''The Revenger's Tragedy'' is an English-language
Jacobean revenge tragedy
Revenge tragedy (sometimes referred to as revenge drama, revenge play, or tragedy of blood) is a theoretical genre in which the principal theme is revenge and revenge's fatal consequences. Formally established by American educator Ashley H. Thor ...
which was performed in 1606, and published in 1607 by
George Eld
George Eld (died 1624) was a London printer of the Jacobean era, who produced important works of English Renaissance drama and literature, including key texts by William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and Thomas Middleton.
Eld w ...
. It was long attributed to
Cyril Tourneur
Cyril Tourneur (; died 28 February 1626) was an English soldier, diplomat and dramatist who wrote ''The Atheist's Tragedy'' (published 1611); another (and better-known) play, ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' (1607), formerly ascribed to him, is now more ...
, but "The consensus candidate for authorship of ''The Revenger’s Tragedy'' at present is
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...
, although this is a knotty issue that is far from settled."
A vivid and often violent portrayal of lust and ambition in an Italian court, the play typifies the satiric tone and cynicism common in many Jacobean tragedies. The play fell out of favour before the restoration of the theaters in 1660; however, it experienced a revival in the 20th century among directors and playgoers who appreciated its affinity with the temper of modern times.
Characters
*Vindice, the revenger, frequently disguised as Piato (both the 1607 and 1608 printings render his name variously as Vendici, Vindic, and Vindice, with the latter spelling most frequent; in later literature Vendice).
*Hippolito, Vindice's brother, sometimes called Carlo
*Castiza, their sister
*Gratiana, a widow, and mother of Vindice, Hippolito, and Castiza
*The Duke
*The Duchess, the duke's second wife
*Lussurioso, the duke's son from an earlier marriage, and his heir
*Spurio, the duke's second son, a bastard
*Ambitioso, the duchess's eldest son
*Supervacuo, the duchess's middle son
*Junior Brother, the duchess's third son
*Antonio, a discontented lord at the Duke's court
*Antonio's wife, raped by Junior Brother
*Piero, a discontented lord at the Duke's court
*Nobles, allies of Lussurioso
*Lords, followers of Antonio
*The Duke's gentlemen
*Two Judges
*Spurio's two Servants
*Four Officers
*A Prison-Keeper
*Dondolo, Castiza's servant
*Nencio and Sordido, Lussurioso's servants
*Ambitioso's henchman
Synopsis
The play is set in an unnamed Italian court.
Act I
Vindice broods over his fiancee's recent death and his desire for revenge on the lustful Duke for poisoning his beloved nine years before. Vindice's brother Hippolito brings news: Lussurioso, the Duke's heir by his first marriage, has asked him if he can find a procurer to obtain a young virgin he lusts after. The brothers decide that Vindice will undertake this role in disguise, to give an opportunity for their revenge. Meanwhile, Lord Antonio's wife has been raped by the new Duchess's youngest son Junior. He brazenly admits his guilt, even joking about it, but to widespread surprise the Duke suspends the proceedings and defers the court's judgement. The Duchess's other sons, Ambitioso and Supervacuo, whisper a promise to have him freed; the Duchess vows to be unfaithful to the Duke. Spurio, the Duke's bastard son, agrees to be her lover but when alone, declares he hates her and her sons as intensely as he hates the Duke and Lussurioso. Vindice, disguised as "Piato," is accepted by Lussurioso, who tells him that the virgin he desires is Hippolito's sister, Castiza; and he predicts her mother will accept a bribe and be a 'bawd to her own daughter'. Vindice, alone, vows to kill Lussurioso, but decides meanwhile to stay in disguise and put his mother and sister to the test by tempting them. Antonio's wife commits suicide; Antonio displays her dead body to fellow mourners and Hippolito swears all those present to revenge her death.
