''The Sparagus Garden'' is a
Caroline era stage play, a comedy by
Richard Brome
Richard Brome ; (c. 1590? – 24 September 1652) was an English dramatist of the Caroline era.
Life
Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson's '' Bartholomew Fair'', in ...
. It was the greatest success of Brome's career, and one of the major theatrical hits of its period.
Performance and publication
''The Sparagus Garden'' was acted by the
King's Revels Men
The King's Revels Men or King's Revels Company was a playing company or troupe of actors in seventeenth-century England. In the confusing theatre nomenclature of that era, it is sometimes called the ''second'' King's Revels Company, to distingui ...
at the
Salisbury Court Theatre
The Salisbury Court Theatre was a theatre (structure), theatre in 17th-century London. It was in the neighbourhood of Salisbury Court, which was formerly the London residence of the Bishop of Salisbury, Bishops of Salisbury. Salisbury Court was ...
in 1635. It was enormously popular, and reportedly earned the company £1000, a tremendous sum for a play in the 1630s. (The sheer magnitude of its success may have contributed to Brome's legal difficulties in the years immediately following: in attempting to reap greater profits from his future work, Brome entangled himself in contract disputes and lawsuits with two theatre organisations, those of
Richard Heton at the Salisbury Court and
Christopher Beeston
Christopher Beeston (c. 1579 – c. 15 October 1638) was a successful actor and a powerful theatrical impresario in early 17th century London. He was associated with a number of playwrights, particularly Thomas Heywood.
Early life
Little is kno ...
at the
Cockpit Theatre
The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix.
History
The original building was an actual cockpit; that is, a st ...
.)
The play was revived early in the
Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
era, and was acted at the theatre at
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...
in the 1662–65 interval. It was first published in 1640, in a
quarto
Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...
printed by
John Okes for the bookseller
Francis Constable
Francis Constable (1592 – 1 August 1647) was a London bookseller and publisher of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, noted for publishing a number of stage plays of English Renaissance drama.
(Francis Constable the publisher is distinct from hi ...
. In that volume, Brome dedicated the play to
William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne, KG, KB, PC (25 December 1676) was an English courtier and supporter of the arts. He was a renowned horse breeder, as well as being patron of the playwright Ben Jonson, and the intellectual gr ...
, one of the major literary patrons of his generation.
Topical matters
Brome's plays are rich with allusions to contemporary conditions that offer miniature snapshots of London life at the time. ''The Sparagus Garden'' contains references to the sedan chairs that were then coming into fashion, and to dromedary rides across the frozen
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
in winter. (During the
Little Ice Age, the Thames repeatedly froze over, so extremely that "frost fairs" were held on the surface of the ice. The river was frozen over in the winter of 1634–35.)
Consistent with this topicality, Brome's play referred to an actual London asparagus garden; it was located on in
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...
Marsh near
Waterloo — a narrow piece of land running up from the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
, roughly opposite the
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...
Stairs. It was a fashionable destination in its day, "an expensive pleasure ground on the south bank of the river, where asparagus and fresh strawberries were served, with sugar and wine...." The Garden acquired a reputation as a place of romantic assignation. It was still in operation in the 1660s;
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...
visited in April 1668, hoping to meet
Elizabeth Knepp
Elizabeth Knepp or Knipp (died 1681) was a British actress, singer, and dancer. The earliest theatrical reference to Knepp is from 1664, as being intended by Thomas Killigrew to play the part of Lusetta in his play ''Thomaso''. This means that she ...
, the actress who had once been his wife's maid. (He was disappointed.)
''The Sparagus Garden'' belongs to a group of plays that reflect a trend of the 1630s, in which playwrights exploited "place realism," linking their dramas to actual locations and institutions of their contemporary world.
James Shirley
James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 1666) was an English dramatist.
He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so m ...
's ''
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
'' (1632) is an obvious example, as are
Shackerley Marmion
Shackerley Marmion (January 1603 – 1639), also Shakerley, Shakerly, Schackerley, Marmyon, Marmyun, or Mermion, was an early 17th-century dramatist, often classed among the Sons of Ben, the followers of Ben Jonson who continued his style of ...
