Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama

Series Editor: Helen Ostovich, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada This series presents original research on theatre histories and performance histories; the time period covered is from about 1500 to the early 18th century. Studies in which women's activities are a central feature of discussion are especially of interest; this may include women as financial or technical support (patrons, musicians, dancers, seamstresses, wig-makers)or house support staff (e.g., gatherers), rather than performance per se. We also welcome critiques of early modern drama that take into account the production values of the plays and rely on period records of performance.

Significant and unexplored signs of John Marston's literary rivalry with Ben Jonson are investigated here by Charles Cathcart. The centrepiece of the book is its argument that the anonymous play "The Family of Love", sometimes attributed to Thomas Middleton and sometimes to Lording Barry, was in part the work of John Marston, and that it constitutes a whimsical statement of amity with Jonson. The book concerns itself with material rarely or never viewed as part of the "Poets' War" (such as the mutual attempted cuckoldings of "The Insatiate Countess" and the Middle Temple performance of "Twelfth Night") rather than with texts (like "Satiromastix" and "Poetaster") long considered in this light.

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

1 The War of the Theatres and the Virtues of Conjecture

2 Love's Martyr, the 'Vatum Chorus', and Speculative Attribution

3 John Weever and 'Horace merit'

4 Why did What You Will Appear in 1607?

5 The Insatiate Countess: Emulation, Appropriation, and Cuckoldry

6 The Family of Love and John Marston

7 The Family of Love and the 'Poets' War'

8 Malvolio, Marston, and Frederick Fleay

Afterword

Bibliography

Index