Rangers Comedy, The

Anon. (1594)

Historical Records

Performance Records

Playlists in Philip Henslowe's diary

Fol. 9 (Greg I.17)

From the play list for "the Quenes men & my lord of Susexe to geather" for Easter 1594:

Rd at the Rangers comodey 2 of [marche] Aprell 1593

. . . . . . . . . .

iijli

Fol. 9 (Greg I.17)
From the play list for "my lorde admeralls men" on 14-16 May 1594:

Rd at the Rangers comodey the 15 of maye 1594

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xxxiijs

Fol. 9 (Greg I.17)

From the play list beginning 15 June 1594, the date on which W. W. Greg decided that the Admiral's players had returned to the Rose after their 10-day run at Newington with the Chamberlain's players (II. 86):

ye 18 of June 1594	. . . . . . . . . .	Rd at the Rangers comodey	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xxijs
ye 22 of June 1594		Rd at the Rangers comodey	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	lviiijs

Fol. 9^v (Greg I.18)

ye 5 of Julye 1594		Rd at the Rangers comodey	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xviijs
ye 17 of Julye 1594		Rd at the Rangers comodey	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xvs
ye 1 of aguste 1594	. . . . . . . . . .	Rd at the Rangers comodey	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xiijs vjd
ye 20 of aguste 1594		Rd at the Rangers comodey	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xiiijs vjd

Fol. 10 (Greg I.19)

ye 16 of septmbʒ 1594	. . . . . . . . . .	Rd at the Rangers comodey	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xvs
ye 2 of octobʒ 1594		Rd at the Rangers comodey	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xs

Fol. 11 (Greg I.21)

ye 19 of Jenewary 1594

. . . . . . . . . .

Rd at the Rangers comodey

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xvs

Theatrical Provenance

The play was introduced at the Rose beginning 2 April 1594 (Easter Week), as an offering by the Queen's men and Sussex's men playing together. It was not marked "ne." It had not appeared among the offerings of Sussex's men during their recorded run at the Rose, 27 December through 6 February 1594. It migrated from the repertory of the combined companies to the holdings of the Admiral's men, who gave it 9 performances on their return to the Rose in mid-June 1594.

Probable Genre(s)

Comedy (Harbage)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

No one has suggested a narrative source or dramatic analogue for this play.

References to the Play

None known.

Critical Commentary

Collier suggested that "The Rangers Comedy" had been purchased from either Sussex's men or Queen's by Henslowe, who, by making it available to the Admiral's men, "communicated his right to act it to any company with which he was concerned" (34).

Fleay, BCED repeated Collier's assertion that the play had been "bought by Henslow" (2.299).

Greg II noted the absence of the play from the offerings by Sussex's men and assigned it a provenance with the Queen's men. He too repeated the claim that Henslowe was the real owner, and he added that the Queen's company must have "sold [it] to him when they were in low water" (p. 162 #38).

Gurr, making a point about how busy the schedule of playing was for Edward Alleyn, hints at a narrative for "The Rangers Comedy" by imagining that in the week of 17 June 1594 he would have played "the hero of The Ranger's Comedy" among other star parts (50).

Wiggins, Catalogue #869 asks what kind of ranger the play dramatized.

For What It's Worth

Collier and Fleay, BCED did not add an apostrophe to the title of the play. Greg II did, choosing "Ranger's," and subsequent scholars have followed his example. Since the use of an apostrophe does have implications for the narrative matter of the play, however, the choice here is to remove the apostrophe.

Works Cited

Gurr, Andrew. Shakespeare’s Opposites: The Admiral’s Company 1594-1625. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.



Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 22 February 2010.