Click here to buy a book:Click here to buy

John FLETCHER

(1579 - 1625)

English dramatist. Baptised Rye, Sussex December 20, 1579: Died August 1625

PLAYS

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.

  1. The Woman's Prize, or The Tamer Tamed. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced not earlier, and probably later, than 1604.
  2. 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.
  3. The Faithful Shepherdess. Tragicomedy. Published 1629 (Stationers' Register, Dec. 8, 1628). Produced Queen's Revels (?), ca. 1608/09.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. The Maid's Tragedy. (With Beaumont). Tragedy. Published 1619 (Stationers' Register, Apr. 28, 1619). Produced King's Men, ca. 1608/11.
  7. A King and No King. (With Beaumont). Tragicomedy. Published 1619. Produced King's Men, Dec. 26, 1611.
  8. The Night Walker, or The Little Thief. Comedy. Published 1640. Produced ca. 1611? Revised by James Shirley in 1633.
  9. 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.
  10. 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).
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. (With Beaumont). Masque. Stationers' Register, Feb. 27, 1613. Produced Whitehall, Feb. 20, 1613.
  15. Bonduca. Tragedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1609/14.
  16. Valentinian. Tragedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1610/14.
  17. Wit Without Money. Comedy. Published 1639. Produced Lady Elizabeth's Men(?), ca. 1614.
  18. Monsieur Thomas. Comedy. Published 1639; as Father's Own Son, 1661. Produced Queens Revels or Lady Elizabeth's Men, 1610/16.
  19. The Scornful Lady. (With Beaumont). Comedy. Published 1616 (Stationers' Register, Mar. 19, 1616). Produced Queens Revels, 1615/16.
  20. The Nice Valour, or The Passionate Madman . Comedy. Published 1647. Produced 1616?
  21. The Mad Lover. Tragicomedy. Published 1647. Produced 1616? 22. Love's Pilgrimage. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced 1616? Revised 1635.
  22. 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?
  23. The Queen of Corinth. (With Nathan Field and Massinger?). Tragicomedy, 5 acts. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1616/17. Possibly revised by Massinger.
  24. The Chances. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced ca. 1617(?), ca. 1627?
  25. The Knight of Malta. (With Field and Massinger?). Tragicomedy, 5 acts. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1616-1618.
  26. The Loyal Subject. Tragicomedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1618. Revised (?) 1633.
  27. Sir John van Olden Barnavelt. (With Massinger?). Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1883. Produced King's Men, August, 1619.
  28. The Humorous Lieutenant, or Demetrius and Enanthe, or The Noble Enemy, or Generous Enemies. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1619?
  29. The Laws of Candy. Tragicomedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1619?
  30. The Custom of the Country. (With Massinger). Comedy, 5 acts. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, ca. 1619/20, 1638?
  31. The False One (or The False Friend?). (With Massinger?). Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, ca. 1620.
  32. 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.
  33. The Island Princess, or The Generous Portugal. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1619/21.
  34. 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.
  35. The Double Marriage. (With Massinger?). Tragedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, ca. 1621.
  36. The Wild Goose Chase. Comedy. Published 1652. Produced King's Men, 1621?
  37. The Pilgrim. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1621?
  38. 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.
  39. The Prophetess. (With Massinger?). Tragical history, 5 acts. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1622 (licensed May 14, 1622).
  40. The Sea Voyage. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced Globe Theatre, 1622 (licensed June 22, 1622). Possibly revised by Massinger.
  41. The Spanish Curate. (With Massinger?). Comedy, 5 acts. Published 1647. Produced Blackfriars Theatre (King's Men), 1622 (licensed Oct. 24, 1622).
  42. 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.
  43. The Maid in the Mill. (With William Rowley). Comedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, August, 1623 (licensed Aug. 29, 1623).
  44. 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).
  45. A Wife for a Month. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1624 (licensed May 27, 1624).
  46. Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced King's Men, 1624 (licensed May 27, 1624).
  47. The Elder Brother. (With Massinger?). Comedy. Published 1637 (Stationers' Register, Mar. 24, 1637). Produced King's Men, 1625?
  48. The Noble Gentlemen. Comedy. Published 1647. Produced Blackfriars Theatre, King's Men, 1625/26? (licensed Feb. 3. 1626).
  49. 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.
  50. 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.
  51. Wit at Several Weapons. (With Beaumont?). Comedy. Published 1647. Possibly written by Beaumont and Fletcher but probably by Thomas Middleton and Rowley.

EDITIONS

Collections

  • (With Francis Beaumont). Works, ed. by A. Glover and A. R. Waller, 10 vols., Cambridge, England, 1905-1912;
  • Selected Plays, New York, 1962;
  • Dramatic Works, ed. by F. Bowers, vol. I, New York, 1966.

Individual Plays

  • The Chances. Published in Great English Plays, ed. by H. F. Rubinstein, New York, 1928.
  • The Faithful Shepherdess. Published in Typical Elizabethan Plays, ed. by F. E. Schelling and M. W. Black, 3d ed., rev. and enl., New York, 1949.
  • The Island Princess, or The Generous Portugal. Published in English Drama, 1580-1642, ed. by C. F. T. Brooke and N. B. Paradise, Boston, 1933.
  • (With Beaumont). A King and No King. R. K. Turner, ed., Lincoln, Nebr., 1963.
  • (With Beaumont). The Maid's Tragedy. Published in Five Stuart Tragedies, ed. byA. K. McIlwraith, London, 1953.
  • (With Beaumont). Philaster, or Love Lies A-Bleeding. Published in Representative English Plays, ed. byJ. S. P. Tatlock and R. G. Martin, 2d ed., rev. and enl., New York, 1938.
  • Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. Published in Typical Elizabethan Plays, ed. by F. E. Schelling and M. W. Black, rev. and enl. ed., New York, 1931.
  • The Wild Goose Chase. Published in The Development of English Drama, ed. by G. E. Bentley, New York, 1950.

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
Top