Ralph Roister Doister

by Nicholas Udall

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Classics

175 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1566

About the author

English dramatist and scholar, Nicholas Udall was born around 1505.

Famous as the author of the earliest known comedy in the English language, Ralph Roister Doister.

Reviews

[Ren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, I (more or less) understand the historical significance of this, but that's the only thing it has going for it. I don't think there's really anything left here for a modern audience except for that significance. I can't see any reason to pick this up if you aren't studying literature or theatre (studying officially or in your own time). It's just not particularly entertaining and there's absolutely zero relevance to current society. I also feel like it's lost the vast, vast majority of its humour to time as well, which is not good news for a comedy play.

[Richard Rogers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of this translates to modern sensibilities and tastes, and some of the language is decently accessible, but most of this only works for someone who has mid-16th-century jargon down and finds certain kinds of joking funny.

I was not the right audience.

Having said that, there is some clever stuff here and a few genuinely funny moments. More on that.

Mostly, this is a play about a rich dork (Ralph) who wants to marry a certain attractive widow (Lady Custance). He's terrible at getting the girl, and it's all made harder by a hanger-on (Merygreke) who pretends to help while just making a fool of him for grins. It's like a cruel practical joke. The widow wants nothing to do with him and his gifts or letters and is already engaged to be married to a better guy (Gawyn) who's out of town.

The best bit is a long misread letter that Ralph had a scribe prepare for him. Merygreke reads it aloud all wrong, like this (in part):

...ye shall never please me.
But when ye are merry, I will be all sad;
When ye are sorry, I will be very glad;
When ye seek your heart's ease, I will be unkind.
At no time in me shall ye much gentleness find...

The widow is furious at the insults, and Ralph is furious at the scribe. But when confronted, the scribe reads it properly:

ye shall never please me But when ye are merry;
I will be all sad When ye are sorry;
I will be very glad When ye seek your heart's ease;
I will be unkind At no time; in me shall ye much gentleness find.

There's quite a bit more, and it's good comedy writing, especially considering this is about 1553. I could see a Dick Van Dyke episode, or some other classic TV show, based on almost the same lines.

The other decently funny bit is a mock battle near the end between Ralph's servants and Lady Custance's servants, Ralph marching with a colander on his head. Merygreke manages it where he keeps appearing to swing at Custance and "accidentally" hits his good friend, over and over. In the end, Ralph and his army have to run away.

Giving Udall his due, it was a better comedy than one might expect in that era. The rhyming couplets and forced rhymes are annoying, and the vocabulary (a long generation before Shakespeare) is impenetrable without a gloss, but there are some fun parts. Mostly not a pleasure, though, to a modern reader. 2 stars. YMMV

[Christopher Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this play was pretty good. I'm reading through a collection of Elizabethan and Stuart drama and this is the first in the bunch. It was a little hard to get into because the entire play is in rhymed couplets, but once I got used to the rhythm enough to forget about it was pretty entertaining. Of course I can't help but read it in relation to Shakespeare's work, and it was interesting to see how far comedy had come by the time he started writing it, and to see where many of the elements in his works come from.

Aside from any relation to Shakespeare, the play has its own merit. The plot, though simple, does have moments of real wit, like the misreading of Roister Doister's loveletter. And I particularly enjoyed Roister Doister's threat to burn Christian Custance's house down after she refuses his suit.

[Richard Epstein · Rating 2 out of 5]

Said to be a farce and the first English comedy, though no one has ever found it amusing. I do not remember any of my professors mentioning that the author had been convicted under the Buggery Act of offenses against his students. He was sentenced to the Marshalsea, sometime home to Ben Jonson, John Dickens, and William Dorrit.

[Roaa Abdulaziz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny but confusing?
I like how the female characters are portrayed as smarter and stronger somehow during that age!!

[Varsha]

Read for school