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Ben Jonson and Theatre is an investigation and celebration of Jonson's plays from the point of view of the theatre practitioner as well as the teacher. Reflecting the increasing interest in the wider field of Renaissance drama, this book bridges the theory/practice divide by debating how Jonson's drama operates in performance. Ben Jonson and Theatre includes:
* discussions with and between practitioners
* essays on the staging of the plays
* edited transcripts of interviews with contemporary practitioners
The volume includes contributions from Joan Littlewood, Sam Mendes, John Nettles, Simon Russell Beale and Geoffrey Rush, Oscar-winning actor for Shine. ... Read more

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Ben Jonson's classic work

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An examination of the literary relationship between two great English writers. ILLUS. ... Read more

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The masque had a brief but splendid life as the dominant mode of entertainment at the early Stuart court.Extravagant multi-media happenings, court masques were filled with arcane allegorical references and frequently commented on political issues of the day.This selection, the most substantial available, brings together eighteen masques, tracing the evolution of the genre from Jonson's early masques for King James I to Davenant's 1640 masque for Charles I, performed just before the outbreak of the English Civil War.Together, these works offer fascinating insights into the culture and politics of the early 17th century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Used prices?
The prices listed here for used copies are frankly unacceptable, given how readily available this edition remains in the UK .... The book is lovely otherwise, worth the looking further afield.

Unique Fusion of Dance, Drama, Music, and Stagecraft
More than fifty court masques were held in the period 1605-1640. Eighteen representative masques have been compiled in this Oxford University Press (World's Classics series) book, titled Court Masques. This text offers a good introduction to this largely unfamiliar form of entertainment.

The court masque was an extravagant, ostentatious, theatrical spectacle that dominated entertainment in the Stuart courts of King James I and Charles I.Inordinately costly, these aristocratic entertainments were often a source of friction between the king and parliament. Following the revolution of Oliver Cromwell, court masques came to an end.

The editor, David Lindley, provides valuable supplementary material: a general introduction to the court masque, a chronology of Stuart masques, and a select bibliography on general studies, stagecraft, music and dance, as well as sources for Jonson, Campion, Chapman, Daniel, and Davenant.

I especially appreciated the extensive explanatory notes as many of the masques presumed audience familiarity with relatively obscure elements of Greek and Roman mythology. The notes also clarified oblique references to sensitive political issues of the Stuart period, even the high cost of the masques themselves.

Ben Jonson was clearly the dominant creator of court masques and he was its most pugnacious defender. Throughout this long period Jonson forcefully argued that the key value of court masque was its intellectual message. Contrastingly, the remarkable Indigo Jones that designed and built the complex stage scenery and its associated machinery wrote, "... and indeed, these shows are nothing else but pictures with light and motion."

Despite the excellent supplementary material and explanatory notes, Court Masques may initially seem difficult, in part due to the unfamiliarity of the masque. In some ways reading a masque is like reading an opera, except that we can easily visualize an operatic performance. David Lindley is to be commended for creating this interesting collection that makes the Jacobean and Caroline court masques accessible to non-specialists. ... Read more

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Tom Lockwood's study is the first examination of Jonson's place in the texts and culture of the Romantic age. Part one of the book explores theatrical, critical, and editorial responses to Jonson, including his place in the post-Garrick theatre, critical estimations of his life and work, and the politically charged making and reception of William Gifford's 1816 edition of Jonson's Works. Part two explores allusive and imitative responses to Jonson's poetry and plays in the writings of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and explores how Jonson serves variously as a model by which to measure the poet laureate, Robert Southey, and Coleridge's eldest son, Hartley. The introduction and conclusion locate this "Romantic Jonson" against his eighteenth-century and Victorian re-creations. Ben Jonson in the Romantic Age shows us a varied, mobile, and contested Jonson and offers a fresh perspective on the Romantic age. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (9)

Flies will get us all in the end...
As some others, I got introduced to this play via "Honey pot", the movie, where Rex Harrison is staging a similar plot. I enjoyed the movie and for years wanted to read the play. Unfortunately, it is not translated in Finnish and not included in our literary studies. Finally I bought this edition and read it last Summer.

I must say the language took some effort at first. But when I got used to the old English, I enjoyed the play immensely. The plot twists and turns, people's greed makes them silly when they think they are cunning, and in the end justice is served - to some extent. People do not change or get much wiser as centuries pass on, do they...? Deserves to be read, definately, and - hopefully - translated for us Finns, too, by someone much better than me.

