The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker, Volume 3, The Roaring Girl; If this be Not a Good Play, the Devil is in it; Troia-Nova Triumphans; Match me in ... Witch of Edmonton; The Wonder of a Kingdom

The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker #3

by Thomas Dekker, Fredson Bowers (Editor)

Volume III of the Cambridge Dekker contains The Roaring Girl, If this be not a Good Play..., Troia-Nova Triumphans, Match me in London, The Virgin Martyr, The Witch of Edmonton and The Wonder of a Kingdom. Professor Bowers's edition is recognized as a model critical old-spelling text, where the techniques of strong textual and bibliographical study have been methodically applied to one of the least accessible of the Elizabethan dramatists. The introductions to each play provide textual analyses which set out the circumstances of publication and transmission. The critical apparatus gives press variants derived from collations, editorial emendations to the copy-text and other textual notes.

656 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Thomas Dekker (c.1572 - 1632) was an Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer, a versatile and prolific writer whose career spanned several decades and brought him into contact with many of the period's most famous dramatists.

Reviews

[Gill]

Specifically: "If This Be Not A Good Play, the Devil Is In It"; not this edition.

Utterly bonkers, clearly an influence on Jonson's The Devil is an Ass, but I think it's more fun. Huge cast of rambunctious characters, including a bunch of demons. Very funny in places, but some moving moments. I prefer Dekker to Jonson.

Read as part of the Shakespeare Institute's 2019 Readathon: #Websterthon.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reviewing If This Be Not A Good Play, The Devil Is In It (crazy title, crazy play), which is enormous fun, and probably an influence on Macbeth, A King and No King, The Tempest and The Devil Is An Ass, among (probably) lots of other plays.

Basically, Pluto sends the Devils up to earth to catch the souls of the people of Naples, and basically they do a great job with the King, a Trump-like figure called Alfonso, and an entire Monastery who go along with the "Well everyone else is doing it" argument that persuades so many teenagers (Monks, teenagers: who knew?). There is also a banker who is taken over by the Devil (how can they tell?) and lies about borrowing money, while enforcing the interest on his debts.

The scene where Charon goes on strike because the cost of transporting souls across the Styx has gone up, the scene where Guy Fawkes and Ravaillac defend their actions, the scene where Alfonso plans his efficient King-week, the scene where the Prior of the monastery is corrupted, are all tours de force.

Ultimately it ends up not meaning anything, but along the way it's pretty glorious.

[Jiang Yuqi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ratings for “If This Be Not A Good Play” only
Political satire+social commentary+abusing stage directions…
I wish I could mark this as 4.8 stars. The 0.2 star deducted for its five-page didactic ending full of spectacles.
Hmmmm The Devil Is An Ass by Jonson is one of my fav plays. This has not reached there. But quite close. Dekker. Quite close.
P.S. extra fun when u read this alongside The Witch of Edmonton or The Roaring Girl.