By Philip Massinger. First published in 1630 (six years after its first performance) by John Waterson, bookseller. Current edition published by Arden Shakespeare in 2010.
So I’ve been reading a lot of Shakespeare lately. The Arden Shakespeare is a series that’s been around since the early 1900s, putting out critical editions of Shakespeare for scholars. These editions usually take years to compile, and each book has its own separate editor. The Second Editions came out from the 1950s to the 1980s, and the Third Editions are coming out from the mid-90s to the present. The third editions have done very well, and are about 2/3 through Shakespeare’s catalog. They’re updated for modern scholarship. For example, they can now discuss various homoerotic subtexts that were frowned upon in the old days. Likewise, we’re seeing the first Arden editions of plays like The Two Noble Kinsmen, and even plays-once-removed such as Double Falsehood (based off the lost Cardenio).
With this in mind, Arden has decided to expand its brief a bit and put out a separate line of ‘Early Modern Drama’, devoted to the Elizabethan, Jacobean and Restoration plays that don’t get as much attention as a Shakespeare would. This began in the Fall of 2009 with 4 plays; The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster; an omnibus of Everyman and Mankind, two medieval morality plays, and Beaumont and Fletcher’s Philaster, one of the better known Tragicomedies. Now they’re also doing Massinger’s The Renegado, another tragicomedy, but one with a thrilling blend to draw in modern readers. Turks, harems, eunuchs, and pirates! No ninjas, alas.
The Renegado is a pretty decent play, especially considering all it’s trying to cram in. Like most plays of its period, it has 5 or 6 plots that all converge. And, despite my joking about the play’s modern sensibilities, it’s also very up to date for 1624, when it was first performed. Piracy was a big issue then, with the glamor of the pirate king gradually giving way to the reality that most of them were utter scoundrels and murderers. Likewise, Turkey was another common topic to write about, as they were a fresh new ‘other’ to vilify and be fascinated by. Sure, they’re heathen savages who will all burn, but damn, what impressive armies!
Most startling, though, are The Renegado’s views on religion. Not Islam, necessarily – Islam is still shown to be on the losing end of religious beliefs, and the nice Catholic girl gets to keep her chastity while the heathen Mahometian girl (as they were then known) is converted and betrays her people. No, the real surprise here is the way it treats Catholics. The play came at a time when King James was trying to marry his daughter off to a Catholic, and was thus trying to soften opinion. It wasn’t softening much. Parliament was still vehemently against the Jesuits.
It’s stunning, therefore, that not only does the play feature a sympathetic Jesuit priest (the presence of Jesuits itself is not stunning as the non-Turk cast are from Venice), but he manages to get Grimaldi, the turncoat pirate, to repent and regain his faith. There is even a baptism! I’m impressed that a copy of this play managed to survive. And yet apparently it was really not all that controversial in its time, or at least little controversy about it has survived.
The play’s not all melodrama, of course. You know it has a happy ending as it has the label ‘tragicomedy’, but for plays of this period, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s FUNNY. (Remember, Merchant of Venice is a comedy too.) Luckily, we have a wacky comedy servant, who gets some great lines, and the chief Eunuch, the one Englishman in the play, who amuses himself by trying to trick the servant into ‘gaining access’ to the harem. The servant does not know what a eunuch *is*, of course, leading to much wordplay. “All you need to do is part with a precious stone or two…”
I greatly enjoy these Arden critical editions, both Shakespeare and non. Not only are they lovingly footnoted, with text annotations and context, but they have long, historical introductions discussing the life of the author, the play, and the performance history. You’;re not just reading a play, you’re getting a history lesson. It’s only out in the UK at the moment, but Amazon’s US edition will be released in 2 weeks. If you’re only going to get one… well, get The Duchess of Malfi, which is stupendous. But this is great too.
