Disguises

Anon. (1595)

Historical Records

Performance Records

Playlists in Philip Henslowe's diary

Fol. 13 (Greg I.25)

ye 2 of octobʒ 1595	. . . . ne . .		Res at the desgysses	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xxxxiijs
ye 10 of octobʒ 1595			Res at the desgyses	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xxixs
ye 16 of octobʒ 1595			Res at the desgysses	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xs
ye 27 of octobʒ 1595			Res at the desgyses	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xixs
ye 30 of octobʒ 1595			Res at the desgysses	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xxixs

Fol. 14 (Greg, I.27)

ye 10 of novmbʒ 1595

. . . . . . . . .

Res at desgysses

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

xvs

Theatrical Provenance

In the fall season of 1595, "Disguises" was the fourth play with Henslowe's enigmatic "ne" offered at the Rose by the Admiral's players. Its receipts averaged 24s. per performance.

Probable Genre(s)

Comedy ? (Harbage)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

None known.

References to the Play

None known.

Critical Commentary

As is the case with many lost plays, scholars have suggested that "Disguises" is Henslowe's title for some other lost or extant play.

Malone makes no comment on Disguises (p. 297). Collier considers it a new play but entertains the possibility that it might have had connections with "the species of dramatic entertainment" called "'a disguising'"; he also suggests that it might have anticipated plays such as George Chapman's Blind Beggar of Alexandria, in which "one actor assumed several characters" (p. 59).

Fleay, BCED thinks the play to be "the original version" of Chapman's extant May Day (2.304), but at his entry for May Day he does not explain his reasoning (1.51).

Greg II repeats Fleay's suggestion of May Day but expresses no enthusiasm for the link because the extant text of Chapman's play shows "no trace of revision" (#78, p. 177).

Adams, considering the identity and provenance of Disguises, or Love in Disguise, A Pettycoat Voyage in Hill's list of early plays in manuscript, mentions several plays with similar titles including the "Disguises" in Henslowe's diary (p. 84). The Disguises in Hill's list (c. 1677-1703) is attributed to Thomas Dekker, and copying Adams's musings on similarly-titled plays, Harbage links the Henslowe "Disguises" in his Annals with the Hill title attributed to Dekker.

Harbage apparently takes the information in Hill's playlist at face value, identifying the Admiral's play specifically as "Disguises, or Love in Disguise, a Petticoat Voyage" by Dekker (p. 56).

Gurr argues that "Disguises" is Henslowe's title for the extant Look About You, which was printed in 1600 with a title-page advertisement of the Admiral's company but does not appear by that name in Henslowe's records. He constructs an argument about the personality, or house style, of the Admiral's players in part on that identification ("Disguises" as Look About You). That house style, according to Gurr, was plays with multiple disguises meant to exploit both the "same body of customers" at the Rose and the "familiar faces" of the Admiral's players (p. 1). He sees that style begin to develop in December 1594 with "The Wise Man of West Chester" (which he identifies as John a Kent and John a Cumber [pp. 211-12]), continue in October 1595 with "Disguises" (i.e., Look About You), and lead toward George Chapman's Blind Beggar of Alexandria in February 1596 (pp. 24-25). See pp. 51-77 for Gurr's detailed discussion of "Disguises" as Look About You.

Wiggins, Catalogue #1010 rejects the identification of "Disguises" as Look About You, a play he considers "almost certainly later than the Robin Hood plays of 1598."

For What It's Worth

One oddity about the 1600 publication of Look About You is that it advertises itself as "lately played by the right honourable the Lord High Admiral his seruaunts," whereas the other plays from that company published in that year advertise the patron's new (and newly created) title, Earl of Nottingham.

Works Cited

Adams, Joseph Q. "Hill's List of Early Plays in Manuscript." The Library n.s. XX (1939): 71-99.

Gurr, Andrew. Shakespeare's Opposites: The Admiral's Company 1594-1625. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009.

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, UA-Little Rock; updated 1 June 2015.