This anonymous manuscript play has long been the subject of scholarly dispute regarding its relationship with Shakespeare's "Richard II." This edition, which thoroughly re-examines the text, situates the play within its historical and political context, relating it to the genre of chronicle drama to which it belongs. The manuscript is of particular interest in that it appears to have been used in the playhouse over a considerable period of time and contains what seems to be evidence of the theatre practice of the time. The marginalia, including 'false' entries, actors' names, instructions for omission, references to stage properties and cues for musical effects, etc., are documented in an Appendix and discussed in the Introduction. The play is also of special interest for its skilful and original handling of source material which may well have influenced Shakespeare's "Richard II." The extensive appendices drawn from Holinshed, Grafton and Stow provide the reader with the opportunity to investigate the manner in which the dramatist has shaped the material. The editors argue for the play's stage-worthiness and dramatic complexity, suggesting that its range both of dramatic tone and social inclusiveness indicate the work of a dramatist of considerable skill and subtlety, equal or superior to the Shakespeare of the Henry VI plays.

For Jacobean society, witchcraft was a potent and very real force, an area of sharp controversy in which King James I himself participated and a phenomenon that attracted many dramatists and writers. The three plays in this book - "Sophonisba," "The Witch" and "The Witch of Edmonton "- reflect the variety of belief in witches and practice of witchcraft in the Jacobean period. Jacobean understanding of witchcraft is illuminated by the close study of these contrasting texts in relation to each other and to other contemporary works: T"he Masque of Queenes"; "Dr Faustus"; "Macbeth" and "The Tempest." The introduction and detailed commentaries explore the considerable theatrical potential of plays which, with the exception of "The Witch of Edmonton," have been hitherto lost to the dramatic repertory.

The multi-authored text "The Witch of Edmonton" has received considerable attention recently both from scholars and critics interested in witchcraft practices and also from the directors in the theatre. The play, based on a sensational witchcraft trial of 1621, presents Mother Sawyer and her local community in the grip of a witch-mania reflecting popular belief and superstition of the time. This edition offers a thorough reconsideration of the text, comprehensive notes and glossary, together with a complete transcription of the original pamphlet by Henry Goodcole, "The Wonderful Discovery of Elizabeth Sawyer, A Witch, Late of Edmonton, Her Conviction and Condemnation and Death (1621)," which the dramatists used as a source.