's ''
Holland's Leaguer'' (1631) and
Thomas Nabbes
Thomas Nabbes (1605 – buried 6 April 1641) was an English dramatist.
He was born in humble circumstances in Worcestershire, was educated at as a King's scholar at the King's School, Worcester (1616–1620), and entered Exeter College, Oxfo ...
's ''Covent Garden'' (1633) and ''Tottenham Court'' (1634). Several of Brome's other plays, like ''
The Weeding of Covent Garden'' (c. 1632–33) and ''
The New Academy'' (1636), fall into this category.
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
's ''
Bartholomew Fair
The Bartholomew Fair was one of London's pre-eminent summer charter fairs. A charter for the fair was granted to Rahere by Henry I to fund the Priory of St Bartholomew; and from 1133 to 1855 it took place each year on 24 August within the preci ...
'' (1614) stood as a precedent, especially pertinent to Brome, Jonson's self-style acolyte – though other precedents, like ''The Fair Maid of the Exchange'' (c. 1602) and
Lording Barry
Lording Barry (1580–1629) was a 17th-century English dramatist and pirate.
Career
Barry was the son of Nicholas Barry, a fishmonger of London, and his wife Anne Lording. On the death of his father in 1607, he received an inheritance of £10, ...
's ''Ram Alley'' (c. 1607), can also be noted. (''Bartholomew Fair'', however, was first printed in 1631, an event that may have stimulated the trend of the 1630s.) And later plays, like
William Wycherley
William Wycherley (baptised 8 April 16411 January 1716) was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for the plays ''The Country Wife'' and ''The Plain Dealer''.
Early life
Wycherley was born at Clive near Shrewsbury, Shropsh ...
's ''
Love in a Wood
''Love in a Wood'' is a 1915 British silent comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Gerald Ames, Elisabeth Risdon and Kenelm Foss. The film is a contemporary-set version of William Shakespeare's play '' As You Like It''.Murphy p.178 ...
'' (1671) and
Thomas Shadwell
Thomas Shadwell ( – 19 November 1692) was an English poet and playwright who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1689.
Life
Shadwell was born at either Bromehill Farm, Weeting-with-Broomhill or Santon House, Lynford, Norfolk, and educated at Bury ...
's ''
Epsom Wells
''Epsom Wells'' is a 1672 restoration comedy by the English writer Thomas Shadwell. It was the first in a line of plays set in spa towns. The incidental music was composed by Nicholas Staggins. In the 1690s Henry Purcell scored a new staging of ...
'' (1672) and ''
Bury Fair
''Bury Fair'' is a 1689 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Shadwell. It is part of the tradition of Restoration Comedy that flourished during the era. It was first staged by the United Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.
T ...
'' (1689) among other examples, continued the subgenre of "topographical comedy".
Synopsis
Brome's play involves the sexual themes, generational conflicts, and the confidence tricks that are typical of his drama. Touchwood and Striker are two London neighbours, both
justices of the peace
A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
; they maintain a vigorous and long-running quarrel. Their hostility is counterpointed by the affection of their heirs: Touchwood's son Sam and Striker's granddaughter Annabelle are in love. When Touchwood discovers this fact, he forbids their marriage, and insists that Sam inflict some serious injury on the Striker family to stay in his father's good graces (and his will). Sam is fortunate to have two clever friends, Gilbert Goldwire and Walter Chamlet, who work up a plot to resolve Sam's predicament. Sam tells his father that he has impregnated Annabelle; and Touchwood, delighted at the scandal impending over the Striker household, sends his son abroad — or so he thinks; in fact Sam remains in London to carry out his plans.
