City comedy, also known as citizen comedy, is a
genre
Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
of
comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
in the English
early modern theatre.
Definition
Emerging from
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...
's late-
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
comedies of humours (1598–1599), the conventions of city comedy developed rapidly in the first decade of the
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era was the period in English and Scotland, Scottish history that coincides
with the reign of James VI and I, James VI of Scotland who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Jacobean era succeeds the Elizabeth ...
, as one playwright's innovations were soon adopted by others, such that by about 1605 the new genre was fully established. Its principal playwrights were Jonson himself,
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...
, and
John Marston, though many others also contributed to its development, including
Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood (early 1570s – 16 August 1641) was an English playwright, actor, and author. His main contributions were to late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre. He is best known for his masterpiece ''A Woman Killed with Kindness'', a ...
,
Thomas Dekker,
John Day, and
John Webster. Once the companies of
boy player
A boy player was a male child or teenager who performed in Medieval theatre, Medieval and English Renaissance theatre, English Renaissance playing companies. Some boy players worked for adult companies and performed the female roles, since women ...
s—the
Children of Paul's and the
Children of the Chapel—had resumed public performances from 1600 onwards, most of their plays were city comedies. The closest that
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's plays come to the genre is the slightly earlier ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor
''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...
'' (c. 1597), which is his only play set entirely in England; it avoids the caustic satire of city comedy, however, in preference for a more bourgeois mode (with its dual romantic plots governed by socio-economics not love or sex), while its setting,
Windsor, is a town rather than a city.
In contrast to the adventurous chronicles of Elizabethan comedy, such as
Thomas Dekker's ''
The Shoemaker's Holiday'' (1599) or
George Peele's ''
The Old Wives' Tale'' (c. 1590), or the intricately plotted romantic comedies of Shakespeare and
John Lyly
John Lyly (; also spelled ''Lilly'', ''Lylie'', ''Lylly''; born c. 1553/54 – buried 30 November 1606)Hunter, G. K. (2004)"Lyly, John (1554–1606)". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 January 2 ...
, city comedy was more realistic (excluding magical or marvellous elements) and sharp and
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
in tone.
[Gibbons (1980, 1).] It portrayed a broad range of characters from different ranks (often focused on citizens), employing "deeds and language such as men do use", as Jonson put it, and was usually set in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.
During the
Tudor period
In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...
the
Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
had produced a gradual shift to
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
and much of London passed from church to private ownership.
[Pevsner (1962, 48).] The
Royal Exchange was founded in this period.
Mercantilism
Mercantilism is a economic nationalism, nationalist economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports of an economy. It seeks to maximize the accumulation of resources within the country and use those resources ...
grew, and monopoly trading companies such as the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
were established, with trade expanding to the
New World
The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...
. London became the principal
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
port, with migrants arriving from England and abroad. The population rose from an estimated 50,000 in 1530 to about 225,000 in 1605.
[ City comedies depict London as a hotbed of vice and folly; in particular, Jonson's '' Epicoene'', Middleton's ''A Trick to Catch the Old One'' and '' A Chaste Maid in Cheapside'', and Marston's ''The Dutch Courtesan.''
Verna Foster has argued that John Ford's '']'Tis Pity She's a Whore
''Tis Pity She's a Whore'' (original spelling: ''Tis Pitty Shee's a Who'' 'o'''re'') is a tragedy written by John Ford (dramatist), John Ford. It was first performed or between 1629 and 1633, by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit Theatre. ...
'' (c. 1629–1633) re-works many of the features of city comedy within a tragic drama.[Foster (1988).]
List of city comedies
* '' Every Man in his Humour'' (1598), by Ben Jonson
* '' The Family of Love'' (c. 1602), by Thomas Middleton
* '' The Wise Woman of Hoxton'' (c. 1604), by Thomas Heywood
* '' A Trick to Catch the Old One'' (c. 1604), by Thomas Middleton
* '' The Dutch Courtesan'' (c. 1604), by John Marston
* '' Westward Ho'' (1604), by Thomas Dekker and John Webster
* '' Eastward Ho'' (1605), by George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and John Marston
* '' Northward Ho'' (1605), by Thomas Dekker and John Webster
* ''Michaelmas Term
Michaelmas ( ) term is the first academic term of the academic year in a number of English-speaking universities and schools in the northern hemisphere, especially in the United Kingdom. Michaelmas term derives its name from the Feast of St M ...