Controversial, irreverent and still standing!
This famous adaptation of Ben Johnson is terrific and still modern in its whole conception, this is a characteristic seal of the masterpieces. Aided by his loyal server Mosca. Volpone makes his friend to believe is dying and convinces to every one of his greedy friends is his heir.

As you can guess, the macabre spell and incisive charm of this play still makes laugh and think to a great audience.

In 1939 Maurice Tourneur decided to make a film about it. The tragic new is this film was released after WW2, but Harry Baur, the most complete actor f the French Cinema by then, wouldn't be present, his mysterious death was attributed to Nazis.

If you are looking for one of the best and most genuine jewel of the Universal literature, go for this one.

the fox does not get his cheese
Well, I liked this a LOT more than I thought I would. I assumed that Jonson would write plays like Shakespeare, and I am very selective about which Shakespeare plays I really enjoy (namely, 'Othello'). But this, this is such a good book. I don't even usually like reading plays. Let me explain why it is so good:
Firstly, although Volpone is caught out at the end, the whole of the play is a gloriously satisfying dance of mind-games andpure hedonism. For vicarious living, it's great. I, for one, wish I was as clever as Volpone. For those who take delight in the sheer style and talent of people who thoroughly enjoy life, this is a play for you. Admittedly Volpone is a completely amoral character, but the satisfaction in his plots comes because those who he is punishing are immoral themselves. I have to admit, perhaps I wish I was so amoral because of the consequent enjoyment.
Secondly - I love how many levels this play works on. It is simultaneously both a homage to and a mockery of traditional morality plays - everything seems to have worked out by the end, but when the results are thought through, the end is not satisfactory. Good has not triumphed over evil as in traditional morality plays; evil has sabotaged itself, a subtle but important difference. Celia seems to have been let off, but in that era it is likely that her tripled dowry will be owned by her father and she will become a disgraced divorced woman.
Thirdly - Peregrine is wonderful. He is the dry, cynical person who knows exactly what's going on and has sussed every plot - this character should be in every play.
There are two very small, insignificant reasons why I have not given this 5 stars. Firstly, I wish that Volpone had gotten away with his schemes. Secondly, I dislike a few occasions involving Sir Politic WouldBe when the scenes just get too ridiculous for words (tortoise shell!). But otherwise, this play is a laugh - but also clever enough to work on many different levels (spot all the parallels and opposites in the play e.g. Lady WB and Celia) and to be taken seriously if need be.

The fly is better than the fox at cheating
Thiscomedy is so entangled that a fox would lose his cubs in the multiple loops and traps that are conjured up by all the characters. It reveals how the rich are greedy and want to become richer at the expense of their fellow richmen. It exposes how the politicians are nothing but windbags, would-bes as Jonson calls them. It points out how some women are nothing but flytraps that know everything, that say anything, that have the last word at any time ever. It also shows how a conjurer of tricks aiming at trapping others and taking possession of their goods needs a helper and that the helper can learn even faster than the master, especially if this helper is a parasite by nature. It also shows how men are lecherous and only think of taking the wives of their neighbors because these men, this society is deeply misogynistic and consider that women are harlots, and some other nice words, by nature. There is thus a wide spectrum of criticism of this society, maybe a little bit too wide and too complicated. Due to the names of the characters, the crow, the raven and even the fox are the final victims of the plain fly that is nothing but a parasite sucking the gold of the others. The ending is moral since Bonario and Celia do get some justice from the court, but it is also perfectly immoral because Mosca keeps his unethically gained fortune, in fact the fortune he has stolen from Volpone who wanted to steal the riches of everyone else. It is moral in a way because the immoral and greedy plotters are all punished but it is immoral because the main sorcerer's helper gets his hand on the loot. The sorcerer's apprentice is thus more or less the main benefactor of the moral decision of the court. This leads to another level of reflexion : the court, that is to say the ruling body of Venice, is not so much interested in morality and justice as in the necessity to prevent any event that could rock their boat, endanger their power. Who profits of this decision is not their problem provided it does not stir any discontent among the people. The play thus becomes a strong criticism of justice as blind as long as its interests are not at stake and as opening their eyes only when their power may be disturbed by the crime brought to their attention. We will note in the end that Ben Jonson's style is witty but not really poetic. His poetry is more clichés in the garb of witticism.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Not popular any more, but perhaps it should be reconsidered
The langauge of Volpone is didatic and witty; no internal motives so much as external stimulus.It is almostthe opposite of Shakespeare interior worlds, yet, it is unfair to discount Ben Jonson's comedies as modern scholars have tended to do.

