John FLETCHER
(1579 - 1625)
English dramatist. Baptised Rye, Sussex December 20, 1579: Died August
1625
Stage Works
An exact chronology or even attribution of the plays is almost impossible.
So popular were the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher that joint authorship
was claimed for plays written singly or in collaboration with others.
The two folios of their "collected" plays (1647 and 1679) served to
strengthen the belief that their collaboration was far more extensive
than in fact it was.
- The Woman's Prize, or The Tamer Tamed. Comedy. Published
1647. Produced not earlier, and probably later, than 1604.
- The Woman Hater. (With Francis Beaumont). Comedy. Published
1607 (Stationers' Register, May 20, 1607); with subtitle The Hungry
Courtier, 1649. Produced Children of St. Paul's, ca. 1606. If
Fletcher collaborated, his contribution was probably minor.
- The Faithful Shepherdess. Tragicomedy. Published 1629 (Stationers'
Register, Dec. 8, 1628). Produced Queen's Revels (?), ca. 1608/09.
- Philaster, or Love Lies A-Bleeding. (With Beaumont). Tragicomedy.
Published 1620 (Stationers' Register, Jan. 10, 1620). Produced Globe
Theatre (King's Men), ca. 1608/10.
- The Coxcomb. (With Beaumont). Comedy. Published 1647. Produced
Queen's Revels, ca. 1608/10. The extant text may have been revised
by Philip Massinger or William Rowley.
- The Maid's Tragedy. (With Beaumont). Tragedy. Published
1619 (Stationers' Register, Apr. 28, 1619). Produced King's Men,
ca. 1608/11.
- A King and No King. (With Beaumont). Tragicomedy. Published
1619. Produced King's Men, Dec. 26, 1611.
- The Night Walker, or The Little Thief. Comedy. Published
1640. Produced ca. 1611? Revised by James Shirley in 1633.
- The Captain. (With Philip Massinger?). Comedy. Published
1647. Produced at court (King's Men), ca. 1609/12. Other possible
collaborators are Ben Jonson, Beaumont, and Rowley.
- Cupid's Revenge. (With Beaumont). Tragedy. Published 1615.
Pro duced Queens Revels, Jan. 5, 1612. Based on parts of Sir Philip
Sidney's Arcadia (1590).
- Four Plays, or Moral Representations in One: The Triumph of
Honour, The Triumph of Love, The Triumph of Death, and The
Triumph of Time. (With Beaumont). Plays. Published 1647. Produced
ca. 1612? Almost nothing is known about this group of masque-like
pieces.
- The
Two Noble Kinsmen. (With William Shakespeare).
Tragicomedy. Published 1634. Produced Blackfriars Theatre (King's
Men), 1613. Beaumont and Massinger have also been suggested
as collaborators.
- The Honest Man's Fortune. (With Beaumont?). Tragicomedy.
Published 1647. Produced Lady Elizabeth's Men(?), 1613. Robert Daborne,
Nathan Field, Massinger, and Cyril Tourneur have also been suggested
as Fletcher's possible collaborators.
- The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. (With Beaumont).
Masque. Stationers' Register, Feb. 27, 1613. Produced Whitehall,
Feb. 20, 1613.
- Bonduca. Tragedy.
Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1609/14.
- Valentinian. Tragedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men,
1610/14.
- Wit Without Money. Comedy. Published 1639. Produced Lady
Elizabeth's Men(?), ca. 1614.
- Monsieur Thomas. Comedy. Published 1639; as Father's Own
Son, 1661. Produced Queens Revels or Lady Elizabeth's Men, 1610/16.
- The Scornful Lady. (With Beaumont). Comedy. Published 1616
(Stationers' Register, Mar. 19, 1616). Produced Queens Revels, 1615/16.
- The Nice Valour, or The Passionate Madman . Comedy. Published
1647. Produced 1616?
- The Mad Lover. Tragicomedy. Published 1647. Produced 1616?
22. Love's Pilgrimage. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced 1616? Revised
1635.
- Rollo, Duke of Normandy, or The Bloody Brother. (With Ben
Jonson?; revised by Massinger?) Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1639.
Produced 1617? Possibly written originally by Fletcher alone (or
with Jonson?) and revised (1627/30?) by Massinger?, Field?, and Daborne?
- The Queen of Corinth. (With Nathan Field and Massinger?).
Tragicomedy, 5 acts. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1616/17.
Possibly revised by Massinger.
- The Chances. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced ca. 1617(?),
ca. 1627?
