Danish Tragedy
Historical Records
Payments to Playwrights (Henslowe's Diary)
F. 107 {Greg, I.169)
- Lent vnto thomas downton the 7 of July
- 1602 to [lend] geue vnto harye chettell in
- earneste of a tragedye called a danyshe
- tragedy
- the some of .................................. } xxs
Theatrical Provenance
The Admiral's men paid Chettle the 30s in earnest. Wiggins offers "Summer 1602" as a plausible date when the company might have put this show on at the Fortune (#1339).
Probable Genre(s)
Foreign History (Harbage); Tragedy (Henslowe, Wiggins)
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
Conjectures about the narrative of the play are embedded in guesswork by F. G. Fleay and W. W. Greg, who consider the possible relationship of this work with Chettle's play, Hoffman. See Critical Commentary, below.
References to the Play
None known.
Critical Commentary
Fleay
Greg (Greg, II. 222-23, Item #238)
For What It's Worth
Just three weeks previously (22 June 1602), the Admiral's men had paid Ben Jonson some part of £10 for "new adicyons for Jeronymo" (Greg, I.168). Whatever the relationship textually of Chettle's "Danish Tragedy" to Hoffman, its relationship commercially was to the cluster of revenge plays on London stages c. 1600-1602, perhaps kickstarted by William Shakespeare's Danish tragedy (Hamlet) and the pair by John Marston for the children's company at St. Paul's, namely Antonio and Mellida and Antonio's Revenge but including also an apparent revival of Thomas Kyd's Spanish Tragedy (with new additions).
Works Cited
Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 30 May 2016.