Philaster is a tragicomedy by Beaumont and Fletcher which has much in common with Shakespeare's late plays such as
The Winter's Tale.
Set in a fictionalised Sicily, it has the complex plot of love,
disguise and the threat of death much loved by early modern
theatre-goers.
This edition provides an authoritative, modernised text by a leading
scholar with detailed on-page commentary notes giving readers a deeper
understanding of the play. The comprehensive, illustrated introduction
discusses
Philaster from a performance perspective as well as
its relation to Shakespearean drama, and places it in its historical
and critical contexts.
The play is often taught on Shakespeare and Early Modern drama
courses but only now is such a detailed, modern edition available for
use by students and scholars. With its wealth of helpful and incisive
commentary, this is the finest edition of the play available.
The Arden Early Modern Drama series accompanies and complements the
Arden Shakespeare Third Series, offering editions of non-Shakespearean
Renaissance drama and Restoration drama from the period 1500-1700.
Modelled on the Third Series in appearance and style Arden
Early Modern Drama editions will offer high-quality textual scholarship
and full annotation, together with an accessible, student-friendly
introduction.
Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) was an English playwright, mainly remembered for his successful collaboration with John Fletcher. Beaumont's most famous plays include
The Woman Hater and
The Knight of the Burning Pestle. He began to collaborate with Fletcher in about 1606-08, and their first success came in 1609 with
Philaster, followed a year later by
The Maid's Tragedy and
A King and No King. Together, they wrote at least six plays; in a further seven or eight cases the attribution is probable but not certain.
John Fletcher (1579-1625) was an English dramatist who collaborated with Francis Beaumont on at least six plays. They began working together in about 1607 and had their first success in 1609 with Philaster; or Love Lies Bleeding.
After Beaumont's retirement in 1613, Fletcher became chief playwright for the King's Men; in addition to writing his own plays, he apparently collaborated with Shakespeare on three works:
Two Noble Kinsmen,
Henry VIII, and a lost play,
The History of Cardenio. He also collaborated with
Nathan Field, William Rowley and Philip Massinger, who succeeded him to the post of the King's Men's playwright in 1625.
His own plays include the pastoral
The Faithful Shepherdess (1608), the tragedy
Bonduca (1613), and the comedies
Wit Without Money (1614),
The Wild Goose Chase (1621), and
The Chances (1625), which was revived at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 1962. His work remained enormously popular until the end of the 17th century.