Annabelle's mother was Striker's daughter, now deceased; her father is Sir Hugh Moneylack, a down-and-out gentleman who survives by shady means. Striker is hostile to his son-in-law, and keeps Annabelle, his granddaughter and heir, from seeing her father. (The play often refers to Annabelle as Striker's niece, reflecting the common usage of "niece" to mean "granddaughter" in the period.) Sir Hugh functions as what is called a "gather-guest" for the Sparagus Garden, bringing in profitable trade to the facility. (Moneylack presents asparagus as an
aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. Substances range from a variety of plants, spices, foods, and synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs like cannabis or cocain ...
, claiming that "Of all the plants, herbs, roots, or fruits that grow, it is the most provocative, operative, and effective" for that purpose. In actuality, the medical opinion of Brome's day regarded the vegetable as a mild diuretic.)
[Leroy L. Panek, "Asparagus and Brome's ''The Asparagus Garden''," ''Modern Philology'' Vol. 68 (1971), pp. 362–3.] The play shows that the Garden makes its money through private dining rooms made available to its customers – with a clear sexual innuendo in the arrangement: when Sam, Wat, and Gilbert show up at the Garden without female companionship, they are refused a private dining room.
Sir Hugh Moneylack also is part of a group of charlatans; with his confederates Springe and Brittleware, he targets a naive countryman named Tim Hoyden who longs to be made a gentleman. The tricksters take every advantage of the man, physically abusing him with "bleeding" (bloodletting), "purging" (vomiting and enemas), and a starvation diet, and cheating him of £400 as they pretend to teach him the ways of fashionable society. Tim's brother Tom Hoyden comes to London in search of Tim, and chases around attempting to rescue Tim from the charlatans' clutches. Tom and his servant Coulter are from "
Zumerzetshire," and inject into the play the kind of dialect humour typical of Brome's drama (
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
dialect in ''
The Northern Lass
''The Northern Lass'' is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy by Richard Brome that premiered onstage in 1629 and was first printed in 1632. A popular hit with its audience, and one of his earliest successes, the play provided a foundation for Bro ...
'',
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
dialect in ''
The Late Lancashire Witches
''The Late Lancashire Witches'' is a Caroline-era stage play and written by Thomas Heywood and Richard Brome, published in 1634. The play is a topical melodrama on the subject of the witchcraft controversy that arose in Lancashire in 1633.
Perfo ...
'').
The charlatans have their own problems, though: Brittleware's wife Rebecca is distressed that she's been married for five years but does not yet have a child. She is vocal in blaming her husband for this, and makes husband Brittleware jump through hoops and pursue her around the town to punish him for his possessiveness and jealousy.
The young conspirators manipulate Walter's ridiculous uncle Sir Arthur Cautious, a confirmed bachelor, into an arranged betrothal with Annabelle. Striker, who believes in her disgrace, is so eager for the marriage that he makes generous provisions for her. When their wedding day arrives, however, Annabelle appears dressed in black and apparently pregnant. Sir Arthur is appalled, and offers £1000 to the man who will take the young woman off his hands. Sam suddenly steps forward, and Striker is so desperate that he accepts his enemy's son as his son-in-law.
Touchwood, too, is now ready to accept the match. Tom Hoyden has presented documents to the justice, to prove that foolish brother Tim is the long-lost son of Touchwood and Striker's late sister. Those two had had a relationship similar to that of Sam and Annabelle — but Striker had opposed their match, which instigated the thirty-year quarrel between them. Once both old men accept their heirs' marriage, Annabelle pulls a cushion out from under her dress, revealing her pregnancy fictitious and her virtue intact. (Brome's play shares this plot device with
Thomas May
Thomas May (1594/95 – 13 November 1650) was an English poet, dramatist and historian of the Renaissance era.
Early life and career until 1630
May was born in Mayfield, Sussex, the son of Sir Thomas May, a minor courtier. He matriculated a ...
's 1622 comedy ''The Heir''.) Tim Hoyden is now the son of a gentleman, as he'd always wanted to be; the play's conflicts are resolved.
References
External links
*''Richard Brome Online'
contains a scholarly edition of this play, including textual and critical introductions.
''The Sparagus Garden'' online.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparagus Garden, The
English Renaissance plays
1635 plays