W. W. Greg (1875–1959)

Two anonymous plays: [Fair Em] and [Mucedorus]
I started my reading from the year 1590 with two anonymous plays that were a hit with the Elizabethan theatre going public in the 1590's and the general consensus amongst the experts is that they were probably written in the first year of the decade. They are both comedies and both are fast moving productions that have an emphasis on their entertainment value. At this time it would seem that blank verse was the preferred form for many of the plays that made it through a print run and these two are well written examples and fun to read.

"A pleasant commodie, of faire Em the Millers daughter of Manchester vvith the loue of William the Conqueror: As it was sundrietimes publiquely acted in the honourable citie of London, by the right honourable the Lord Strange his seruaunts." this was how Fair Em was described on the printed front cover. It would seem that many anonymous plays in production at this time are scanned for evidence of them being early plays by William Shakespeare, but almost certainly not in this case. It has been attributed to Robert Green but modern critics favour Robert Wilson or Anthony Munday, whoever wrote it was in tune with what was required for the London Stage although there is no real evidence of its success.

What gives this play some added zip is that it deals with two plots running simultaneously - in a sort of parallel narrative fashion. The movement between the two is fairly brisk and so one could imagine one set of actors coming on the stage to act a couple of pages of script then departing while another set came on from the other side to play their story. No time for the audience to get bored and plenty of movement even if it was only on and off the stage. The two stories have similarities of course and are cobbled together at the end. The first story involves William the Conqueror who falls in love with a painting of Blaunch a princess of Denmark, he travels to the court of the King of Denmark with his friend Marques Lubeck, however when he meets Blaunch in the flesh he is less than impressed and much prefers Mariana who is a guest of the king while a ransom for her is being collected. The Marques of Lubeck is in love with Mariana as well, but hesitates to go up against William the Conqueror. The tangled affairs of the men are sorted by the women through a series of tricks and disguises. Meanwhile the second story involves Fair Em a millers daughter from Manchester who is in love with a gentleman called Manuile, however two of William the Conquerors courtiers Valinford and Mountney have heard of her beauty and are both trying to secure her for themselves. Again it is up to the woman Fair Em in this case to take action to resolve the conundrum and in both stories there are twists and turns in the courtships. This is poor William the Conqueror who is run ragged by Mariana and Blaunch:

Conseit hath wrought such generall dislike
Through the false dealing of Mariana,
That vtterly I doe abhore their sex.
They are all disloyall, vnconstant, all vniust:
Who tryes as I haue tryed,
And findes as I haue founde,
Will saie thers no such creatures on the ground.

The Suitors of Fair Em would also have the same sentiments, however it is the double dealing of the men in the first place who create the difficult situations. The play enables both sets of women to provide some laughter at the expense of their male counterparts, however there is no overtly comic character in this play.

Mucedorus is a different prospect being one of the most successful plays of its time : 16 quarto editions were published between 1598 and 1668 making it the most widely printed extant play of its time.. To give it its full printed title A most pleasant comedie of Mucedorus the kings sonne of Valentia and Amadine the Kings daughter of Arragon with the merie conceites of Mouse. Newly set foorth, as it hath bin sundrie times plaide in the honorable cittie of London. Very delectable and full of mirth.

This is a genuinely funny play with the character Mouse being one of the first outright fools on the stage. Like Fair Em it has at one time been attributed to Shakespeare in parts and certainly the quality of writing is superior in places to Fair Em. First and foremost it is an all action play, incredibly fast moving and in the earlier performances would have started with two principle characters Amadine daughter of the king of Aragon and Segasto being chased around the stage by an angry bear. The gentleman Segasto betrothed to Amadine runs away faster leaving the beautiful Amadine to her fate. She is saved by Mucedorus the king of Valentias son disguised as a shepherd who has come to woo Amadine. Mucedorus is presented at court as a saviour, but still in disguise and the jealous Segasto hires captain Tremilio to murder him. In the ensuing fight Mucedorus kills Tremilio and Segasto attempts to have Mucedorus tried for murder. He is saved by Amadine who tells the story of the bear and how Segasto ran away, instead of hanging Mucedorus is banished. Amadine now in love with Mucedorus arranges to meet him in the forest but on her way to the rendezvous is captured by the wild man Bremo. Segasto has Mouse his servant track down the lovers, but now Mucidorus is disguised as a hermit. Much fun and murderous games take place in the forest until all is resolved.

The play is a heady mixture of comedy and murder but once again it is the strong character of Amadine who manages to turn the tables on the feckless Segasto. Mouse is the star of the show being one of those fools who always gets the wrong end of the stick, is lazy and lives for his wine and his food, but here is a perfect foil to his master Segasto.

Mucedorus has the best speech in the original play when he is trying to persuade the wild man Bremo not to kill him:


MUCEDORUS.
In time of yore, when men like brutish beasts
Did lead their lives in loathsome cells and woods
And wholly gave themselves to witless will,
A rude unruly rout, then man to man
Became a present prey, then might prevailed,
The weakest went to walls:
Right was unknown, for wrong was all in all.
As men thus lived in this great outrage,
Behold one Orpheus came, as poets tell,
And them from rudeness unto reason brought,
Who led by reason soon forsook the woods.
Instead of caves they built them castles strong;
Cities and towns were founded by them then:
Glad were they, they found such ease,
And in the end they grew to perfect amity;
Weighing their former wickedness,
They termed the time wherein they lived then
A golden age, a goodly golden age.
Now, Bremo, for so I hear thee called,
if men which lived tofore as thou dost now,
Wily in wood, addicted all to spoil,
Returned were by worthy Orpheus' means,
Let me like Orpheus cause thee to return
From murder, bloodshed and like cruelty.
What, should we fight before we have a cause?
No, let's live and love together faithfully.
I'll fight for thee.

Many of the speeches by the noble characters end with a rhyming couplet that finishes off things musically. The comedic characters speak in prose or one liner witticisms and this provides the contrast between the comedy and the more sinister plotting.

The original play was topped and tailed sometime during the reign of James I with the allegorical characters of Comedy and Envy. It adds a certain seriousness, but gives away the surprise that the disguised shepherd Mucedorus is of noble birth. This play was fun to read from beginning to end and while there are similarities to Fair Em there is a very different feel. There are no notable modern performances of Mucedorus which I find surprising, although it has to be said the plotting is faintly ridiculous there is much burlesque comedy and in the right hands the text could be made to sparkle. I would rate Fair Em at 3 stars and Mucedorus at 3.5… (meer)