Act II
Vindice, disguised as "Piato," tests the virtue of his sister and mother. Castiza proves resolute but his mother yields to an offer of
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
. Vindice gives Lussurioso the false news that Castiza's resistance to his advance is crumbling. Lussurioso resolves he must sleep with her that same night. Hippolito and Vindice, by chance, overhear a servant tell Spurio that Lussurioso intends to sleep with Castiza "within this hour." Spurio rushes away to kill Lussurioso ''in flagrante delicto''. A moment later Lussurioso himself enters, on his way to Castiza, but Vindice deceptively warns him that Spurio is bedding the Duchess. Angered, Lussurioso rushes off to find Spurio and bursts into the ducal bedchamber, only to find his father lawfully in bed with the Duchess. Lussurioso is arrested for attempting treason; in the excitement, Hippolito and Vindice discreetly withdraw. The Duke, seeing through Ambitioso and Supervacuo's pretended reluctance to see Lussurioso executed, dispatches them with a warrant for the execution of his son "ere many days," but once they have gone he gives a countermanding order for his son's release.
Act III
Ambitioso and Supervacuo set off directly to the prison to order the instant execution of Lussurioso. Before they arrive however (and unknown to them) the Duke's countermanding order is obeyed and Lussurioso is freed. Ambitioso and Supervacuo arrive at the prison and present the Duke's first warrant to execute, in their words, "our brother the duke's son." The guards misinterpret these words, taking instead the youngest son out to instant execution. Meanwhile, Vindice is hired again as a pander – this time by the Duke himself. His plan is to procure the Duke an unusual lady – a richly clothed effigy, her head, the skull of Vindice's beloved, is covered with poison. The meeting is in a dark and secret place near where the Duchess has arranged a meeting with Spurio. The Duke is poisoned by kissing the supposed lady and is subsequently stabbed by Vindice after being forced to watch the Duchess betray him with Spurio. Ambitioso and Supervacuo, still confident that Lussurioso has been executed, both look forward to succeeding the throne in his place. A freshly severed head is brought in from prison. Assuming it is Lussurioso's, they are gloating over it when Lussurioso himself arrives, alive. They realize to their dismay that the head is the youngest son's.
Act IV
Lussurioso tells Hippolito he wants to get rid of "Piato," and asks if Vindice (of whom he knows only by report) would replace him. Hippolito assents, realizing that Lussurioso would not recognize Vindice without a disguise. Vindice gets his new mission – to kill "Piato". Hippolito and Vindice take the corpse of the Duke and dress it in "Piato's" clothes, so when the corpse is found it will be assumed that "Piato" murdered the Duke then switched clothes with him to escape. Vindice and Hippolito confront Gratiana for her earlier willingness to prostitute Castiza bringing her to repentance.
Act V
The scheme with the Duke's corpse is successful and the Duke's death becomes public knowledge. Vindice and Hippolito lead a group of conspirators which, shortly after the installation of Lussurioso as Duke, kills the new Duke and his supporters. A second group of murderers including Supervacuo, Ambitioso, and Spurio then arrives; they discover their intended victims already dead, and then turn on and kill each other. The dying Lussurioso is unable to expose Vindice's treacheries to Lord Antonio. Exhilarated by his success and revenge, Vindice confides in Antonio that he and his brother murdered the old Duke. Antonio, appalled, condemns them to execution. Vindice, in a final speech, accepts his death.
Context
''The Revenger's Tragedy'' belongs to the second generation of English revenge plays. It keeps the basic
Senecan design brought to English drama by
Thomas Kyd
Thomas Kyd (baptised 6 November 1558; buried 15 August 1594) was an English playwright, the author of ''The Spanish Tragedy'', and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama.
Although well known in his own time, ...
: a young man is driven to avenge an elder's death (in this case it's a lover, Gloriana, instead), which was caused by the villainy of a powerful older man; the avenger schemes to effect his revenge, often by morally questionable means; he finally succeeds in a bloodbath that costs him his own life as well. However, the author's tone and treatment are markedly different from the standard
Elizabethan treatment in ways that can be traced to both literary and historical causes. Already by 1606, the enthusiasm that accompanied
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
's assumption of the English throne had begun to give way to the beginnings of dissatisfaction with the perception of corruption in his court. The new prominence of tragedies that involved courtly intrigues seems to have been partly influenced by this dissatisfaction.
This trend towards court-based tragedy was contemporary with a change in dramatic tastes toward the satiric and cynical, beginning before the death of
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
but becoming ascendant in the few years following. The episcopal ban on verse satire in 1599 appears to have impelled some poets to a career in dramaturgy; writers such as
John Marston and
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...
brought to the theatres a lively sense of human frailty and hypocrisy. They found fertile ground in the newly revived children's companies, the
Blackfriars Children and
Paul's Children; these indoor venues attracted a more sophisticated crowd than that which frequented the theatres in the suburbs.
While ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' was apparently performed by an adult company at the
Globe Theatre, its bizarre violence and vicious satire mark it as influenced by the dramaturgy of the private playhouses.
Analysis and criticism
Genre
Ignored for many years, and viewed by some critics as the product of a cynical, embittered mind, ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' was rediscovered and often performed as a
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
during the 20th century. The approach of these revivals mirrors shifting views of the play on the part of literary critics. One of the most influential 20th-century readings of the play is by the critic
Jonathan Dollimore
Jonathan G Dollimore (born 1948) is a British philosopher and critic in the fields of Renaissance literature (especially drama), gender studies, queer theory ( queer studies), history of ideas, death studies, decadence, and cultural theory. H ...
, which claims that the play is essentially a form of radical parody that challenges orthodox Jacobean beliefs about Providence and patriarchy. Dollimore asserts the play is best understood as "subversive black camp" insofar as it "celebrates the artificial and the delinquent; it delights in a play full of innuendo, perversity and subversion ... through parody it declares itself radically skeptical of ideological policing though not independent of the social reality which such skepticism simultaneously discloses". In Dollimore's view, earlier critical approaches, which either emphasise the play's absolute decadence or find an ultimate affirmation of traditional morality in the play, are insufficient because they fail to take into account this vital strain of social and ideological critique running throughout the tragedy.
Themes and motifs
Gender
The Duchess, Castiza, and Gratiana are the only three female characters found in the play. Gratiana ("grace"), Vindice's mother, exemplifies female frailty. This is such a stereotyped role that it discourages looking at her circumstance in the play, but because she is a widow it could be assumed to include financial insecurity, which could help explain her susceptibility to bribery. Her daughter also has an exemplary name, Castiza ("chastity"), as if to fall in line with the conventions of the
Morality drama, rather than the more individualized characterization seen in their counterparts in ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', Gertrude and Ophelia. Due to the ironic and witty matter in which ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' handles received conventions, however, it is an open question as to how far the presentation of gender in the play is meant to be accepted as conventional, or instead as parody. The play is in accordance with the medieval tradition of Christian Complaint, and Elizabethan satire, in presenting sexuality mainly as symptomatic of general corruption. Even though Gratiana is the mother of a decent, strong-minded daughter, she finds herself acting as a bawd. This personality-split is then repeated, in an episode exactly reversing the pattern, by her ironic, intelligent daughter.
Michael Neill notes that the name "Spurio" derives from the Latin term "spurius" which does not mean just any illegitimate offspring, but "one born from a noble but spouseless mother to an unknown or plebeian father." These children, who could not take the paternal name, were called "spurius" because they sprang in effect from the mother alone—the word itself deriving from "spurium," an ancient term for the female genitalia. As Thomas Laqueur puts it, "while the legitimate child is from the froth of the father, the illegitimate child is from the seed of the mother's genitals, as if the father did not exist." The idea of Spurio and his character provides the function of "bastardy in the misogynist gender politics of the play."
Necrophilia
While the play does not quite imply sexual intercourse with a corpse, some critics have found a strong connection to desire that can be found in the instances where the skull is used. According to Karin S. Coddon, there is a sense of macabre eroticism that pervades the work. She notes that "Gloriana's skull is a prop endowed with remarkable spectacular and material efficacy."
Vindice has kept the skull long after his beloved's death and has used it to attract the duke to his death, a kiss of death was bestowed. Considering the description of the skull it should be impossible to discern its gender yet throughout in each section it is mentioned with the gender of a woman attributed to a woman. Vindice's use of the skull to kill the duke borders on a form of prostitution which also implies the sexual nature surrounding the partial corpse. Vindice, in act 3, scene 5 enters "with the skull of his love dressed up in tires"; in Coddon's view, the skull's gendering is clearly a contrivance.
