French Comedy, A

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Historical Records

Performance Records

Playlists in Philip Henslowe's diary

Fol. 26^v / (Greg 1.52)

Aprell 1597
		|18|		ne..		tt at a frenche comodey. . . . . . . . . .		02|00|01 — 01 — 03
		|22|				tt at frenche comodey. . . . . . . . . . .		01|02|00 — 17 — 01
		|26|				tt at frenche comodey. . . . . . . . . . .		01|02|00 — 11 — 00
Maye 1597
		|2|				tt at frenshe comodey. . . . . . . . . . .		01|00|00 — 09 — 03
		|5|				tt at frenshe comodey. . . . . . . . . . .		01|07|01 — 00 — 00
		|21|				tt at frenshe comodey. . . . . . . . . . .		00|14|00 — 13 — 06

Fol. 27 (Greg 1.53)

June 1597
		|1|		. . . . . .		tt at a frenshe comodey. . . . . . . . . .		00|13|00 — 04 — 06
		|16|				tt at frenshe comodey. . . . . . . . . . .		00|07|00 — 13 — 06
		|23|				tt at frenshe comodey. . . . . . . . . . .		00|08|00 — 00 — 00
July 1597
		|2|				tt at frenshe comodey. . . . . . . . . . .		00|04|02 — 00 — 13

Fol. 27^v (Greg 1.54)

July 1597
		|16|		. . . . . . . .		tt at frenshe comodey. . . . . . . . . .		00|09|00 — 14 — 00

Theatrical Provenance

The Admiral's men offered "A French Comedy" in late spring 1597 at the Rose; Henslowe marked it with "ne," seemingly therefore indicating that it was a new acquisition.

Probable Genre(s)

Comedy

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

None known.

References to the Play

None known.

Critical Commentary

Malone does not give this play an entry (p. 299). Collier, in contrast, accepts "A French Comedy" as a new play but does observe that "we have had the title before" (p. 87, n1).

Fleay, BCED ignores the 1597 play and itemizes only "The French Comedy" in Henslowe's lists for the Admiral's men in 1595 (II.303; "Anonymous Plays," #162).

Greg II, lumping the two "French Comedy" plays, does say that there was no way to tell whether there were two plays or one; giving the 1597 run to the February 1595 original, he suggests that the 1595 play is being "revived with alterations" (p. 174, #67).

Gurr lumps the two French comedies into a single play, adding the performances of the 1597 play to those of the 1595 play in revival (#28 [p. 213-4, n.35).

Wiggins, Catalogue #1066 differentiates the two French comedies by giving the 1595 play the article "The" in the title (#989) and the 1597 play the article "A".

For What It's Worth

Information welcome.

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 19 November 2019.