- The Knight of Malta. (With Field and Massinger?). Tragicomedy,
5 acts. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1616-1618.
- The Loyal Subject. Tragicomedy. Published 1647. Produced
King's Men, 1618. Revised (?) 1633.
- Sir John van Olden Barnavelt. (With Massinger?). Tragedy,
5 acts. Published 1883. Produced King's Men, August, 1619.
- The
Humorous Lieutenant, or Demetrius and Enanthe, or The Noble Enemy,
or Generous Enemies. Comedy. Published 1647.
Produced King's Men, 1619?
- The Laws of Candy. Tragicomedy. Published 1647. Produced
King's Men, 1619?
- The Custom of the Country. (With Massinger). Comedy, 5 acts.
Published 1647. Produced King's Men, ca. 1619/20, 1638?
- The False One (or The False Friend?). (With Massinger?).
Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, ca. 1620.
- The Tragedy of Thierry, King of France, and His Brother Theodoret. (With
Beaumont?). Play, 5 acts. Published 1621. Produced King's Men. Daborne,
Field, and Massinger have also been suggested as Fletcher's possible
collaborators, Massinger as a reviser.
- The
Island Princess, or The Generous Portugal. Comedy.
Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1619/21.
- The Faithful Friends. (With Beaumont?). Comedy. Published
1812. Produced (?) 1604?/after 1621? Probably not by either Beaumont
or Fletcher. Daborne, Shirley, and Massinger and Field have been
suggested.
- The Double Marriage. (With Massinger?). Tragedy. Published
1647. Produced King's Men, ca. 1621.
- The
Wild Goose Chase. Comedy. Published 1652.
Produced King's Men, 1621?
- The Pilgrim. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men,
1621?
- The Beggars' Bush. (With Massinger?). Comedy, 5 acts. Written
before 1622. Published 1647. Produced before 1622; first known production,
Hampton Court (King's Men), Dec. 27, 1622.
- The Prophetess. (With Massinger?). Tragical history, 5 acts.
Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1622 (licensed May 14, 1622).
- The Sea Voyage. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced Globe Theatre,
1622 (licensed June 22, 1622). Possibly revised by Massinger.
- The Spanish Curate. (With Massinger?). Comedy, 5 acts. Published
1647. Produced Blackfriars Theatre (King's Men), 1622 (licensed Oct.
24, 1622).
- Women Pleased. Tragicomedy. Published 1647. Revised 1619/23.
44. (With Massinger). The Little French Lawyer. Comedy, 5 acts. Published
1647. Produced King's Men, after 1619 / before 1623.
- The Maid in the Mill. (With William Rowley). Comedy. Published
1647. Produced King's Men, August, 1623 (licensed Aug. 29, 1623).
- The Lovers' Progress, or The Wandering Lovers, or Cleander,
or Lisander and Calista. Tragedy. Published 1647. Produced
King's Men, 1623. Revised by Massinger in 1634 (licensed Dec. 6,
1623).
- A Wife for a Month. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced King's
Men, 1624 (licensed May 27, 1624).
- Rule
a Wife and Have a Wife. Comedy.
Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1624 (licensed May 27,
1624).
- The Elder Brother. (With Massinger?). Comedy. Published
1637 (Stationers' Register, Mar. 24, 1637). Produced King's Men,
1625?
- The Noble Gentlemen. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced Blackfriars
Theatre, King's Men, 1625/26? (licensed Feb. 3. 1626).
- The Fair Maid of the Inn. Tragicomedy. Published 1647, as
by Beaumont and Fletcher. Produced Blackfriars Theatre, King's Men,
1625/ 26 (licensed Jan. 22, 1625/26, as by Fletcher alone). Beaumont,
Massinger, John Ford, Rowley, Jonson, and John Webster have all been
named as possible collaborators.
- Love's Cure, or The Martial Maid. (With Beaumont?). Comedy.
Published 1647. Probably extensively revised by Massinger. Scholars
know nothing about the date of the original production. The play
belonged to the repertory of the King's Men by 1641.
- Wit at Several Weapons. (With Beaumont?). Comedy. Published
1647. Possibly written by Beaumont and Fletcher but probably by Thomas
Middleton and Rowley.
CRITICISM
- A. H. Thorndike, Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher on Shakespeare,
New York, 1901;
- J. H. Wilson, The Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher on the
Restoration Drama, Columbus, 1928;
- E. M. Waith, The Pattern of Tragicomedy
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