Authorship
The play was published anonymously in 1607; the title page of this edition announced that it had been performed "sundry times" by the
King's Men (Loughrey and Taylor, xxv). A second edition, also anonymous (actually consisting of the first edition with a revised title-page), was published later in 1607. The play was first attributed to
Cyril Tourneur
Cyril Tourneur (; died 28 February 1626) was an English soldier, diplomat and dramatist who wrote ''The Atheist's Tragedy'' (published 1611); another (and better-known) play, ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' (1607), formerly ascribed to him, is now more ...
by Edward Archer in 1656; the attribution was seconded by
Francis Kirkman
Francis Kirkman (1632 – c. 1680) appears in many roles in the English literary world of the second half of the seventeenth century, as a publisher, bookseller, librarian, author and bibliographer. In each he is an enthusiast for popular litera ...
in lists of 1661 and 1671.
[Gibbons, ix] Tourneur was accepted as the author despite Archer's unreliability and the length of time between composition and attribution (Greg, 316).
Edmund Kerchever Chambers
Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers, (16 March 1866 – 21 January 1954), usually known as E. K. Chambers, was an English literary critic and Shakespearean scholar. His four-volume work on ''The Elizabethan Stage'', published in 1923, remains a st ...
cast doubt on the attribution in 1923 (Chambers, 4.42), and over the course of the twentieth century a considerable number of scholars argued for attributing the play to
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...
.
[ There are indications that this play was submitted by Middleton to Robert Keysar of The Queen's Revels company under the name of ''The Viper and Her Brood.'' The critics who supported the Tourneur attribution argued that the tragedy is unlike Middleton's other early dramatic work, and that internal evidence, including some idiosyncrasies of spelling, points to Tourneur.][ More recent scholarly studies arguing for attribution to Middleton point to thematic and stylistic similarities to Middleton's other work, to the differences between ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' and Tourneur's other known play, '']The Atheist's Tragedy
''The Atheist's Tragedy, or the Honest Man's Revenge'' is a Jacobean-era stage play, a tragedy written by Cyril Tourneur and first published in 1611. It is the only dramatic work recognised by the consensus of modern scholarship as the undisput ...
'', and to contextual evidence suggesting Middleton's authorship (Loughrey and Taylor, xxvii).
The play is attributed to Middleton in Jackson's facsimile edition of the 1607 quarto (1983), in Bryan Loughrey and Neil Taylor's edition of ''Five Middleton Plays'' (Penguin, 1988), and in ''Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works'' (Oxford, 2007). Two important editions of the 1960s that attributed the play to Tourneur switched in the 1990s to stating no author (Gibbons, 1967 and 1991) or to crediting "Tourneur/Middleton" (Foakes, 1966 and 1996), both now summarising old arguments for Tourneur's authorship without endorsing them.
Influences
''The Revenger's Tragedy'' is influenced by Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
and Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
theatre. It is written in 5 acts and opens with a monologue that looks back at previous events and anticipates future events. This monologue is spoken by Vindice, who says he will take revenge and explains the corruption in court. It uses onomastic rhetoric in Act 3, scene 5 where characters play upon their own names, a trait considered to be Senecan. The verbal violence is seen as Senecan, with Vindice in Act 2, scene 1, calling out against heaven, "Why does not heaven turn black or with a frown/Undo the world?"
The play also adapts Senecan attributes with the character Vindice. At the end of the play he is a satisfied revenger, which is typically Senecan. However, he is punished for his revenge, unlike the characters in Seneca's ''Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...
'' and ''Thyestes
In Greek mythology, Thyestes (pronounced , gr, Θυέστης, ) was a king of Olympia. Thyestes and his brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus, in their desire for the throne of Olym ...
''. In another adaptation of Seneca, there is a strong element of meta-theatricality as the play makes references to itself as a tragedy. For example, in Act 4, scene 2, "Vindice: Is there no thunder left, or is't kept up /In stock for heavier vengeance hunder
Hundar is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India famous for Sand dunes, Bactrian camels. It is located in the Nubra tehsil, on the banks of the Shyok River. The Hunder Monastery is located here.
Hundar was once the capital of the fo ...
There it goes!"
