| The Wise Woman of Hoxton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Thomas Heywood |
| Date premiered | c. 1604 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | City comedy |
| Setting | Hoxton, London |
| [The Wise Woman of Hogsden at the Internet Archive Official site] | |
The Wise Woman of Hoxton is a city comedy by the English early modern playwright Thomas Heywood. It was published under the title The Wise-Woman of Hogsdon in 1638, though it was probably first performed c.1604 by the Queen's Men company (of which Heywood was a shareholder), either at The Curtain or perhaps The Red Bull.[1] The play is set in Hoxton, an area that at the time was outside the boundaries of the city of London and notorious for its entertainments and recreations.[2] The critic F. G. Fleay suggested that Heywood, who was also an actor, originally played the part of Sencer.[3] It has often been compared with Ben Jonson's The Alchemist (1610)—T. S. Eliot argued that with this play Heywood "succeeds with something not too far below Jonson to be comparable to that master's work".[4]
Characters edit
- Young Robin Chartley, a wild-headed gentleman
- Boyster, a blunt fellow
- Sencer, a conceited gentleman
- Haringfield, a civil gentleman
- Luce, a goldsmith's daughter
- Luce's father, a goldsmith
- Joseph, the goldsmith's apprentice
- Old Master Chartley, Robin Chartley's father, a country gentleman
- Serving-man 1, Young Chartley's man
- Giles, Old Chartley's man
- Sir Harry, a knight who is no piece of a scholar
- Gratiana, Sir Harry's daughter
- Tabor, Sir Harry's man
- Sir Boniface, an ignorant pedant, or schoolmaster
- The Wise Woman of Hoxton, who bears the name of the drama
- A Countryman, client to the Wise Woman
- A Kitchen Maid, who comes to the Wise Woman for counsel
- Two Citizen's Wives, who also come to the Wise Woman for counsel
- Luce 2, a young country gentlewoman
- Serving-man 2, Gratiana's man
Performance history edit
The play was given a staged reading at Shakespeare's Globe theatre on 4 November 2001, as part of their Read, Not Dead programme.[5]
References edit
- ^ Massai (2002, xi-xii) and McLuskie (1994, 2). The location is spelt both "Hogsdon" and "Hogsden" in the text published in 1638.
- ^ Massai (2002, 98). Hogsdon was an alternative spelling of Hoxton that was in use until the first half of the eighteenth century. References to the area in other early modern plays include Ben Jonson's The Alchemist (5.2.17-20) and Francis Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle (4.1.446-447).
- ^ Massai (2002, xiv).
- ^ Quoted by Massai (2002, xii-xiii).
- ^ Heywood (2002, vii).
Sources edit
- Gurr, Andrew. 1992. The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642. Third ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-42240-X.
- Heywood, Thomas. 2002. The Wise Woman of Hoxton. Ed. Sonia Massai. Globe Quartos ser. London: Nick Hern. ISBN 1-854-59707-8.
- Howard, Jean E. 1994. The Stage and Social Struggle in Early Modern England. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-04258-5.
- Massai, Sonia. 2002. "Editor's Introduction" in Heywood (2002, xi-xiv).
- McLuskie, Kathleen E. 1994. Dekker & Heywood: Professional Dramatists. English Dramatists ser. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-46237-8.
- Thomson, Peter. 1998. "Heywood, Thomas" In The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Ed. Martin Banham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43437-8. p. 486.