Grecian Comedy

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Historical Records

Performance Records

Playlists in Philip Henslowe's diary

Fol. 10 (Greg, I.19)

ye 4 of octobʒ 1594

. . . . . . . . .

Rd at the love of a gresyan lady . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xxvjs

Fol. 10^v (Greg, I.20)

ye 13 of novembʒ 1594		Rd at the gresyan ladye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xvs
ye 23 of novembʒ 1594		Rd at the greasyon comodey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xs
ye 1 of decembʒ 1594	———	Rd at the gresyan comody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	iiijs

Fol. 11 (Greg, I.21)

ye 25 of decembʒ 1594	S steuen	Rd at the greasyane comodey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xxxxvjs
ye 10 of Jenewary 159[4]5		Rd at the greasyon comodey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xxviijs
ye 25 of Jenewary 1594		Rd at the greasyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xvs
ye 31 of Jenewary 1594		Rd at the gresyan comody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xxviijs

Fol. 11^v (Greg, I.22)

ye 22 of febreary 1594	. . . . . . . . .	Rd at the gresyan comodey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xxs
ye 24 of aprell 1595		Rd at the gresyan ladye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	ljs
ye 16 of maye 1595		Rd at the greasyan comodey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xxxiijs

Fol. 13 (Greg, I.25)

ye 10 of octobʒ 1595

. . . . . . . .

Rd at the gresyan comody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xs

Theatrical Provenance

Philip Henslowe recorded a play called "the greasyon comody" for the first time on 23 November 1594. He had previously recorded one he called "The Love of a Grecian Lady" on 4 October 1594 and "The Grecian Lady" on 13 November. He did not mark any of these titles with "ne." On 24 April 2595, he again entered the title "The Grecian Lady." There can be no question, then, that the titles were the Admiral's property, but it is not guaranteed that they belong to the same playscript, which was apparently not new when introduced in the late fall of 1594. See Critical Commentary below for scholars' opinions on whether these entries belong to one playscript or two and what title that script was most commonly known by at the time.

Probable Genre(s)

Comedy

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Information Welcome.

References to the Play

Information Welcome.

Critical Commentary

Malone did not comment on this play; Collier considered it "[p]ossibly the same play as that before called the Love of a Grecian Lady" (p. 45, n. 3). Fleay, BCED assigned "The Love of a Grecian Lady" number 136 and added "The Grecian Comedy" in parenthesis without further comment (2.301).

Greg II used the title, "The Grecian Comedy," for an entry that included "The Love of a Grecian Lady." Further, in an entry on another of the lost plays in Henslowe's diary, "The French Doctor," Greg further expanded the play titles assigned to entries for "The Grecian Comedy" by adding not only "The Love of a Grecian Lady" but also "The Love of an English Lady" (p. 170, #57).

Knutson uses the complex of five similar titles—"The Grecian Comedy,""The Love of an English Lady," "The Love of a Grecian Lady," and "The Grecian Comedy"—to illustrate the difficulties of separating discrete titles from variant ones (pp. 21-22). She reduces these five to two: "The Venetian Comedy" and "The Grecian Comedy" (which subsumes "The Love of an English Lady," "The Love of a Grecian Lady," and "The Grecian Lady").

Gurr privileges the title, "The Grecian Comedy," in Appendix I, "The Plays," incorporating entries of "The Love of a Grecian Lady" (as is done in Historical Records above). In a note to the entry, he clarifies that the title variations "[p]robably" indicate a single play (209-10, n. 24).

Wiggins, Catalogue #785 considers "The Grecian Comedy" and "Love of a Grecian Lady" to be the same play, with "Grecian Comedy" the dominant title. He uses this play to consider the provenance of fourteen or so titles in the Admiral's repertory in 1594 that are not marked "ne" and thus appear to have been staged previously, perhaps with a pre-1591 version of the Admiral's men.

For What It's Worth

The presence of a play called "The Love of an English Lady" in the same season as "The Love of a Grecian Lady" and "The Grecian Comedy" has added to the confusion of how many discrete plays Henslowe was recording as the repertorial offerings of the Admiral's men.

See Critical Commentary on the pages for "The Love of a Grecian Lady," "The Venetian Comedy," and "The Love of an English Lady" for alternative opinions on the relationship of this play-set in the Admiral's repertory at the Rose in the fall of 1594.

Works Cited

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

Knutson, Roslyn Lander. The Repertory of Shakespeare's Company, 1594-1613. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1991.

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 11 August 2020.