Published in 1993: The first modern scholarly edition of the author's play, not published until 1778. Sebastian reclaims his betrothed from Antonio; the Duchess avenges herself on the Duke for making her drink from her father; and Abberzanes and Francesca have an illicite affair. The witches are credible forces of evil.

Published in 1993: The first modern scholarly edition of the author's play, not published until 1778. Sebastian reclaims his betrothed from Antonio; the Duchess avenges herself on the Duke for making her drink from her father; and Abberzanes and Francesca have an illicite affair. The witches are credible forces of evil.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A delightfully lewd city comedy written in 1613 by the co-author of The Changeling. Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside is an intricately plotted play about unscrupulous people in search of wealth, marriage, or sex - and sometimes all three. Unpublished until 1630 and long-neglected afterwards, it is now considered among the best and most characteristic Jacobean comedies. This edition of the play in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Emma French.

"The next good mood I find my father in, I'll get him quite discarded" With these chillingly offhand words, Beatrice-Joanna, the spoilt daughter of a powerful nobleman, plots to get rid of the family servant who has crossed her once too often. The Changeling's vivid tale of sexual appetite, repulsion, betrayal and lunacy remains one of the most compelling tragedies of the 17th century. Exposing the vexed relationship between servants and masters, setting notions of `change' against the revelation of psychological 'secrets' as ways of explaining human behaviour, and exploring the idea of love as a `tame madness', the play reveals the terrifying consequences of ungoverned sexual appetite and betrayal. Featuring the full and modernized play text, this revised edition includes incisive commentary notes which explain the nuances of the play's vibrant, colloquial language and demonstrate its sly delight in the characters' conscious and unconscious wordplay. Michael Neill's illuminating introduction provides a firm grounding in the play's socio-political context, demonstrates how careful close-reading can expand your enjoyment of the play, explains the play's violent linkage of comic and tragic plots and gives theatrical life to the text via a discussion of its stage history, with a particular emphasis on the most interesting recent productions. The New Mermaids plays offer: * Modernized versions of the play text edited to the highest textual standards * Fully annotated student editions with obscure words explained and critical, contextual and staging insight provided on each page * Full Introductions analyzing context, themes, author background and stage history

A hilarious city comedy by the authors of A Mad World, My Masters and The Shoemaker's Holiday. Sebastian has a problem. He's in love with a girl but his father won't agree to their marriage. In desperation he turns to the one person who can help him, the fearless and feisty 'roaring girl' Moll Cutpurse. In a London fuelled by greed and desire, the charismatic, cross-dressing heroine Moll has the world wrapped around her little finger, and she has a plan. Cutting a joyously independent path through the underhand scheming and petty vendettas of the London underworld, Moll proves more than a match for any man. This Prompt Book edition of The Roaring Girl was published alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival of the play in 2014, and features the text edited for the RSC production, and introductions by key members of its creative team.

Thomas Middleton (1580-1627), a bricklayer's son, rose to become one of the most eminent playwrights of the Jacobean period. Along with Ben Johnson he helped shape the dynamic course of drama in Renaissance England. His range is broad, as his work successfully covers comedy, tragedy, and history. Praised during his life as well as today, Middleton remains relevant and influential. The Changeling (1630) was composed with the aid of Middleton's friend William Rowley, also an established playwright. The drama tells of the destructive powers of vice and lust. Beatrice-Joanna is a young woman betrothed to Alonzo de Piracquo, yet Beatrice-Joanna is truly in love with another-the nobleman Alsemero. Beatrice-Joanna uses manipulative and violent means to rid herself of her suitor Alsemero. The ensuing drama results in a catastrophic tragedy, leaving only a few to contemplate justice and passion. The characters, style, and action of The Changeling effortlessly come together, making it one of the greatest tragedies of its time.

This New Mermaids anthology brings together the four most popular and widely studied of Thomas Middleton's plays - "Women Beware Women"; "The Changeling"; "The Roaring Girl" and "A Chaste Maid in Cheapside" - with a new introduction by William Carroll, examining the plays in the context of early modern theatre, culture and politics, as well as their language, characters and themes. On-page commentary notes guide students to a better understanding and combine to make this an indispensable student edition ideal for study and classroom use from A Level upwards.

"The Changeling" is a powerful psychological tragedy of the moral degeneration of a highborn Spanish girl through a crime prompted by obsessive love. Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) was probably responsible for the tragic plot, and William Rowley (c. 1585-1626) for the comic subplot concerning the antics of a young rake who contrives to have himself committed to an insane asylum for love of the proprietor's handsome wife.

This collection of plays shows Middleton experimenting with the classical genres of tragedy and comedy as he develops his own individual dramatic voice. In his early comedies, characterized by an almost Terentian delight in ingenious plotting, love and marriage are merely counters in an elaborate game. But the game is governed by greed, as is the whole world of The Revenger's Tragedy, a Senecan revenge play imbued with biting, almost comical, irony. In his later plays Women Beware Women and The Changeling, Middleton gives the conventionally comic subjects of love and sex profoundly tragic treatment, revealing a world dominated by the corrupting power of lust but subject to the futility of human pretensions.

As the Elizabethan era gave way to the reign of James I, England grappled with corruption within the royal court and widespread religious anxiety. Dramatists responded with morally complex plays of dark wit and violent spectacle, exploring the nature of death, the abuse of power and vigilante justice. In Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy a father failed by the Spanish court seeks his own bloody retribution for his son's murder. Shakespeare's 1603 version of Hamlet creates an avenging Prince of unique psychological depth, while Chettle's The Tragedy of Hoffman is a fascinating reworking of Hamlet's themes, probably for a rival theatre company. In Marston's Antonio's Revenge, thwarted love leads inexorably to gory reprisals and in Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy, malcontent Vindice unleashes an escalating orgy of mayhem on a debauched Duke for his bride's murder, in a ferocious satire reflecting the mounting disillusionment of the age. Emma Smith's introduction considers the political and religious climate behind the plays and the dramatic conventions within them. This edition includes a chronology, playwrights' biographies and suggestions for further reading.