The language is crisp, the puns are sharp (especailly if you have a working knowledge of latin animal names), and the conceits are timeless. I know this originates in the Latin comedy tradition, but so do sitcoms and only if sitcoms has this sense of wordplay.The rhetoric is amazing.

While the characters... even the fun Mosca . . . are flat, the language pops and after a second read one can understand why Jonson was considered so great for his day.It blows some of Shakespeares lesser comedies ( "Alls Well that Ends Well" or "comedy of errors" for example) out of the water because its plot is more artifical but less contrived.

Hopefully, the scholarly opinion of Jonson as a writer, not just a critic, will be on the up and up again. ... Read more

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This book offers a critical assessment of the career of one of the most formidable figures of English literature, the most influential poet and dramatist of the early seventeenth century. Richard Dutton focuses on the greatest landmark of Jonson's career, the 1616 folio collection of his works with which he crowned his growing reputation as a man of letters, collecting together the majority of his most enduring works - including Every Man in his Humour, Volpone, The Alchemist; the tragedies Sejanus and Catiline; and the major masques and poems. The book relates these works (and another masterpiece, Bartholomew Fair, which belongs to the same period) to Jonson's tempestuous life and times, touching on such issues as his involvement with the Gunpowder Plot, his frequent confrontations with the political authorities, his emergence as Poet Laureate at Court and his often touchy relations with fellow authors like Shakespeare and Donne. But the principal aim throughout is to offer detailed critical analyses of Jonson's major works showing how, for all that they are rooted in the concerns of his own age, they are far more accessible and relevant to modern readers than is often assumed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ben Jonson's Life Makes Good Reading
For me, as for many, Ben Jonson has remained hidden in the shadow of Shakespeare. Recently, I read four satirical comedies by Jonson - Volpone, The Alchemist, Epicene, and Bartholomew Fair - and I was surprised by how well his humor had weathered the cultural change of four centuries. In looking around for more works by Jonson, I stumbled upon an intriguing biography titled "Ben Jonson, His Life and Work" by Rosalind Miles.

Ben Jonson is remembered for some of his plays and for much of his poetry. He was the master of the English masque, a formal court entertainment played before the king. His masques for King James were elaborate productions involving rich allegorical verse, gorgeous costumes, and magnificent scenery automated by machinery. In 1616 King James granted him 65 pounds a year for life and Ben Jonson thereby became the first Poet Laureate of England.

Jonson did not live the quiet life of a scholar. Adventure, danger, crisis, and bellicose debate characterized his life, and as Dr. Miles observed, Jonson could never play life safe. As a young man, he volunteered for military service fighting Spain in Holland, but the action was limited. Incredibly, he challenged one of the invading Spanish soldiers to single combat in the no-man's land between the two armies. He killed his opponent and like a scene from classical literature, victoriously stripped him of his weapons and armor.Several years later in London he barely avoided death by hanging for killing an actor in a duel. He was forced to defend himself in the courts on political censorship charges on several occasions. At age 46 he inexplicitably journeys on foot 400 miles to Scotland, saying that he had a "salmon-like instinct" to visit the place of his ancient origins. Ben Jonson's life makes good reading.

Dr. Miles has created a fascinating and enjoyable blend of biography, history, and literary review. For me the highlight of this well researched biography was her extensive use of the writings of Ben Jonson and of his contemporaries, both admirers and detractors. I highly recommend her book to any reader with interest in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama and poetry. ... Read more

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The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses.
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The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification:
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National Library of Scotland

T206577

Each play has a separate titlepage and pagination.

Glasgow : printed by Robert Urie, 1752. [2],103,[1],104,111,[1]p. ; 8° ... Read more

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Writing before the institution of copyright, Renaissance authors were not recognized as owning their works. Yet, in an environment in which the written word could be variously marketed by printers or by acting companies, and in which authors could be held uncomfortably responsible for their writings, we can discover complex stirrings of possessiveness among such writers as Bacon, Heywood, Daniel, Shakespeare, Wither, and--most powerfully and interestingly--Ben Jonson. This book probes the literary and institutional history, the politics, and the psychology of possessive authorship. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more