'' (c. 1605), by Thomas Middleton
* '' A Mad World, My Masters'' (c. 1605), by Thomas Middleton
* ''Cupid's Whirligig
''Cupid's Whirligig'', by Edward Sharpham (1576-1608), is a city comedy set in London about a husband that suspects his wife of having affairs with other men and is consumed with irrational jealousy. It was first published in quarto in 1607, e ...
'' (1607), by Edward Sharpham
* '' Your Five Gallants'' (c. 1607), by Thomas Middleton
* '' Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks'' (1608), by Lording Barry
* '' Epicœne, or The Silent Woman'' (1609), by Ben Jonson
* '' The Alchemist'' (1610), by Ben Jonson
* '' The Roaring Girl'' (c. 1611), by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker
* '' A Chaste Maid in Cheapside'' (c. 1611), by Thomas Middleton
* '' Bartholomew Fair'' (1614), by Ben Jonson
* '' Anything for a Quiet Life'' (c. 1621), by Thomas Middleton (and, possibly, John Webster)
* '' A New Way to Pay Old Debts'' (c. 1621), by Philip Massinger
* '' The City Madam'' (c. 1632), by Philip Massinger
See also
* English drama
* Comedy of humours
* Comedy of intrigue
Notes
Sources
* Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .
* Barroll, J. Leeds, Alexander Leggatt, Richard Hosley, and Alvin Kernan, eds. 1975. ''The Revels History of Drama in English.'' Vol. 3 (1576–1613). London: Methuen.
* Bradbrook, M. C. 1955. ''The Growth and Structure of Elizabethan Comedy.'' London: Chatto & Windus.
* Brockett, Oscar G. and Franklin J. Hildy. 2003. ''History of the Theatre''. Ninth edition, International edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. .
* Burgon, John William and E. Wilson. 1839. ''The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham, Founder of the Royal Exchange.'' Vol. 2. London: Robert Jennings. .
* Donaldson, Ian. 1997. ''Jonson's Magic Houses: Essays in Interpretation.'' Oxford: Clarendon. .
* Foster, Verna. 1988. "'Tis Pity She's a Whore as City Tragedy." In ''John Ford: Critical Revisions.'' Ed. Michael Neill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 181–200. .
* Gibbons, Brian. 1980. ''Jacobean City Comedy: A Study of the Satiric Plays by Jonson, Marston and Middleton.'' 2nd rev. ed. London: Methuen. .
* Gurr, Andrew. 1992. ''The Shakespearean Stage 1574–1642''. Third ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .
* Hampton-Reeves, Stuart. 2007. ''The Shakespeare Handbooks:'' Measure for Measure. The Shakespeare Handbooks ser. New York: Macmillan. .
* Howard, Jean E. 2001. "Shakespeare and the London City Comedy." ''Shakespeare Studies'' 39: 1–21.
* Knights, L. C. 1937. ''Drama and Society in the Age of Jonson.'' Harmondsworth: Penguin.
* Laroque, François. 2015. "Magic, Manipulation and Misrule in ''Doctor Faustus'' and ''Measure for Measure''." In ''The Circulation of Knowledge in Early Modern English Literature.'' Ed. Sophie Chiari. London: Routledge. 123–132. .
* Leggatt, Alexander. 1973. ''Citizen Comedy in the Age of Shakespeare''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
* Leinwand, Theodore B. 1986. ''The City Staged: Jacobean Comedy, 1603–1613''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
* McLuskie, Kathleen E. 1994. ''Dekker & Heywood: Professional Dramatists''. English Dramatists ser. London: Macmillan. .
* Orlin, Lena Cowen. 2008. "Shakespearean Comedy and Material Life." ''A Companion to Shakespeare's Works.'' Vol. 3: The Comedies. Ed. Richard Dutton and Jean E. Howard. Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture ser. Oxford: Blackwell. 159–181. .
* Pevsner, Nikolaus. 1962. ''London I: The Cities of London and Westminster.'' 2nd rev. ed. The Buildings of England ser. Harmondsworth: Penguin. .
External links
* {{gutenberg author, id=6911, name=Thomas Dekker
Theatrical genres
English drama
Comedy genres