Along with influences from Seneca, this play is said to be very relevant to, or even about, Shakespeare's ''Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
.'' The differences between the two, however, stem from the topic of "moral disorientation" found in ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' which is unlike anything found in a Shakespeare play. This idea is discussed in a scholarly article written by Scott McMillin, who addresses Howard Felperin's views of the two plays. McMillin goes on to disagree with the idea of a "moral disorientation", and finds ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' to be perfectly clear morally. McMillin asserts ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' is truly about theater, and self-abandonment within theatrics and the play itself. It is also noted that the most common adverb in ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' is the word "now" which emphasizes the compression of time and obliteration of the past. In ''Hamlet'' time is discussed in wider ranges, which is especially apparent when Hamlet himself thinks of death. This is also very different from Vindice's dialogue, as well as dialogue altogether in ''The Revenger's Tragedy''.
The medieval qualities in the play are described by Lawrence J. Ross as, "the contrasts of eternity and time, the fusion of satirically realistic detail with moral abstraction, the emphatic condemnation of luxury, avarice and superfluity, and the lashing of judges, lawyers, usurers and women." To personify Revenge is seen as a Medieval characteristic. Although ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' does not personify this trait with a character, it is mentioned in the opening monologue with a capital, thereby giving it more weight than a regular noun.
Performance history
The play was entered in the Stationer's Register on 7 October 1607 and was performed by the King's Men. The main house that the play was performed in was the Globe Theatre, but it was also performed at court, on tour, or in the Blackfriars Theatre
Blackfriars Theatre was the name given to two separate theatres located in the former Blackfriars Dominican priory in the City of London during the Renaissance. The first theatre began as a venue for the Children of the Chapel Royal, child ac ...
.
A Dutch adaptation, ''Wraeck-gierigers treur-spel'', translated by Theodore Rodenburgh
Theodore Rodenburgh (baptised 29 January 1574, Antwerp - 1644) was a diplomat and playwright of the Dutch Golden Age. His first name is sometimes spelled Theodoor, and occasionally the nick-name Dirk is seen; his last name is sometimes spelled ...
, was performed and published in 1618.
It was produced at the Pitlochry
Pitlochry (; gd, Baile Chloichridh or ) is a town in the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. It is historically in the county of Perthshire, and has a population of 2,776, according to the 2011 census.Scotla ...
Festival Theatre in 1965. The following year, Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas f ...
produced the play for the Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
; Ian Richardson
Ian William Richardson (7 April 19349 February 2007) was a Scottish actor.
He portrayed the Machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's '' House of Cards'' (1990–1995) television trilogy. Richardson was also a leading S ...
played Vindice. Executed on a tight budget (designer Christopher Morley had to use the sets from the previous year's ''Hamlet''), Nunn's production earned largely favourable reviews.
In 1987, Di Trevis revived the play for the RSC at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon; Antony Sher
Sir Antony Sher (14 June 1949 – 2 December 2021) was a British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a four-time nominee, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 a ...
played Vindice. It was also staged by the New York Protean Theatre in 1996. A Brussels theatre company called ''Atelier Sainte-Anne'', led by Philippe Van Kessel, also staged the play in 1989. In this production, the actors wore punk costumes and the play took place in a disquieting underground location which resembled both a disused parking lot and a ruined Renaissance building.
In 1976, Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including '' L'amour f ...
made a loose French film adaptation '' Noroît'', which changed the major characters into women, and included several poetic passages in English; it starred Geraldine Chaplin
Geraldine Leigh Chaplin (born July 31, 1944) is an American actress. She is the daughter of Charlie Chaplin, the first of eight children with his fourth wife, Oona O'Neill. After beginnings in dance and modeling, she turned her attention to act ...
, Kika Markham
Erika S.L. "Kika" Markham (born 1940)''birth registered 4th quarter (Oct, Nov, Dec) 1940'' is an English actress.
Early life
Markham is a daughter of actor David Markham and writer Olive Dehn (1914–2007). She has three sisters: Petra, Sonia ...
, and Bernadette Lafont.
In 2002, a film adaptation entitled ''Revengers Tragedy
''Revengers Tragedy'' is a 2002 film adaptation of the 1606 play ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' (attributed to Thomas Middleton in the credits, following the scholarly consensus). It was directed by Alex Cox and adapted for the screen by Cox's fello ...
'' was directed by Alex Cox
Alexander B. H. Cox (born 15 December 1954) is an English film director, screenwriter, actor, non-fiction author and broadcaster. Cox experienced success early in his career with '' Repo Man'' and ''Sid and Nancy'', but since the release and co ...
with a heavily adapted screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Frank Cottrell-Boyce (born 23 September 1959)"COTTRELL-BOYCE, Frank", ''Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009 ; online edn, Nov 200 Retrieved 2010-05-16. is an English people, English screenwriter, ...
. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
(in the then future 2011) and stars Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston (; born 16 February 1964) is an English actor. A two-time BAFTA Award nominee, he is best known for his television and film work, which includes his role as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC sci-fi series '' ...
as Vindice, Eddie Izzard
Edward John Izzard (; born 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomime.
Izzard's stand- ...
as Lussurioso, Diana Quick
Diana Marilyn Quick (born 23 November 1946) is an English actress.
Early life and family background
Quick was born on 23 November 1946 in London, England. She grew up in Dartford, Kent, the third of four children. Her father was Leonard Qui ...
as The Duchess and Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as ''Hamlet'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Macbeth'', ''Twelfth Night'', ''The Tempest'', ''King ...
as The Duke. It was produced by Bard Entertainment Ltd.
In 2008, two major companies staged revivals of the play: Jonathan Moore directed a new production at the Royal Exchange, Manchester from May to June 2008, starring Stephen Tompkinson
Stephen Phillip Tompkinson (born 15 October 1965) is an English actor, known for his television roles as Marcus in ''Chancer '' (1990), Damien Day in '' Drop the Dead Donkey'' (1990–1998), Father Peter Clifford in '' Ballykissangel'' (1996– ...
as Vindice, while a National Theatre production at the Olivier Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. In ...
was directed by Melly Still, starring Rory Kinnear
Rory Michael Kinnear (born 17 February 1978) is an English actor and playwright who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. In 2014, he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of William S ...
as Vindice, and featuring a soundtrack performed by a live orchestra and DJs Differentgear.
In 2018, a stage adaptation was directed by Cheek by Jowl
Cheek by Jowl is an international theatre company founded in the United Kingdom by director Declan Donnellan and designer Nick Ormerod in 1981. Donnellan and Ormerod are Cheek by Jowl's artistic directors and together direct and design all of ...
's Declan Donnellan
Declan Michael Martin Donnellan (born 4 August 1953) is an English film/stage director and author. He co-founded the Cheek by Jowl theatre company with Nick Ormerod in 1981. In addition to his Cheek by Jowl productions, Donnellan has made theat ...
at the Piccolo Teatro. The production toured in Italy in early 2019 and in Europe in early 2020.
See also
*Illegitimacy in fiction
This is a list of fictional stories in which illegitimacy features as an important plot element. Passing mentions are omitted from this article. Many of these stories explore the social pain and exclusion felt by illegitimate "natural children".
...
References
Further reading
*Campbell, O. J. ''Comicall Satyre and Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida''. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library Publications, 1938
*Chambers, E. K. ''The Elizabethan Theatre''. Four Volumes. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923.
* Foakes, R. A. ''Shakespeare; the Dark Comedies to the Last Plays''. London: Routledge, 1971
*Foakes, R. A., ed. ''The Revenger's Tragedy''. (The Revels Plays.) London: Methuen, 1966. Revised as Revels Student edition, Manchester University Press, 1996
*Gibbons, Brian, ed. ''The Revenger's Tragedy''; New Mermaids edition. New York: Norton, 1967; Second edition, 1991
* Greg, W. W. "Authorship Attribution in the Early Play-lists, 1656–1671." ''Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Transactions'' 2 (1938–1945)
*Griffiths, T, ed. ''The Revenger's Tragedy''. London: Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nicholas Hern in 1988.
History
Nick Hern Books was founded in June 1988,Sara ...
, 1996
* Harbage, Alfred ''Shakespeare and the Rival Traditions''. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1952
*Loughrey, Bryan and Taylor, Neil. ''Five Plays of Thomas Middleton''. New York: Penguin, 1988
* Wells, Stanley "''The Revenger's Tragedy'' Revived." ''The Elizabethan Theatre'' 6 (1975)
External links
''The Revenger's Tragedy'' online at Archive.org
''The Revenger's Tragedy'' online at the Oxford Text Archive
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Revengers Tragedy, The
English Renaissance plays
1606 plays
Revenge plays
Plays by Thomas Middleton
British plays adapted into films
Tragedy plays