Cambridge, shortly after he had completed other plays they attribute to him such as Timon, and The Famous Victories of Henry V.[22] Corbin and Sedge, while cautioning that "[d]ating by suppositions of literary or theatrical influence is ... a hazardous business," nonetheless state that "in so far as literary influence may help dating, it would seem probable that Woodstock was written, and perhaps staged, some time before 1595."[23] Egan dates the play to 1592–1593, while dating the manuscript to 1605. MacDonald P. Jackson argues that "Woodstock's contractions and linguistic forms, expletives, metrical features and vocabulary all point independently to composition in the first decade of the seventeenth century", a conclusion which would make the play's relationship with Richard II that of a "prequel" rather than a source.[13] Eric Sams (2008) conjectured c.1590 as its original composition date, placing it after The First Part of the Contention, which he considered to be by the same author and a major influence on its language, content and treatment.[20]
Performances
The Hampshire Shakespeare Company, a non-professional theatre in Amherst, Massachusetts, staged the first known American production of Thomas of Woodstock in 1999. Local writer Frederick Carrigg supplied an ending to cover the missing manuscript page(s).[24]
Royal Blood: The Rise and Fall of Kings was a 10-play series of Shakespeare's history plays staged chronologically over four seasons by the Pacific Repertory Theatre from 2001 to 2004, which included the American professional premieres of both Edward III and Thomas of Woodstock. They proposed Shakespeare as the author of both plays in their first arc in 2001, consisting of Edward III, Thomas of Woodstock, and Richard II.[25][26]
The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., staged Richard II in 2010 with director Michael Kahn's incorporation of a significant part of Thomas of Woodstock at the start of the play.
On 20 December 2013 the Royal Shakespeare Company gave a rehearsed reading of the play at London's Barbican Centre in the context of its ongoing performances of Richard II. The text was significantly cut by the director (for example the subplot involving Nimble and the blank charters was excised) to highlight the relationship between the two plays.
In 2020, the Beyond Shakespeare Company released online a play-reading and discussion of Thomas of Woodstock on YouTube. [27]
References
- ^ Brooke, C. F. Tucker, The Shakespeare Apocrypha Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1918; Kozlenko, William,Disputed Plays of William Shakespeare, New York: Hawthorne Publishers, 1974
- ^ The Riverside Shakespeare at 842, 2000 (2nd ed. 1997)
- ^ Corbin, Peter, and Douglas Sedge. (2002) Thomas of Woodstock: or, Richard II, Part One, Manchester University Press, p. 4.
- ISBN 0-7045-0547-9
- ^ Corbin and Sedge, 2002, p. 1.
- ^ Id. at 1–3, 38–39.
- ^ Id. at 40
- ^ Corbin and Sedge, 2002, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Wilhelmina P. Frijlinck, ed. The First Part of the Reign of King Richard II or Thomas of Woodstock. Malone Society, 1929, p.v.
- ^ A.P. Rossiter, Woodstock: A Moral History (London: Chatto & Windus, 1946), p. 26
- ^ Frijlinck, First Part.
- ^ Rossiter, Woodstock, p. 73
- ^ a b Macd. P. Jackson, "Shakespeare's Richard II and the Anonymous Thomas of Woodstock,", in Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 14 (2001) 17–65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24322987
- ^ Corbin and Sedge, 2002, p. 4.
- ISBN 0-7734-6082-9.
- ^ "Last weeks letters". The Times. London. 26 March 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ Robinson, Ian, Richard II and Woodstock, Brynmill Press, 1988 Retrieved 29 November 2013
- ^ SHAKSPER 2005: Wager
- ^ http://shaksper.net/archive/2011/304-august/28082-thomas-of-woodstock; see, also, "Poor Richards," SHK 25.080 Sunday, 16 February 2014
- ^ a b Sams, Eric, The Real Shakespeare: Retrieving the Later Years, 1594–1616, p.342 (unfinished at the time of Sams' death, an edited text being published as an e-book by the Centro Studi "Eric Sams", 2008 [1])
- ^ Frijlinck, First Part., p. xxiii
- ^ Ule, A Concordance to the Shakespeare Apocrypha, which contains an edition of the play and a discussion of its authorship.
- ^ Corbin and Sedge, 2002, pp. 4, 8.
- ^ "Thomas of Woodstock: Title Page". Hampshire Shakespeare Company. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
- ^ Pacific Repertory Theatre website archives
- ^ Ehren, Christine (14 October 2001). "Lost Shakespeare Lost Again: CA Thomas of Woodstock, Edward III Ends U.S. Debut Oct. 14". Playbill. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Thomas of Woodstock | Second Look, part 1 (Beyond Shakespeare Exploring Session)". YouTube.
There is a full chapter about this anonymous play in Kevin De Ornellas, The Horse in Early Modern English Culture, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2013.
External links
- Full text of Richard II: Thomas of Woodstock at Internet archive www.american-shakespeare.com